Mission
To bring the magic of holiday edible art to Jewish children with art that is true to our holiday story and traditions. My mission was born after a snowy December evening walk down Madison Avenue, where I saw gingerbread Hanukkah houses displayed in a bakery window. My niece Rebecca, now a mother, was then in nursery school, and I thought, “Wow, I need to do something for Rebecca that really is Hanukkah”, and so it began, with small 3-d menorah cookies for her nursery school classmates. At the urging of my late friend Ellemar (Dinah) Givon of Kibbutz Gesher Haziv, I went on to create food art for all the holidays.
Gold Medal of the Société Culinaire Philanthropique
Jewish Festival of Sukkot Italy 1998
Gold Medal of the Chefs Society of Lower Westchester
Celebration of Beatrix Potter 1995
Using food as an art form is in my genes; my mother was a star cake decorator, while family legend has it that my nonna was the go to in the Italian community for her frutti di martoranano (miniature marzipan fruits). Over the years, I have studied cake decorating with Joan Mansour at NewYork Cake, pastry arts at the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, and entered my sugar work at the French Culinary salon of the International Hotel andRestaurant Show, where I won three gold medals for my sugar work – two of which were Jewish celebration themes. My work has been featured in American Cake, The Jewish Press, Russian language newspapers in the U.S.and Russia; and has been exhibited at the Derfner Judaica Museum and juried art show on the east and west coasts.
Many of the projects are designed to be done without the need of purchasing special equipment, cookie cutters and so on. Check out my tools page for suggestions on things around the house that can substitute for special equipment. Since many of you are too busy to bake or make frostings from scratch; many projects are created from products easily found at your grocery, candy, and/or craft store. For those of you who prefer to work from scratch, I’ve included basic recipes. Read the directions thru to the end, and check out to the “Substitutions” notes at the end of many of the projects.
Gold Medal of the Foire Departmentale De Léssone Ville Dévry
Bat Mitzvah 1993
Tang Gallery Skidmore College Alumni Art Show
