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Monday, December 19, 2016

Gingerbread Houses


This past weekend my husband and I held our annual holiday party.  To keep things interesting, each year we choose a theme for our party, usually a country or great city,  I'll cook up a vegetarian feast inspired by the theme while my husband constructs a gingerbread creation. In the spirit of the season,
I thought it'd be fun to share some of his gingerbread masterpieces.

One year we combined France and England. Here's Notre Dame with Big Ben from across the pond.

And I'm sure everyone recognizes this famous tower in the heart of Paris.

Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe

There's Whitehall Palace in London in the back, surrounded by a potpourri of traditional English desserts.


Here's the man himself, in a New York state of mind.



One year I was looking for a challenge and hit upon the bright idea of Colonial America. Here's the Governor's Palace at Williamsburg, compares pretty well with the original.
Gingerbread Governor's Palace
Here's the actual building. It's hard to tell then apart!

We've done several parties with Italy as the host country. Here's the Leaning Tower of Pisa, lean
included!


Sometimes my husband opts for a more stylized interpretation, as in this map of the boot of Italy.



By now you might have noticed the cyclists. An avid bike rider and fan of all things cycling, my husband always tries to include a few bikes in the mix.


Our theme isn't always limited to one place. One year we based our party on the medieval pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Saint James in Santiago.

El Camino de Santiago is also known as the Way of St. James, St. James's Path, or simply The Way, the route travels through several countries, which are represented in this gingerbread diorama.

On the right the origin countries of Italy and  France are represented by the Colosseum and the Arc de Triomphe. On the far left stands Belem Tower in Portugal while the great Cathedral of St. James is firmly grounded in the center.


Here's a closeup of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
This year our theme was the lovely city of Quebec, the most European city of North America. For his gingerbread creation, there was only one choice: the beautiful Château Frontenac! 

The Château Frontenac in twilight



The Château Frontenac in gingerbread.
Though unique and uniquely beautiful, gingerbread was made for eating. Soon after the party, the demolition begins, with the neighborhood kids getting their fair share of the feast.

I enjoyed sharing one of our holiday traditions and would love to hear about some of yours!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

4 comments:

jean harrington said...

WOW!!!! To say I'm impressed with your gingerbread creations is an understatement. Your husband is an artist in icing. The most I've done is use one of the gingerbread kits and, to innovate, put a battery-powered votive light inside to give it a glow. Pretty lame in comparison. Thanks for sharing, Daryl. Have to alert my Facebook readers about your Christmas creativity.

Anne Marie Becker said...

Holy gingerbread, those are awesome!! Thanks for sharing. They're amazing, and there's such talent in your family. :) I don't have the patience for gingerbread houses, though I suffer through every year for the kids' sake. It's the putting together that frustrates me. The decorating can be fun, except that my hands hurt after helping all three kids squeeze those icing bags. I can only imagine how your husband must feel. Any tips? ;P

CathyP said...

Wow! The creativity (and talent) runs deep!

Sandy Parks said...

Being the remiss blog reader I am, I just saw this and was blown away. I love the art of fun cooking creations. What a wonderful idea and how much fun to share with others. Kudos to both you and your family for having a wonderful creative spirit and enjoying the holiday season. I love the around the world inspirations.

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