Sweets to the Sweet

Now, I know this is not a food blog. My blog is about living. But frankly, if we are going to talk about living, then we are definitely going to have to talk about food.

That being said, who likes gingerbread? I can recall the taste of gingersnaps my fourth grade teacher kept in a bag on a certain shelf in her classroom, the little gingerbread houses we formed around milk cartons and decorated with Necco wafers in fifth grade, and the fresh-baked gingerbread house my sister and I cooked up just a few years ago. Gingerbread has a warm, sweet and spicy scent that I will always associate with comfort, family, and chilly winter days.  The idea of a candy house, I suppose, dates back to the story of Hansel and Gretel, a German tale (appropriately, since gingerbread also comes from Germany) in which a brother and sister become lost in the woods and find a charming little cottage made entirely from edible sweets.

This week, the gingerbread made another appearance - this time in the form of a sweet little train, complete with engine, cargo car, and caboose. Granted, it was not remotely made from scratch (it actually came from a pre-baked Wilton kit), but that little train sure looked cute. And it smelled good, too.  My little brother and I assembled the gingerbread train with the provided icing and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves trying to get the candy pieces to stay put. It was actually my first time piping icing for a real project. Thank goodness a friend had taught me a couple piping tricks just a week prior!

Decorating the gingerbread train!

What do you think? Not bad for a first-timer, right? It looks too good to eat. The wheels were definitely a challenge, since the peppermint disks were fairly hefty and tended to slip from their position as hubcaps.  The rest went fairly smoothly, thanks to my newly-acquired piping skills. Huzzah!

Anybody who likes to decorate cakes and other desserts for kids and with kids will tell you that Wilton is king.  They make all sorts of fascinating tools, sugary products and mixes to help busy moms figure out a fun way to incorporate baking into their children's lives or to somehow concoct a themed cake their child would love.  Granted, Wilton is not just for kids - it can also be for professional bakers and decorators, but the point is that their company is all about making it doable, even for those of us who have not attended culinary training. By the way, this is free advertising... if I try or hear about something I like, I might be inclined to share it.

Speaking of which, if you need a superb decorating job done for any event and you live near Greensboro, North Carolina, check out My Two Sweetie Pies, a local bakery. The artwork in cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops is amazing. I have watched several dessert-based TV competitions and this baker's creativity tops them all, in my opinion.

Sweets to the sweet! Life is too short to die, anyway.