Hi everyone! Back from the "I guess you CAN go home again" trip and have photos of the National GBH

M

marilynfl

Moderator
winner. We routed our trip to stop in Asheville at the Grove Park Inn as I was especially interested in seeing the Chef's Winners up close .

As (my) luck would have it, the hotel shipped the majority of winners off to New York for the Christmas Eve Today Show (or was it the Good Morning America show? Who knows?) virtually HOURS before I arrived. So instead of lots of photos to share with you, I ended up with lots of signs saying "Sorry! We've gone off to New York!"

They did leave behind the Grand Winner and I've got to say, that woman is amazing. Insane perhaps, but also amazing!!! She built her house-- are you ready for this--using individual gingerbread BRICKS! Brilliant actually, because that gives much more stability than flat sheets of gingerbread. Contestants for this competition aren't allowed to use ANYTHING other than food products, so trust me, there weren't any "I give up, Gravity. You win." roofs made out of foam core covered in candy seashells.

Even more amazing is this same woman won LAST year too. And that was her first entry ever! So the statistical odds of the same person winning TWICE after only two entries---with something like 450 entries each years is...ummm, is that a permutation or a combination???...ummm, I don't know...REALLY AMAZING.

Anyway, on to the photos. Please remember that EVERYTHING used must be 100% food product. So when you see the swags, they are made out of (I think) individual pieces of parsley. The house sits on a 2 foot square base--mandatory for all entries.

Also note that this building is 3 stories high...and it's not a hollow shell. No! There were internal edible floors and edible furnishings, like beds and rugs! How did she do that? Did no one explain the principle of G.R.A.V.I.T.Y to her?

Front view:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/Finer_Kitchens/DSC01919-1.jpg

Back View:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/Finer_Kitchens/DSC01921-1.jpg

View to see individuals bricks:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/Finer_Kitchens/DSC01927.jpg

Details:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/Finer_Kitchens/DSC01923.jpg

More Details:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/Finer_Kitchens/DSC01924.jpg

 
Pat, I don't know what this one took, but her first winner took 350 hours to make.

For that one, she made her own rubber stamp to imprint a woodgrain pattern on tortilla strip "wooden siding". She even dove-tailed the wooden steps.

 
MarilynFL, That is totally incredible. What patience and ability. Thanks for posting.

 
This is truly magnificent!! I'm sure this lady is very gifted and must have

have the patience of Job to take on a project like this.

 
I hope there are no architects here because I will tell you that no architect could have done that..

I'm in the business and I won't say what I think here but it takes a heck of a lot more than an architect to build a building - I'll leave it at that!

 
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