September 23 UPDATE: WE WON! WE WON! Our Scary Angler Fish below won the watermelon carving competition!! YAYYYY! Thanks for the Friday night call, Faye Clack Communications. :) ---- Like my Battle of Puebla guacamole battle scene and chemical-free Blushing Porcupine candy apples, below is my submission for a food blogger watermelon carving competition: Scary Angler Fish How to carve a Scary Angler Fish:

• Buy multiple watermelons, one for face, one for fins, and one just in case.
• Use a dry-erase marker to draw the mouth and eyes.
• With handy-dandy melon baller, carve out teeth and scoop out eye sockets.

Sharpen teeth and clean out mouth for neater appearance.

• With another watermelon, carve two small triangles out of rind for fins. Cut a small slit on each side of angler fish to insert one triangle point. They should rest without needing extra fastening.
• Repeat for dorsal fin on top with a larger triangle
• Repeat for tail on the back.
• Insert travel containers into eye sockets for bug-eye effect.

Scary Angler Fish electronics:

• Things to sacrifice: one metal coat hanger, one 3-foot length of network cable, and one keychain LED flashlight.
• Disassemble the LED flashlight. Get the batteries and the LED bulb leaving as much of the bulb leads intact as possible.
• Strip protective coating from network cable and untwist 2 of the wires to use (any lightweight coated wire like this will work). Solder one wire to each of the LED bulb leads, and wrap each connection with electrical tape (or use heat-shrink tubing).
• Cut the coat hanger, shaping to fit so part of it arcs over angler fish's face, and the other part is long enough to poke all the way through the watermelon from the top.

• Using electrical tape, fasten LED and wires to front of arc, and secure the remaining electrical wire to the coat hanger - do not trim the wire!
• Twist ends of dangling wire together so they don't separate. Feed loose wires through hole in watermelon. Continue to feed with the coat hanger, until it is in correct position. Untwist wires.

• LED flashlights usually come with two x 3-volt batteries which run in series providing 6 volts total. Simply stack the batteries like you would checkers (one on top of the other/negative to positive) and secure with electrical tape. Secure one wire to the top of the battery stack with electrical tape, secure the other to the bottom and your LED should illuminate (if not, reverse your wires).

Scary Angler Fish final aesthetics:

• Attach small styrofoam ball around LED.
• Wrap coat hanger and wires with green ribbon.
• Put googly eyes onto travel containers in eye sockets.
• Turn out the lights!

Special thanks to my husband, for providing LED-rigging expertise. :) If you decide to make your own Scary Angler Fish, these Canadian Living recipes will help use up the leftovers:

• Watermelon Raspberry Juice
• Watermelon with White Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Yogurt Fruit Pops

Did you know these scary angler fishes are all female? The males are tiny, atrophied fish that live off their backs as parasites. Crazy!