Saturday, January 03, 2009
The National Constitution Center celebrated the holidays with a gingerbread contest for kids. The contest was open to children up to age 14 and the goal was to create a gingerbread house that looked like the White House. The winner was announced on Monday: "And the winner, with 141 votes, is Patrick Hines. He will receive a party at North Bowl Bowling for twenty of his friends."
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Patrick, from Tabernacle, New Jersey explains what he used to create his winning entry:
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"The icing is made up of cream of tartar, egg whites and sugar, the windows are fruit roll-ups, and the red carpet is also fruit rollup.
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“Everything is edible. The gingerbread pieces are balanced against each other, and royal icing is used for glue to keep pieces together.
“The snowman is made from 3 marshmallows and bits of candy; the grass is coconut tossed in a bag with green food dye; the North Portico is held up by candy canes.
“I learned a lot about the White House while making this gingerbread house. Did you know that the window that used to be over the door under the North Portico was made by Louis Comfort Tiffany?
“This was a really fun project and I learned a lot.”
Congratulations to Patrick!
.[This just in from his Mom...]
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That was actually the 3rd house.
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The first one was going to have beautiful blue semi-clear windows. I had gotten hard candy and Patrick broke it up with a hammer. Well, nobody in this house had ever made gingerbread before, not even a cookie. I told Patrick not to cut the windows too big (didn’t know if I had enough candy). Well, the windows practically closed up: who knew gingerbread puffs when you cook it? What is it? A hot dog?
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We couldn't use the first house. I fed some of the raw gingerbread scraps to the dog: who knew she liked gingerbread?
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And guess who ate half of White House #2?
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By this time, I was having fantasies of The White House- as burned by the British.
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We had waited until Friday night to begin. The house had to be delivered on Monday morning in Philadelphia, but, how hard can it be making a gingerbread house? I was finding out. It kinda went like this:
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"Patrick, smaller."
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"No, Patrick, larger."
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"No, no, not like that."
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"O.K. that was good."
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"Very good trees."
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Well, by now I was checking on-line and it turns out it takes five White House Chefs five full days to create their White House; and they do it every year. Ugh.
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But I did tell Patrick he could do it; because I love history- I am not a baker or engineer: I am not equipped to supervise such an undertaking.
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Patrick overruled my choices anyhow: I wanted sticks of gum for the windows; a blue door (red, white, and blue theme); and on it went. It definitely was his house.
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I have more confidence in his abilities now. And much more respect for all those gingerbread houses. By the way, most of them are built on a frame of cardboard: Patrick’s was not: every bit of it was edible.
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Cool about the L. C. Tiffany windows, huh? Wonder where they disappeared to???
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I think Patrick got the idea of a red carpet from a picture of the recent visit of the French President.
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Don't know how I feel about the fact that my son can recite the ingredients for royal icing from memory.
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Dee
