Safe And Sound

Okay, I know I Know all 9 of you have just been lost without me. I feel very bad about getting behind on the blog and letting you all down, as I know you wait anxiously by the computer daily to see what I have been up to. Don't worry I have not been slacking on my gingerbread duties but I did just move down to Oklahoma city from Pa so I have been slightly busy. It was a long 18 hour drive that me, my dad, and sophia(cat) did in two days. My father wanted to spend the night in St Louis MO so that left one very pressing question on my mind "what restaurant from diners drive ins and dives will we go to!!" Well we picked a good one; The Iron Barley. I got a veggie Ruben and it was to die for. The meat was replaced with tomato's that were no doubt sauteed in lots and lots of butter, and it came with a nice side of a vinegar coleslaw. My dad got some huge prime rib with a side of polenta barley that he somehow did not manage to finish, very unlike him. I opted to not get a slice of their famous pie, due to the fact that in less then two weeks I will have to be seen in tights again. The next morning we stopped at a coffee shoppe and made our way to the big arch. I didn't want to go but my dad was so excited that I could not hold him back and let me tell you I am very glad I went. It is something to see for sure and quite impressive. After a quick visit to the arch we left for OKC and made it there a quick 7 hours later. "what dose any of this have to do with the damn gingerbread house" I know that's what your thinking and to tell you the truth A LOT. Everything that I made thus far, only small pieces that can be assembled later had to be hulled across country. This is only a taste of what was to come when the house would be completed and taken to Asheville. I got lots of small boxes and lined them with a kind of fiber bad ding. Each piece was placed in and layered with more of the bad ding before being tapped shut. A prayer was said and then loaded into the trunk away from anything that could slam into them. I tried not to think about what was happening to them during the trip, at that point there was nothing I could do and if it all broke well. . . . I would have just killed myself. Easy Fix. Needless to say when I opened to check to see what damage had been done during transit not one thing had broken. The gingerbread gods were with me the two days we traveled and I forever will be grateful. I have gotten a lot of work done since we last talked that I have not shared with you yet but. . . well I kinda don't want to share because I dont want any copycats. Although I will give you a taste of what to expect to see in the next few posts so stay tuned.

Plan Of Attack l

Okay, so it has only been a few short posts and hours upon hours of work have been covered. We are all caught up and almost ready to work together in real time. However there is one very important topic I have not covered yet; Plan Of Attack. This is probably the most important weapon needed when entering gingerbread warfare. I have plenty of guns, knives, and flame throwers ( that may be a bit dramatic, how about piping bags, icing colors , and a great cookie recipe) but anyone can get those things with a few clicks of a mouse or by running down to the local craft store. A strategic timeline of events on the other hand can not be bought. When up against such a sophisticated enemy a simple 1 make cookie, 2 slap on some royal icing, 3 throw on some sale Christmas candy is not enough.
The first step in my plan was to send in the spies, observing your opponents strenghts and weaknesses you can see what they do that you like and also what was not so successful. One must be very careful when doing this step, it is very easy to get bogged down when seeing what great talent is out there. This took me directly into phase to "intelligence", DO YOUR RESEARCH !!!! In step one after finding beautiful poured sugar work on a GB home I did not give up thinking I could never do what they had done. I got books, went on the Internet, and asked people until I found out the best way to get a similar or better effect. Having knowledge is a great thing but like a beautiful meadow scattered with land mines, things are not always as they seem. That is why before I do anything directly with the house experimenting on the side is a must.
Once the spies are in and intelligence has been obtained I felt it was time to begin the march into war. This included Finding the house to model and making the model.(Both covered in previous posts)
War never goes as planned and one must always be ready and willing for changes, If the front door is barricaded find another way in. If there is no apparent entrance dig a tunnel and crawl in. Always put up a good fight don't just hold up the white flag and surrender. If movies can tell us anything its that the person with the white flag gets killed anyway. Its better to die with dignity.
So we are all caught up and ready to go into battle together as a team. The rest of my master plan will unveil itself as we continue because it is an ever changing being. Keep in mind I am not a violent person but gingerbread is a serious situation and can not be handled lightly, although it must be handled lightly !!!!!

