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- Description of Pictures: Including pictures of the White House Gingerbread House.
A Favorite Holiday Tradition
Posted by Bill Yosses on December 22, 2009 at 10:36 AM EST
Each year, the White House Pastry Team comes together with other members of the White House staff to work on a favorite holiday tradition: The White House Gingerbread House. Because this project requires so much space, the gingerbread house is usually assembled in the China Room of the Residence instead of the pastry shop. Everyone from White House carpenters to plumbers to electricians lend their expertise to help make this project a success.
Weeks were spent planning out the details, studying James Hoban’s original architectural designs and blueprints, gathering ingredients and creating a time line.
And then the real work begins. More than 150 pounds of gingerbread dough is made and this year the recipe called for White House Honey! After baking the gingerbread, it is cut into pieces that become the house’s foundation. The gingerbread is so thick that a band-saw is used to create the bricks for the gingerbread replica. More than 250 lbs of white chocolate is then used for everything from the adhesive to the decorative elements. The white chocolate provides the flexibility needed to create details like the rosettes and the banisters, the windows and the wreaths.
This year we have two special features.
The first is a shadow box view of the State Dining Room – the room that the completed gingerbread house sits in throughout the holiday season for visitors to view. This shadow box even includes the famous painting of President Lincoln by George PA Healy that hangs over the fireplace. This room is where you’ll find the only inedible parts of the gingerbread house – the light fixtures!
We also include the new White House Kitchen Garden and our favorite four-pawed friend, Bo. Both are made out of marzipan. In the garden, you’ll find baskets of carrots, eggplants and cabbage as well as other seasonal vegetables.
We have such a great time planning, baking and decorating, but each year the best part is always seeing the reactions of visitors from across the country when they first see our gingerbread house on their tour of the actual White House.
We hope that you’ll enjoy this video of our gingerbread house as much as we enjoyed making it.
Happy holidays and best wishes for a sweet start to the New Year!
Bill Yosses is the White House Executive Pastry Chef
The above was from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/22/making-white-house-gingerbread-house
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- WHVC_100104_054.JPG: Note you can see the gingerbread house on the mantle where it actually was when it was in the White House.
- Wikipedia Description: President's Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
President's Park, located in Washington, D.C., United States, includes the White House, a visitor center, Lafayette Park, and the Ellipse. President's Park was the original name of Lafayette Park and Square. The current President's Park is administered by the National Park Service.
White House Visitor Center:
The White House Visitor Center is located in the north end of the Herbert C. Hoover Building (Department of Commerce headquarters between 14th Street and 15th Street on Pennsylvania Avenue NW). The visitor center serves as a starting point for those going on a reserved tour of the White House. The various exhibits also provide an alternate visitor experience for those who did not schedule a tour. The themes of the six permanent exhibits include First Families, Symbols & Images, White House Architecture, White House Interiors, Working White House, and Ceremonies and Celebrations. A variety of other exhibits change frequently during the year.
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