Chef Nicholas got back Tuesday after judging the National Gingerbread Competition held at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. This was the 22nd year of the competition and Chef Nicholas tenth year as judge. Prior to his tenure as judge for the National Gingerbread Competition, Chef Nicholas judges two Food Network Challenge episodes shot at the resort: “Gingerbread Mansions “and “Gingerbread Champions.” This week, you are lucky enough to hear about the competition and judging process straight from the judges mouth! Chef Nicholas himself wrote this week’s blog! Enjoy!

Oh, and be sure to read all about our fabulous upcoming holiday sales at the end of this blog!

National Gingerbread House Competition

I have been lead, or “call,” judge for the last five years of the competition, and I worked with a professional team of judges that included chefs Steven Stellingwerf, Mark Seaman, Geoff Blount, Arron Morgan, Colette Peters, Cheryl Forberg. There are additional judges from other professional backgrounds that vary year by year. This year we had the pleasure of meeting and working with judge Rhoda Vickers, an amazing lifestyle blogger from Atlanta who writes Southern Hospitality. This lineup is very different from ten years ago when there were only two professional judges and numerous other judges from the weather channel, southern magazines, and local businesses! This year there was a total of 189 registered entries, but there were a lot of no-shows due to competitors running out of time, and the drama of an entry collapsing or falling apart during transportation to the resort (the Omni Grove Park Inn offers a gingerbread emergency room/triage for repairs, some entries just don’t survive the trauma!). We ended up with about 150 houses to judge; we had about the number of entries last year, but it’s nothing compared to the 300 from three years ago!

The competition is broken down into four categories: Child 5-8 years old, Youth 9-13 years old, Teen 14-17 years old, and Adult. People can compete as individuals or as teams. In the Child, Youth, and Teen categories there are many team competitors from schools, churches, language classes, homeschool groups, cub scouts, groups of friends, etc. These teams bring the number of competitors to over 400 individuals involved in creating the final 150 entries.

Each competitor submitted information about their entry including mediums used (like royal icing, gumpaste, etc) and creation process shots. These photos are important because they show me and my fellow judges how different parts of an entry was formed, baked, attached. This is especially helpful in the Child and Youth categories- while the competitors in these two groups are young, adults are only allowed to assist on a very limited basis- taking items out of a hot oven or off a hot stove, or using sharp knives. The child(ren) must do all other work on their entry. Over the years we have had to challenge our young competitors; once we repeatedly questioned a 6 year old competitor on how he achived the perfect piping on his entry. I know that sounds tough, but we must do this in fairness to all competitors- this competition is very serious! The other professional judges and I make suggestions each year as we strive for improvements to foster a better and fairer competition!

Over the last five years the grand prize winners have been very non-traditional- not one was a gingerbread house! Last year the grand prize winner was a set of Pandas. In 2012, for the 100th anniversary of Omni Grove Park Inn and the 20th anniversary of the National Gingerbread Competition, the tag line was, “Where a house does not need to be a house.”

The judging day starts with a breakfast for the judges and the Omni Grove Park Inn Marketing and Special Events team, next is introductions, followed by my explanation of the judging criteria and rules. Then each judge goes into the grand ball room to pick out their top ten entries in each category. This is purely done on visual impact and design, but judges also check that the competitor complies with the rules stating that EVERYTHING on the board has to be edible, and 75% of the entry must be gingerbread! As call judge, my job is to answer questions from other judges on mediums used and questions of things being edible; this year I had to drill into several entries to confirm that gingerbread was used, and I had to eat some mediums to ensure they were edible! Competitors can use organic things like dried or fresh herbs, nuts, and unusual things like sinew which was used in an entry this year to thread candy necklace pieces to make the lane dividers on a swimming pool and strings for pennant flags! Sinew can be boiled and eaten, and is popular in some countries, so it is considered edible. The string the candy necklace came on, or fishing wire, would not be acceptable as they are not edible! This year we had to disqualify several competitors due to the use of inedible items such as foam board, strings in rock sugar crystals, and candy with wrappers still on.

As the competitors often invest hundreds of hours of work in their entries, it’s only fitting that each entry is judged to the highest level standard! I have an
amazing team of professional judges, and between us all, we are able offer the competitor the highest level of judging offered in any gingerbread competition around the world! This really is the ultimate competition to enter, and looking at the quality of the entries in the included photographs you can easily see that these competitors and their gingerbread “houses” are truly the best!