Over and out

Man Down !

Ladies and gentlemen I have grim duty to report the first casualty of the process. Only two days ago I proudly introduced you to my final cake from my Wilton, Flowers and Cake Design Class in my "Look Mom I Graduated" post. She was a stout young thing less then 12 hours old and getting some rest for her big reveal bright and early the next morning. As I laid her down for bed there were some instinctual parental concerns that were setting in. There was something not sitting right in my stomach but exhausted from a long day of baking, making icing and finishing up my last class I ignored my concerns and went to bed.
I cant say that the next morning when I went to check on her and one side had crumbled that I was shocked. Parents know when something is wrong and should always follow that natural instinct.
The coroner ruled the death as laziness, not making the gum paste stems long enough and poor flower placement in the cake were the two main causes of death. All things that I knew but ignored. "Why are you telling us about cakes on a gingerbread blog" you ask? Well this just goes to show you how quickly hours of work can be reversed by skipping a few simple steps. Take the time to do your work right the first time, and if you don't have the time DO NOT START THE PROJECT. The work will just need to be done again wasting time and supplies. No one should have to go through what I went through the other morning and I hope this post will help save innocent confections.

RIP Little Daffodil Cake.

"Ummm. . Can I Take PIctures Of Your. . House"

"Umm . . Can I take pictures of your your house?" Imagine what the owner of my model home was thinking when she herd that. She defiantly seemed shocked but probably not as shocked as she would have been if I was just standing outside of her window taking pictures. After explaining myself and how I was on the road to eternal glory she agreed to let me roam around her property and take pictures of her home. Taking pictures from every angle not to miss or forget a single thing (remember the model home is in Pa and I will soon be moving to OK)
For the next week I made daily visits to the home counting bricks for my graphing process. See most bricks are twice as long as they are wide, so when graphing the home every brick on the house was two squares across by one square high. This was no easy task as I kept going cross eyed during the process ! But nothing could stand in my way not even the dirty looks from neighbors wondering what on earth I was doing. I fist grafted the entire home including windows and doors from that point I decided to transfer and cut the shapes out of a foam core material. I choose foam core to make my model out of because it is the exact thickness that i want to make the cookies, and it will give me a realistic view of how my pieces will fit together. After I got the basic structure of the model up I began to add details such as the front porch chimneys and the very very very intricate woodwork. This all takes a much more time then you think so if you are planning a GB House stop reading this damn blog and get to work !
Realizing my foam core templates were a good choice for the model, the material will not be the best for cutting around with sharp knives. Time will be of the essence when frantically carving a warm slab of gingerbread , so a soft plastic called PVC seemed to be the ideal material. Yes if you were counting 3 Full templates of the house were made 1 Graph paper 2 foam core 3 PVC each time little flaws were noticed and corrected it was a very time consuming process but guess what HASTE MAKES WASTE! The above picture is of the unfinished foam core model home but you may notice that there are no dormers on the roof, they will be left out of the final project as well. Sometimes more does not look more impressive it looks messy and I feel the home will have a cleaner look without them.

If you ever have any questions of steps I have been vague on or not covered, I will always be more then happy to answer them.

Look Mom I Graduated !

Okay well I never said college, but I did graduate my Wilton course's 1 & 2 this week. When serious work on the Old GB house began, I figured it would be a good idea to learn how to manipulate sugary confections, and so I enrolled simultaneously in the two classes. Every Monday and Wednesday for the past four weeks, me and my classmates have been slaving away making rosettes, shells,flowers of all types, as well as the dreaded ribbon rose. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a very competitive person: in ballet I live for the moments when I get to be the example of what to do. Taking this mind set into my Wilton classes I would always practice material at home before we learned it, so I would be the best in the class.(sad I know)

