The "Icing Covers All Evils" Story

The Gingerbread display at RLPS Architects.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in the midst of the Adirondack Mountains trying to find my favorite cliff side house and waterfront house.  And, it's a tough job!  The big difference between these houses is that they are all made of pretzels.  Real pretzels .... and plenty of icing.  40 gallons of icing to be exact.  That and 120 sheets if 12" x 12" sheets if Gingerbread, 15 pounds of salt, 50 pounds of assorted candies and 20 pounds of Rock Candy.  This unusual combination stands in Adiron Deck The Halls Village inside RLPS Architects in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It is the annual Gingerbread display that has been an annual custom since 1998.  One of my former high school students, Jim, is an architect at the business and has been my host for many years.  I have had the chance to see the majority of the displays, since RLPS Architects was at the top of the hill from my house on Harrington Drive.  Three years ago the company relocated to a newly designed building about a mile from my house so I need to drive instead of walk to visit the yearly display.  The display is built by the employees of the business and takes a few weeks to complete.  This year it consists of 17 houses, 652 trees, more than 2,400 miniature lights and a multitude of miniature people, animals and accessories.  I spent close to an hour visiting the business today with Jim and I'm sure I saw only half of what there was to see.  There are a few rules for all the employees and this year they consisted of: (1) All buildings, features and accessories must adhere to the style of the Adirondack Mountains; (2) The display will be set at the turn of the century, 1900-1930; (3) Models will be at a scale of 3/8" = 1' [making normal people roughly 2" tall]; (4) All visible materials [other than windows, roof structure and lighting] must be EDIBLE; (5) Buildings shall be a single structure, no more that 100 square inches at the base after ALL candy has been applied; (6) Roofs will be shingled with nuts [almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.] OR cereal [Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Crispix, Life and Cinnamon Toast Crunch]; (7) No more than 30% of the roof may be covered in icing as snow; (8) Decorating the roof edge is allowed and encouraged, but must conform to the "lumberjack plaid" color palate; (9) Moving parts are encouraged; and the biggest rule of all this year is (10) 75-100% of exterior walls should be composed of pretzels.  And, there are over 30 shapes of pretzels that I found while taking photos of the unbelievable gingerbread display.  So, follow along as I take you on a culinary journey of the Adirodack Mountains as they are made of Gingerbread and Pretzels!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - click on photo to enlarge.

This waterfront home was judged as the best house.

The many trees were created with wire that was covered in icing and decorated.

This house is titled Honeymoon Cottage and has a neat blue truck in front of it.

Two figures are in a boat made of pasta.

The lodge is on the right with the waterfall made of tinsel that has a fan above it that blows the tinsel so it moves and looks as if the water is actually moving.

A dogsled is moving through the snow. 

Another neat house that has a chimney made of candy pieces.

This is a cabin under construction.  One of the workers on the roof is dressed in Amish garb.

A waterfront house.  In front of it is a bank made of Gingerbread and at the edge of the water is supposed to be ice built up that is lit with blue lights to make it look very realistic. 

This is a BBQ store along the waterfront.  The water is made of foil much like wrapping paper.

The Moose Lodge is a fantastic building.

High up on the hills is this really neat house that is reached by walking across the bridge.

Another small house showing walls of pretzel sticks.

These figures are part of the Polar Bear Plunge.  The detail on all the fondant figures is remarkable.