Posts tagged christmas

Breaking News: The roof of Portomaso Tower collapsed early this morning

0

Breaking News:

The roof of Portomaso Tower collapsed early this morning

Roof of the Portomaso Tower collapsed early this morning, leaving massive structure damage to the rest of the building. Now when the roof is gone, there is no weight on the walls and it will probably take a few days before they fall down. If they still stands by the end of next week, they will be demolished.

The building constructor Emma Brynils says that she will not rebuild the tower until the problems leading to this collapse, has been analyzed and actions taken to prevent this from happening again.

-It’s really no fun to put all time and effort into building houses or in this case – a tower – when it only lasts a couple of days, Emma says. 

Since the collapse were predicted the building was already evacuated and no gingerbread man or women was injured.

The tower without the roof

The tower without the roof

The walls split up when the roof collapsed

The walls split up when the roof collapsed

The roof and antenna is broken in pieces at the bottom of the tower

The roof and antenna is broken in pieces at the bottom of the tower

My tower splits apart more and more

0
My soon-to-be-gone tower

My soon-to-be-gone tower

Look at my poor tower… not much to do about it now.

I’ll just wait and see how long it takes before it falls apart.

I know for sure it won’t last until Christmas anyway.

Now, this is what I call a gingerbread house!

4

…I think I need to practice on my gingerbread-house-building skills… ain’t this amazing?!

Foto: Tomas Jakobsson, Länsmuseet Gävleborg

Foto: Tomas Jakobsson, Länsmuseet Gävleborg

Pepparkakshus i jätteformat 

Entrén 

I år är det tionde gången som konstnären Margareta Persson designar och bygger ett pepparkakshus i jätteformat. Några av de tidigare husen har stått på museet och några i restaurangmiljö. Denna gång är huset större än någonsin – ett mäktigt pepparkaksslott! Med stjärnprydda torn och tinnar, stämningsbelysning och 145 (!) spröjsade fönster står det i länsmuseets entré och sprider pepparkaksdoft och julkänsla.

Länsmuseet Gävleborg

My tower is crumbling in Malta’s humid air

2

Only a few days has gone by since I made the tower and it is already falling apart. The gingerbread is soft and spongy, and the sugar-glue dissolves slowly. I’m surprised if it stills stands on Monday.

What should I do? Any suggestions?

Let’s build a gingerbread house!

2

Since I hade plenty of dingerbread dough left, I decided to build a gingerbread house.

First I had to cut out the different pieces I needed.

First I had to cut out the different pieces I needed.

Let the pieces cool down.

Let the pieces cool down.

The smaller pieces got a little burned, but it will have to do anyway.

The smaller pieces got a little burned, but it will have to do anyway.

I think I have all pieces now.

I think I have all pieces now.

 
The corners must be separated from the wall.

The corners must be separated from the wall.

So, all corners at separated from the walls now.

So, all corners at separated from the walls now.

I melted sugar and used it as glue.

I melted sugar and used it as glue.

The first 3 sides were easy to put toghether.

The first 3 sides were easy to put toghether.

It was difficult to add the last side without getting burned on the sugar.

It was difficult to add the last side without getting burned on the sugar.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First corner piece in place.

First corner piece in place.

All 4 small corners added without any problems.

All 4 small corners added without any problems.

 
Corner walls

Corner walls

 
All corners are added now.

All corners walls are added now.

  
 
The roof is put in place. The hole is for the antenna.

The roof is put in place. The hole is for the antenna.

 
I had to add reinforcement on the roof for the heavy antenna.

I had to add reinforcement on the roof for the heavy antenna.

 
 
 
 
 
Looking good!

Looking good!

I had problems with the antenna, it almost went throught the roof.

I had problems with the antenna, it almost went throught the roof.

Almost ready now!

Almost ready now!

Time to decorate

Time to decorate

I'm done with the decorations.

I'm done with the decorations.

Portomaso Business Tower as  gingerbread house

Portomaso Business Tower as gingerbread house

Falling star

0
Falling star
Falling star

When I woke up this morning the star in the study was on his way down. I have no hook to hang it on, so I’ve used tape. Maybe it wasn’t my most brilliant idea, but it seemed to work at the moment… and it actually lasted more than 2 days anyway.

1/2 Easter egg + green cone = Christmas tree on Bay street

0
Bay street version of a Christmas tree

Bay street version of a Christmas tree

This is not the most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve ever seen. It falls into the same category as the Christmas tree at the hotel in Thailand -06, I think. The “almost-better-than-nothing” category.

But a tree that I do like is the one in my hometown Ockelbo: Vackraste granen finns i Ockelbo.

I’ve been baking gingerbreads for over 3 hours now

0
I made heart-shaped gingerbread this year

I made heart-shaped gingerbread this year

…and I still have dough left that I had to put back in the fridge.

A few years ago I made lussekatter (saffron buns). And I thought it was just as good to make a lot of lussekatter, so I almost doubled the recipe. Then I was stuck baking lussekatter for 6 hours. I was sooo tired the next day! But I think my collegues at work were happy when I served the buns at the coffee break. :-)

So, this time I made only 3/4 of the recipe. Next time I’ll only make half!

The gingerbreads are ready!

The gingerbreads are ready!

Making glögg

0
Glögg ingredients: ginger, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.

Glögg ingredients: ginger, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.

I heated the spices in red wine and vodka

I heated the spices in red wine and vodka

I set fire to the alcohol and poured it over the sugar, that melted down in the glögg. I had to work fast because the ladle and the stainer were both plastic and I didn't want it to melt in the heat of the fire. Then I left the spices in the glögg for an hour. Then I filtered it, heated it up again and served it with chopped almonds and raisins. It tasted really good! I also have 1 litre left in the fridge for next weekend.

I set fire to the alcohol and poured it over the sugar, that melted down in the glögg. I had to work fast because the ladle and the stainer were both plastic and I didn't want it to melt in the heat of the fire. Then I left the spices in the glögg for an hour. Then I filtered it, heated it up again and served it with chopped almonds and raisins. It tasted really good! I also have 1 litre left in the fridge for next weekend.

Making dough for gingerbread

2
Some of the ingredients for gingerbread

Some of the ingredients for gingerbread

No, I did not drink the cognac. I used it to flavor the dough.

No, I did not drink the cognac. I used it to flavor the dough.

It smells like christmas in the kitchen now, with all spices...

It smells like christmas in the kitchen now, with all spices...

The gingerbread dough is ready! Now it has to rest for 24 hours before I bake the cookies.

The gingerbread dough is ready! Now it has to rest for 24 hours before I bake the cookies.

Go to Top