Merry Belated Christmas & Daring Bakers Challenge - Gingerbread House

Merry Christmas from the family! :)

Monkey 1 and Monkey 2

It's been a crazy and hectic month! Time seems to fly at HIGH SPEED when it comes to year end, doesn't it? Well, I'm once again late for posting my Christmas wishes to all of you AND for my Daring Bakers challenge (don't think THIS is ever gonna change! :P) Anyhow, I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Holiday!! =)

This year, I didn't feel as excited as I usually did....I think mainly because Nd (Lee) had to travel to Taiwan for work for the first 2 weeks of December. However, I have also notice that usually by the time we get to Christmas, I am already so exhausted with the kids' and Nd's birthdays, Thanksgiving and all the school parties. However, I am glad that, at least this time I wasn't late in the holiday baking. I managed to deliver all the treats to friends and neighbors the weekend before Christmas! Woohooo!!

Before I forget...
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

So, Gingerbread House made from scratch was the challenge, and boy, was THAT a TRUE challenge for me. We have only made gingerbread house ONCE, and from A KIT. At first, I was all excited, thinking of all the possibilities to decorate the gingerbread house, and that I would make a house for each of the kids, so they can decorate their own, and not mess with MINE! :P I started off by reserving gingerbread house books from the library. It was a little overwhelming ~ what design should I choose? Should I copy from one of the books, or should I make one of my own?? Then came the busy schedule that keeps building up, while I kept on pushing off the challenge. There was a week where we were forecast to have snow (we don't get a lot of snow fall in Portland, Oregon, some years, we don't even get ANY snow), and after last year's Arctic Blast, I was worried we were gonna get snowed-in and nothing to do. So I picked up all the candies --- but which candies to buy? How much do I need? I end up spending twenty something dollars JUST on candies itself, and we didn't even have ANY snow!!! Argghhh!

In short, I end up making the dough 3 days before Christmas ( I used Y's recipe)....thinking I could maybe have it done by Christmas. NOPE ~ THAT was just a thought! I only started rolling and cutting them out on Christmas night. I knew I was late, so I just picked a classic template from Gingerbread Houses: Baking & Building Memories by Nonnie Cargas.

I have read a lot of comments in the DB forum that the dough seems very dry. Mine seems ok, at least that's what I thought...until I started rolling them out. It cracks and tears like crazy! I added water, try to pinch them back together. Sometimes that help, but still it wasn't easy to work with.

Doesn't look too dry, right?

See how it cracks like crazy?

Anyway, I was ready to get it done...I cut out the template, planed on having one house for myself and one house for the 2 monkeys to share. As I was putting up the walls of my house, I realized I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE ROOF!!!! %$#*&#@!!!!! Talk about Challenge!! ~ No problem, no problem, I CAN be Bob Villa .I can fix THAT ~ the kids just have to sacrifice THEIR walls! ;P I trimmed the sides of my walls, and two of them cracked - no problem, just a little royal icing will fix it, and using the kiddos side walls, with 2 windows on each wall, WHICH could be the skylight for my gingerbread house! ;) Pretty proud of myself, I have to say.

See the two "holes" on the roof?? That's the skylight! ;)

However, there's still A problem. The walls weren't tall enough to fully cover the whole roof, so I had to patch the roofs with licorice. BUT before that, my other problem was...I had left the empty jar that I had used to support the walls while the royal icing dries, INSIDE the gingerbread house...and the roofs are already on!!! D-U-H!!!! So, I removed the roofs, take out the JAR, replace the roof, then patched the roof! Hmmm.... I wonder why I don't care about making gingerbread houses...especially from scratch??!!

See the jelly jar in there??? Bet you can tell which brand and what flavor huh?! :P

Anyway, that was really THE challenging parts of building a gingerbread house from scratch. The rest was the fun part, and was up to your imagination :)

Front view

Details on door

Side of house

Back of house

Top of house

Side of house

Despite all the interesting challenges I had, I was glad to have participated. Visit the Daring Kitchen for the recipes and other details in this challenge. And don't forget to stop by HERE to see how other Daring Bakers gingerbread turned out! You might get inspired and make one too! :)

Oh, by the way, there's always the question of to eat or not to eat the gingerbread house. And Nonnie Cargas has included in her book this poem for eating your gingerbread house, which I think is so funny and appropriate...

New Year's Poem for Eating Your Gingerbread House
by Nonnie Cargas

Eating this house so fair and sweet
Brings insight to the year you'll meet
For every bite has a tale to tell,
So eat for luck and wish you well.

If the front door is your choice to eat,
Far-flung visitors soon you'll greet.
But if on the pathway you choose to dine,
A trip afar will soon be thine.

Consume the roof if you want security,
For love and shelter will be a surety.
Tho' if it's adventure to which you aspire,
Devour the windows to achieve your desire.

From the warmth of the chimney true love will come;
A taste of it and a pair you'll become.
Or if, by chance, you're already a pair,
Eating the chimney will recharge the air.

Trees and buses bring money your way,
While lawn decorations bring laughter and play.
Fences bring projects at which you'll succeed,
And people bring kindness and help when there's need.

But indulge in some pieces that aren't mentioned here,
You'll have special surprises throughout the New Year!

