Lisa Taylor is my beautiful, brilliant, saucy, snapdragon demigoddess friend who just turned flompty-three. Since demigoddesses are both divine and earthly beings, the best way to honor one on her birthday is to sculpt her likeness out of produce. Then, go ahead and invite some friends over to eat her in effigy. 

You don't have to be super artistic like I am to build vegetable models of your loved ones for their birthdays. If you do take a stab at it, I'd say hair is the most important feature to replicate because it’s such a defining physical aspect of a person. Since Lisa is a sable-maned enchantress, whole black olives were perfect for her hair (note: I used sliced olives around the edges of the bowl to depict the alluring looseness of her curls).

Another recommendation: Study a photo of your subject to match your veggie dip to her skin tone. Lisa's ancestors are Lebanese, so I went with Annie's Tahini Goddess Salad Dressing™ because it captures her tawny Mediterranean radiance.

If you find that your guests aren’t eating your artwork because they don't want to destroy it, remind them that vegetable platter art is always meant to be temporary, like sand castles and ice sculptures. If that doesn’t work, get huffy and say, “Okay, well I'm not bringing out the steak tips till that thing is gone.” Then stand back and watch your get together become a Donner Party.