Gingerbread Village with Assistant Chef Ryker

Yay, it's that time of year again and you know what that means . . .  

 

. . . that's right, my Uncle Joe Hickel, the Pastry Chef at the Hotel Captain Cook Anchorage, has built his Gingerbread Village again and I gotta go take a look.

 

This is me an' Uncle Joe in front of the village.  Uncle Joe counts on me to inspect the village and give it the Ryker Sniff of Approval.  That's sorta like a Blue Ribbon, only better.

Let's do a quick photo-op for our fans, Uncle Joe.

And of course I need to say hello to my fans real quick too.

OK.  You ready?  Here's a high-five for luck.  Lemme put on my hat and let's go have a look.

Uncle Joe is explaining how he made the pieces.  He's very clever with gingerbread and candy and chocolate and icing and everything.  

Hey mama, you gettin' this?  Uncle Joe says we can do some close-ups.

 

 

Do you get a sense of how big this Village is?  Here's some more!

Isn't that gorgeous?  It takes him about three weeks to build it.  And there's more . . . 

All that detail - I could stare at this for hours . . .

 

Look over here Mama.  There's even rock pieces showing through the snow.

 

 Well that is just incredible detail.  And it tastes really good too.  Hey Uncle Joe, I have GOT to know how you did that.

 Uh huh . . . had to cut each piece to size, eh?  Oh, and you put 'em on *after* the icing . . .

 

. . . really?  Each piece, one at a time?  And you just push 'em right in?  That's very impressive.

 

 Congratulations Uncle Joe, I hereby award you the coveted Snootersnack Award.

 

You deserve it Uncle Joe.  I think this is your best Gingerbread Village ever!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everybody from Mama, me and the bestest Uncle Joe a doggie could have.

To see more live views of Pastry Chef Joe Hickel's Gingerbread Village and even a time-lapse video of him building it, you can go to his website here: Gingerbread Village