And all through the (gingerbread) house...

So that's another Christmas done and dusted. We had family gatherings on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, which meant slight variations on a very tasty spread of salads and vegetable dishes. Photo time here — I think it's all pretty self-explanatory. Thanks, Mum, for another delicious vegan lunch, and to my brother for awesome fruit-cutting skillz.



This year I thought I'd finally attempt a gingerbread house, as I'd been meaning to do for a few years. It is definitely not the easiest undertaking. I used this recipe posted on Vegansaurus, which was simple enough, and followed the templates they suggested. Rolling and cutting the various pieces without the dough breaking or cracking proved trickier for me. Assembling the baked pieces was surprisingly easy, and decorating was as fun as you'd expect. I only started it on the 24th, so was adding the finishing touches after lunch on Christmas Day. Time for more photos (and note the lack of "snow" — this is a Strayan Chrissy, mate)!



It ended up looking almost exactly like this:



There certainly is room for improvement: the gingerbread was a little thin, slightly overcooked, and warped or bubbled in a few spots; I'd use a smaller board and keep things closer together (although I quite like the "huge suburban yard" look this has); I'd remember to... um, cut windows into the damn thing; I'd bother adding a chimney next time, and maybe use a more complex design. I'll call this a good start.

Also, there are some questions such as, "How come they used the same home-made macadamia praline stuff on the roof as they did in their gardens by the front door?" and "Why did they use such coarse crushed mint gravel for their front path?" and "Do you suppose they'll lay down some turf in the back yard, or just leave it covered with that aluminium foil?" These, however, are all Things We Don't Need to Know.