This year we awarded the coveted grand prize to Anne B. Bailey from Cary, North Carolina; she created a whimsical gingerbread chess set entitled Pawn Stars. In addition to her fabulous cash prize, she was awarded a Nicholas Lodge Prize Package including a two-day class! Second Place went to Glenda Tant and her Hometown Christmas Parade, Third Place was Santa by Barbara Evans and Mary Jo Dowling. Congratulations to all the winners, and all those who participated! Job well done!

I hope that many of you will consider entering the competition next year- there is over $20,000 in cash prizes to be won!

Happy baking

Nicholas x

Holiday Retail Therapy

Here in the United States we are getting ready to begin our holiday season. A week from today is Thanksgiving, and Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Day are right around the corner! This of course means that the holiday shopping season will be kicking off next Friday (some people call it Black Friday. Here at ISAC we prefer to call it NL GREEN Friday!). Now, many stores are open on Thanksgiving day, or open at midnight after Thanksgiving. I, along with Molly, Molly, Gretchen, Ann, and Larry are lucky to have employers like Chef Nicholas and Scott who understand how important family and traditions are on the holidays. That being said, we will NOT be open on Thanksgiving or GREEN Friday. We plan on closing at 3pm the day before Thanksgiving, and will reopen on Saturday (11/29).

Don’t fret holiday sale lovers! We will still be hosting a pretty spectaular NL GREEN Friday sale, and a Cyber Monday sale! Actually, we will do you one better- our sale will begin on NL GREEN Friday(11/28) and run all weekend through Cyber Monday (12/1)! How’s that for a big sale weekend?! Our online store will be open and ready to deliver all your holiday wishes! Would you like to know what amazing deals the ISAC team is sharing with all our favorite people this year? Well, sit down, cause it’s a big list!

Holiday Sales!

– 15% discount on ALL orders $125 and over (use code HOLIDAY2014).

– FREE Shipping in the continental United States on all orders $300 and over (use code SHIP2014).

– Buy any NL DVD and get one of equal or lesser value FREE (while supplies last).

– Buy three patchwork cutters and get one of equal or lesser value FREE (while supplies last).

– Purchase up to three copies of Potpourri of Flowers for only $9.95 (while supplies last).

– Buy two Holiday Crunch Kits and get one FREE (while supplies last).

– Buy two pounds of chocolate coating and receive a FREE holiday chocolate mold (while supplies last).

How’s that for an amazing group of deals! There is one bit of housekeeping- as with all our promotions and sales, all Albert Uster Import products are EXCLUDED from this sale (that includes the 15% discount on orders of $125 and over, and the free shipping on orders $300 and over). Sorry friends. I hate being the bearer of bad news, so let me cheer you up. Our holiday sales DO NOT end on Cyber Monday! Nope, we are just warming up!

Starting Monday, December 1st, and going through December 12th, we will have a super special daily sale- 12 Days of Christmas! Each day a different product will be made available at a special price or at a special discount for that day only! Each day will be a surprise- like an early Christmas gift! I don’t even know what’s on the list, so I have to admit that I’m pretty excited! Now, if you want to get in on our 12 Days of Christmas, you MUST subscribe to our e-newsletter- this is how we will be announcing the products each day. How do you sign up? All you have to do is hop on over to our main page (www.nicholaslodge.com), and enter your email address the the box on the right hand side of the black bar. It’s that easy!

ONE LAST THING- In an effort to make things very easy on people who would like to subscribe to this blog: at the top of every blog post you will now see a link that says, “subscribe to blog.” Click the link you can enter your name and email address. Once you do that, you will be notified anytime I post a new blog entry. This is different from what I suggested last week. Finally, if you use a tablet, we have found that the box for your name and email sometimes get hidden behind the pop up keyboard when using your tablet in landscape (holding your tablet sideways), if this has happened to you, please try holding your tablet in portrait (straight up and down) and the box should be ABOVE the keyboard so you can see what you are typing! Several readers gave me feedback asking for an easier, more straightforward method to subscribe. I hope this is helpful for any and all new readers! 

Sweetly yours,

Stephanie

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