Today we made a batch of penguins for our friend’s birthday. They also celebrated their anniversary so we made a couple of special penguins to represent. Here’s the happy couple – he with a ball and chain and she in a fancy orange dress!
His hat is made by cutting 1/2″ or so from the thin end of a carrot for the top, and a somewhat larger thin slice for the brim. Put the hat onto the toothpick, then use that to secure the penguin head to its body & feet.
The ball is a small black olive. The chain is made from 5 thin slices of small black olive. Cut two slices open and alternate them with the uncut slices, using the open ones to hook it all together.
The lady’s dress is made from a thin strip shaved off a carrot. Take the peeler and peel the length of the carrot – about a 4″ piece. Cut diagonal strips every little bit down the length of the strip. Wrap around the lady and secure with a toothpick that’s been cut in half.
To make these, follow the recipe and then decorate.
Do you have any ideas for retirement party penguins or postal worker penguins?
For retirement party, you could fashion a lounge chair out of celery… cut it maybe 3 inches long, then make a cut about an inch from the end, not all the way through, and then bend it and prop it up with a couple of toothpicks. Then lay a penguin on it. Take a block of cheese and stick a paper umbrella in it for some nice shade! Cut golf club shapes out of long carrot slices and lay them around. Fashion luggage out of cheese with handles carved out of carrot. If you know of any activities the person will do after retiring, that could help with ideas.
For the postal worker, all I can think of is to fashion a mail bag out of roasted red pepper… make the sash part to go around the shoulder then cut a rectangle and lay it onto the penguin’s side at the ends of the sash. Make sure to dry off the pepper before cutting it and laying it on the penguin. I wonder if you could somehow make a dog out of the olives? Maybe toothpick legs, roasted red pepper or carrot ears, and carrot tail.