"Edible Bouquet"

Did you all have a good Christmas ?
I had a great one.  I got invited to a Christmas Eve Dinner with Japanese Delicacies. Then less than 12 hours later, I had another invitation from Ms. M. for a Christmas Afternoon Party. 
I was asked to make a Crudite Basket for that party. 
Because I can't get many different varieties of vegetables in cold months, I had to come up with some new ideas for vegetable baskets for Winter Parties. 
For Thanksgiving Dinner Party I made a Veggie Petal Basket.  After that this style of Crudite Baskets has become my Signature Crudite Basket.  Some people already asked me how to make it.  
But for this occasion that basket was not good enough.  After all, the Rainbow Rose Bouquet she brought inspired me to make Vegetable Petals.  So, I had to make something more than just another Vegetable Petals for her party.
Since I saw the "Victorian" which Ms. M. created for Yuki's wedding day, I wanted to make something inspired by that beautiful bouquet.  I decided to arrange whole platter to look like one big flower.  I didn't even wanted to show the basket itself.  
Here is how I made the "Victorian Vegetable Petal Basket."

This is the"Victorian Bouquet," Ms. M's Creation for Yuki's  Wedding Day.

How I made the "Victorian Vegetable Petal Basket"

Flat Round Basket is covered with Plastic Wrap.

Then completely covered with Bi-Colored Baby Chard.

Savoy Cabbage makes the First layer of Large Flower Petals.

To make them flatter, I cut off hard center stem from each cabbage leaf.

For them to be more organic, cabbage leaves are interlocked.

I carefully chose similar size, but not same color of cabbage leaves.

This is Kohlrabi.

I peeled and soaked them in Red Grape Juice overnight.

The Edge of thin slices will get tinted a purple color by the juice.

To add height to the arrangement

I decide to make Second layer with curled Kohlrabi Petals.

From the Third layer, I just kept placing thinly sliced vegetable petals in circles. 

Watermelon Radish Petals makes the Middle Part of Flower.

Then Chioga Beet Petals makes the Center Part of Flower.

As a finish touch, I added Purple Carrot Petals around the edge of Cabbage.

"At the Party"

 Dukkah, a nut & spice condiment, accompanied my Vegetable Plate,

which blended nicely with all of Ms. M's other dishes.

This is how her appetizer table looked .

Everything was even more delicious than it looked !

Roasted Garlic & Sliced Apples and Pears accompany the Melted Camembert.

Here, our host Ms. M carving the turkey.

This is the main course table. 

We eat, and drank endlessly with occasional conversation between.  After 5 hours of continuous feasting, I decided to say good by to Ms.M and our new friends.  
I had great time at her floral design studio.  Her Huge Flower Refrigerator was filled with fresh flowers.  I was wondering where those flowers are going after Christmas.  Then I realized that New Year's Eve, the Party Night of the year is only a week away.  Parties will go on till New Year's Day all ober the city.  I''m sure those flowers will make somebody's home fantastic....