Over the past four weeks I did learn a lot of techniques that will help my with the house as well as future cake making. The first picture is the cake from my decorating basics class were I utilized the techniques such as the shell border and the ribbon rose (suprisingly harder then the traditional rose). All in all I am pleased with this cake, although the frosting is sloppy; however, I was rushing.(no excuse I know) The second cake is my final cake from my flowers and cake design class. Utilizing the basket weave, shell, and rope border, I made a little basket holding some freshly picked daffodils which were made from royal icing with a gum paste stem. This cake made me happy when I finished. There are things that I would change and do better on both cakes, but are the mistakes still there if you eat them away?<>

The Hunt

When searching for the perfect house to model the GB House after, I truly felt as if I were hunting prey. I didn't want to go too simple ( like shooting a squirrel with a shotgun) or too ambitious (like trying to take down a bear with a BB gun) --- I wanted a good match, something that would challenge but not completely overwhelm.

Remembering all the beautiful Victorian homes in my home state of Pennsylvania, I waited until the season was finished in Austin to start my safari. Every walk around the block became an adventure in and of itself: I took notice of things that before I would never give a second glance. "Wow I bet a chocolate taken out of temper would give that same grainy texture of a slate roof ! Could I replicate that torrent without cracks in the dough?" (Who thinks of these things? or a better question: who cares?) Well obviously I did, which is exactly why the hunt had to continue.

After stalking the prey for a matter of weeks, taking note of both weaknesses and strengths, I narrowed it down to a few that I would be proud to mount on my wall. Some were very grand tons of ornate woodwork, balconies and complicated roof angles. They were very beautiful, but could I recreate that same beauty? On the other hand, taking the easy way out, making the same old rectangle with a gumdrop wreath, was out of the question. I had it narrowed down and I was just about to make my decision and go in for the kill. Was I going to choose the strong leader of the pack with a beautiful cote and spiraled horns or was I going to pick off the one with the gimpy leg who cant keep up? I had my sights set and my finger on the trigger when just then something caught my eye. Hiding behind a few small trees, only one block away, there she was, all this time right under my nose. Seeing the quiet beauty of this home made me think. I don't want to hurt it ( I have almost twisted my ankle several times dogging ant farms, its just not me) This shy little home needed someone to love it and help bring out her natural beauty, not someone who will overpower it, scare it away, and that someone is me. Here she is, a little rough around the edges but a damn nice bone structure. I only hope I can do her justice.

Don't forget I have made a lot of progress already,so we have some catching up to do. keep your eyes peeled for my next post when I discuss how I grafted and put together a model of the GB House.

A bientot !

And So It Has Begun

It has been four weeks since I have started the old GB house (as I like to call it) and a lot of progress and mistakes have been made already. I have envisioned and researched how I would create the house for about 7 months now but it seems nothing can prepare you for the amount of work that it will actually take. Before we talk too much about the GB House, I should tell you what I would like to achieve.

For the house its self I would love it to take home the gold in Asheville, North Carolina at the National Gingerbread Competition, not only for the instant burst of fame and glory, but for the experience as well. "Why is this boy spending so much time on this silly house? Doesn't he have enough on his plate dancing professionally for a ballet company?" I imagine you will be asking yourself. Yea I do have a lot going on and ballet is my job but I have a passion for pastry. I am sure even getting a house to Asheville will teach me more then I can imagine, although winning would be ideal. I would love to study pastry abroad and the prize money would give me a little nest egg to help my dreams become more of a reality. I have even started learning French just in case. ( If you see any random French phrases thats why, but you must imagine me saying it with a very bad accent and a little stuttering to get the full effect)

I have had almost no formal training whatsoever. Actually, I have gotten a great deal of information from bloggers like yourself and pure trial and error which we will experience together along the way. "Why have you started already" is a common question you may be asking yourself; I am anticipating some major failures along the way since this will be the first time I'm trying most of these techniques. ( Frustrating for me, Entertaining for you). I hope you follow me every step of the way because, like in ballet, nothing makes me more upset then when I fall and no one sees; it's not the fall that's important, but that everyone missed it and there was no one to laugh with.

The next several posts will catch you up on my progress thus far and then we'll walk step by step together from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Asheville, North Carolina.

Keep your eyes peeled for my next post (The Hunt) how I tracked down the perfect house to model.

A bientot ! - See you soon !