There is nothing nicer to a good cook's ears than a compliment. However, when you present an eye-appealing artistic piece with your carefully prepared meal, you will receive a double compliment. Garnishing art is not new. It is centuries old and has been carefully cultivated and updated over the years with new tools and techniques. Many restaurants plop a piece of parsley on your plate as garnish. I find it annoying because I usually remove it and it isn't that attractive.

Take a watermelon basket to a picnic or party. Decorate with miniature boats or animals. Create flowers or chains. Do it a day or two ahead before you are caught up in the busy chores of preparing the meal. You will enjoy the accolades and feel the pleasure of creating a piece of art.

The first five tools are the primary garnishing tools, but I've included the others that will be called for in many of the examples included in this article. You will need more than one or two knives, depending on the size of the fruit or vegetable you are cutting.

Garnishing Knife: This very old tool originated in France centuries ago and is still used by chefs today. It is used to create a ripple design in harder vegetables such as beets, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, radishes and turnips. This will add some interest to salads, deep fried potatoes and many appetizers by making the waffle or krinkle design to the vegetables. Merely use this tool as you would any other knife to cut the various veggies into quarter inch slices. Parboil the extremely hard vegetables such as carrots and beets to make them easier to slice.

Twin Curl Cutter: Originating in Germany long ago, this unusual tool is used to create vegetable and fruit curls of contrasting colors. It is also used to hollow out some vegetables for stuffing with spreads and salads.

Spiral Slicer: This fun tool was invented in the 1920's right in America. It is used to make decorative coiled-up spiral ribbons out of vegetables such as beets, carrots, potatoes or radishes. These ribbons are both clever and attractive and really add color to meat platters or bland one-color vegetables. You can also add some fun and incentive to get your youngsters to eat their vegetables.

Food Decorator Tool: This tool is the most modern and probably the most used tool in the group aside from the knife. It was designed to make quick work of larger centerpieces such as the watermelon basket that I'm sure you are familiar with. However, it works equally well on tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and any assortment of melons. It cuts a saw blade or tooth-like edge while actually separating the fruit or vegetable. It has a second function at the top of the handle called the strip cutter that will cut out narrow strips of peeling giving a two-tone look to the finished product. A third function of this tool allows you to "score" a vegetable such as carrots with the jagged edges of the tool by scraping it in a downward stroke with a little pressure.

Paring Knife: A good flexible paring knife with a fairly short blade will be the tool of choice with almost all of the decorative garnishing designs. I try to keep at least 3 of different shapes when I'm working. You will use other knives to cut larger fruits and vegetables, but the paring knife will always be next to you. Not only will you use it for slicing, but it is like an artist's tool to "draw" designs.

Melon Ball Scoop: This scoop is used to make nice round balls from all kinds of melons. By using a double scoop you get two sizes. For larger balls, use a metal ice cream scoop. It also use the melon ball scoop to remove some of the pulp when hollowing out a vegetable or fruit even if I'm not trying to create a round ball.

Vegetable Peeler: Many vegetables require peeling prior to using in a garnish. The vegetable peeler makes neat and quick work in removing the peel from potatoes, carrots or beets.

Slicing Assistant: I'm sure this tool has a better name, but I originally bought it to slice tomatoes nice and thin. However, it works exceptionally well when creating items that require precise cuts and holds it all in place while you are making those cuts.

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