Thanks Anna and Y for the challenge and thanks Nonnie Cargas for the great book and poem! :)

P/S Since I have LOTS of left over candies, I MIGHT, try another recipe and make up for the kids.

More photos of the snow...(are u tired yet?!) :P

This is my hubby's car, parked outside. You can see the initial snow accumulated on the 20th, then the layer of ice on 21st, then the new snow accumulated on the 22nd --- kinda like a hamburger! :P

The kids are sitting on the snow, about 1 ft off the ground!!!

The Juniper planted along our neighbor's sidewalk creates a shield from the snow to form a cave!
I can just imagine a bunny hopping in there. :)

Close up of the Juniper

Lucas shoveled the snow and said this is a waterfall! :)

Trying to build a fort with the recycling bin...I tell ya, it's A LOT of work!

Icicles forming on the gutters

This is a shot from the room window out onto the roof...that is how much snow has accumulated from a top view

Finally...

Nope, the snow didn't melt...but FINALLY the snow reach 12" or more! Just wanted to proof MY prediction right! :P Anyway, when we stepped out today, it almost reach my knees. I'm not a tall person, just 5'2 - hence almost to my knees. Here are some pictures for comparison between yesterday's post and today's...

Sunday's snow accumulation

Monday's snow accumulation

Sunday's snow accumulation

Monday's snow accumulation

Thankful

Despite the cabin fever (and the whining) I am experiencing, I want to say that I am very thankful...
I am thankful for...

• The heater that is running to keep us warm after a fun time playing out in the snow.
• The electricity that lights up when it gets dark, and when I need to cook and bake.
• The food that we have to keep our tummy filled.
• The water that is running instead of freezing up for us to clean and drink.
• Haggens (grocery store) to be a short walking distance from our house.
• The people who WORK in Haggens to get to work, so WE could get what we need.
• The $1 movie rental in Haggens to keep us entertained when needed.
  
• And for my husband to be safely home everyday of the week that he has driven to work in this condition.

I will pray for those:

• whose house have lost power, some, has no power for 48 hours now... that the electricity would be restore SOON.
• Those who HAVE no choice but still HAVE to go to work, to get home safely.
• The firefighters, paramedics, and police officers who rush out to help those in need of their service, stay safe themselves.

Still SNOWING....!!!

Ok, we woke up and there wasn't a foot of snow...maybe some where between 7-10 inches...depending on where u measure. This time, we didn't waste time..had breakfast, blow up the snow tube, and went outside. On top of all those snow is about 1/2 inch of ICE. As u step, the ice cracked and your foot will be buried in the snow. How fun is that?! The kids enjoyed stepping on them, and trying to pick up the BIGGEST piece of ICE and smash it! But if you get hit with one of the ice, it WOULD be PAINFUL! By the way, as I am typing this at 3:40pm, it's snowing AGAIN heavily outside! It is forecast to have another 1-2 inches of snow....and later, turn into ice as the temperature drops. Sigh....Can't wait for our regular winter weather! :P

Birdy's foot prints

Frozen spider's web dangling from the play structure

Frozen Japanese Maple

The ice crushed upon stepping on.


Lucas holding "his ice"

Yesmin found a piece of ice shaped like a heart! :)

Sledding down in the snow tube...not a good idea to use a inflatable one when there's ice...

Few rounds later, I think we punctured it. I didn't have a choice...the store ran out of the plastic ones :(

Daddy doing all the hard work

About 1/2 inch of ice

The street along our house

A neighbor's dog LOVED biting the ice pieces from the kids

Frozen berry

Another Round of ARTIC BLAST!!

It's been a crazy week. We rarely have accumulations through out the winter season...even if we do, they are usually gone in one to two days. Since last Sunday's snow, we were fortunate to get 2-3 days of break, at least in Beaverton. I got to go out and get more groceries, and on another day, our elderly neighbor came over to babysit the kids while I went out to get their Christmas gifts.

So, with the 2-3 days of break, we were crossing our fingers (and toes) that maybe we'll be lucky enough that the snow showers they had forecast, would blow some where else....so that we could go out. Nd (Lee) wanted to get a Wii game that Yesmin will enjoy more, as a Christmas present, get snow chains for both of our cars, and maybe head out to one of our favorite restaurant Sweet Tomatoes for their yummy soups.

However, when we woke up, all the side walks and drive way that I had shoveled yesterday are covered with SNOW! What a waste of my energy! :( This means...we ARE STUCK at home once again! ;P Unlike Sunday's snow which was big and fluffy, today's snow are small and packed. By late afternoon, it didn't look like the snow was going anywhere but here to stay. Strong winds blew + the snow....it's just amazing. I can't help but kept looking out our window, especially when the wind blew the snow off the roof...they reminds me of sprinklings of powdered sugar when I bake, and sprinklings of glitter when I scrapbook! :) I believe we could easily have one foot of snow by tomorrow, if it continues on snowing like that. I'll try to take a measurement tomorrow morning, and will add the photo on to here :)

As of 4 something p.m., it was close to 6 inches

Lucas trying to "sweep" the snow!

Yesmin trying to make a "snow sculpture"

Yesmin's snow Angle

The strong wind blowing the snow...don't they look like some shooting stars here??