The Omni Grove Park Inn National Gingerbread House Competition succumbed to the COVID lockdown fever and tried to do a virtual event for 2020. They announced it was going forward a month later than usual (August instead of July) and brought the entry deadline up a month (October instead of November) effectively cutting 2 months off the timeline. Instead of cutting back on the detail to hit their deadline, I opted to participate in the Savannah Gingerbread Trail competition which was held in person and in November. What an eye-opener it was!
We had never been to Savannah before so this was an opportunity to do a weekend getaway as well as seeing the entries in person and meeting the other competitors. If you have never been there I highly recommend it! It has charm and character and history … and it doesn’t feel like a city so much as a community. Take the hop-on-hop-off tour to get to know the lay of the land and get a hotel within walking distance of the riverfront district. We walked down for breakfast at The Two Cracked Eggs (be there early or plan on hanging out a while) then strolled with coffee along the river walk watching the ships come in and the area come to life. Glorious! Shopping, people watching, site-seeing from a riverboat, what else do you need to have a great day (or 3)?
The competition itself was a lot of fun. It has the same basic requirements for entries as OGPI (100% edible, fit in a 2’x2’ space, 70% gingerbread with some exposed) and attracted several of the people who usually compete at OGPI. I am told that 2021 will be expanding to have additional events around the main one (a Gingerbread Ball, for one) which will make it even more fun and exciting. The event gets bonus points for raising money for the Savannah Harbor Foundation and engaging the entire community in displaying the entries.
My gingerbread creation this year is based on pictures found online of Chinese bone carving. Usually involving ox bones, the carvings depict plants, birds, animals, people, structures, and fantastical whispy clouds. I had to scale back to fit in a 2’x2’ area as a lot of the examples with tons of detail were huge, but there was no shortage of creative opportunities. So without further adieu, I give you “Bone Carving in Natural and White Gingerbread”.
It is 90% gingerbread and the most dense structure I have ever created weighing in at over 54 pounds. The white gingerbread is made by swapping white ingredients for any ingredient of color (white sugar instead of brown, clean corn syrup instead of molasses) and using white icing color in the making of the white gingerbread pastillage. The other 10% is royal icing, white modeling chocolate, and rice cereal treats in the pagoda for stability.
The amount of detail on this thing looks daunting but was mostly just time consuming. I used leaf and flower molds which simplifies the process (and makes it more accessible to us regular folks who are not sculptors) but it took months of working weekends and before/after work to layer everything on and finish it up.
As always, I included the USMC Easter egg but with a twist this time. Instead of using the logo itself I engaged a coworker who is a native speaker and got the symbols for “eagle”, “globe”, and “anchor” in Chinese and used them on the pagoda.
Although I did not place in the top 3 I got the only “honorable mention” they gave out and was thrilled with the positive feedback from the people who attended in person. Another great gingerbread competition is in the books.
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