a gingerbread farm

here is what our farm looks like! for the most part. it's not totally to scale and it's actually a vision of what the future will look like because there is a hot tub and a few ponies romping around, and with the exception of the pink tractor, it is all edible! there are za'atar trees and matcha trees and heart-shaped jolly rancher windows... even a shameless gingerbread buick lesabre. 

i spent more hours that i'm willing to admit on this, and if i had a dollar for every time eggboy conveyed that i was a lunatic in the process, i'd have enough to buy a real pony, but it was 100% worth every second just to see the looks on all of the eggs' faces when they saw it. eggboy's lucky that i didn't set this in the middle of our living room and scatter coconut flakes all over the floor to represent the wheat fields and sugar beet fields. i will save that for next year.

i'd like it to be known that i did not throw one frustration-induced tantrum during this whole process. that's probably a given because technically i am a grown-up, but i've got an awful track record (which in past years has resulted in having to construct a house of cardboard and glue through a sea of tears), so i am very proud of myself for this. 

do you want to have a tantrum-free gingerbread house building experience? i have secrets for you over on food52! follow along this week with a series of three gingerbread house posts that cover: how to make rock hard walls that won't collapse, how to make icing that will dry like cement, and how to make fun little accessories like a blue raspberry hot tub and cylindrical pieces of gingerbread wall for a grain bin or silo. and you'll get a little tour of our farm in the process :)

go check it out!

-yeh!

gingerbread terrariums

my friday night began on a bench outside of the sears at the town mall. i ate a cold soft pretzel with honey mustard and worked on my computer while eggboy picked out some birthday tools with his family, because is there any better way to spend a friday night?

i should mention that our town mall is really great and carpeted and has an entire cowboy boot store.

we had plans to see the new hunger games after, and maybe eat a slice of pizza for pizza night, but by the time i could wind my way through the fleece pajama section to find the eggs, eggboy was on his way to the parking lot to revisit tommy the turkey and two kinds of stuffing in the worst way possible. nooooo!!!

three bottles of gatorade, a lot of episodes of the office, and a couple of saltines later, he is finally feeling well enough to fold laundry and stomach some toast. oy vey. poor guy. luckily, my weekend to-do list only consisted of finishing my gingerbread farm and making these gingerbread terrariums, so i was on hand to make tea and toast at a moment's notice. and ok, i might have watched a lot of the office too, which i consider a triumph because for the longest time i just didn't get that show and i felt like such a loser about it, but now i really like it. (does anyone care? no? ok.)

in other news, which probably should have come before news of barf: eggboy is 28!!!! and his dad, who also had a birthday this weekend, is, um, another year older!! we celebrated with a nice low-key brunch. biscuits, eggs, and bacon for us, a little plate of saltines for him. and then i made sarah's fantastic gingerbread for a cake because making a gingerbread farm really makes you crave gingerbread--actual gingerbread, not rock-hard gingerbread walls and roofs. i frosted one layer and slapped it on my new cake stand, and then crumbled up the other layer to use as the "dirt" in these edible terrariums!

i can't take any credit for the brilliant idea to make an edible terrarium. i have geordan to thank for that! the gingerbread and coconut "snow" put a wintery vibe on these, but feel free to use chocolate cake or any other dark cake for the dirt. and go wild with frosting flavors and other decorative goodies! part of me is really tempted to make my terrariums flood with a monsoon of milkshake or hot chocolate... 

---

gingerbread terrariums

makes 8-10

ingredients + supplies

1/2 batch of this gingerbread (or other 1 layer 8-inch cake), cooled

8-10 16 oz jars

1 1/2 c frosting (vanilla for snow, chocolate for mud, lemon for... yellow snow?)

ground pretzels for gravel or shredded coconut for snow

tweezers

marzipan kneaded with green food coloring for succulents or christmas trees

rosemary or other herbs

cookie cutouts, mini candy canes, sprinkles, any other fun decor

clues

crumble up the cake into the bottom of the jars to form an even layer and pat it down gently. top with a blob of frosting (it's easiest to use a piping bag for this). top with a thin layer of coconut or ground pretzels, and then use tweezers to position your plants and other decorations. 

to make the marzipan succulents, roll out the marzipan and use small cookie cutters or a knife to cut out little ovals or hearts and then smoosh them together to form a little flower.

enjoy!

-yeh!

this post was done in collaboration with urban outfitters! the mugs in these photos are the 4040 locust antler mug and the classic mason jar mug. thanks so much, urban!!

D.I.Y. CHRISTMAS TREE FLAGS

my new york friends often ask me if i'm bored here in north dakota.

it's a valid question. i would ask the same thing if i was in their position, watching a friend move from a city with three chinatowns to a place with one token chinese restaurant. 

the answer is: we don't get bored because we make our own fun.

every grocery store has a canning section and a beer brewing section, everyone has a grandma with stacks of vintage recipes scribbled on notecards that are fun to figure out, we have the time and the wood and the burly midwestern men (read: eggboys) to build anything we want, we have the space to garden and raise animals and dig random holes just because...

and when we see something crafty and cool in a store in new york but don't buy it because we've already spent all of our money on whiskey pickles and jalapeño jam, we make it.

there is a massive d.i.y. and crafting culture here. massive. and i can see why. we have, like, no stores, except for a michael's and a target and a hobby lobby. it's a bad thing for the anthropologie obsessor in me, but it's also kind of nice because i don't feel the pressure to buy other people's things and i can let your imagination run like a wild boar and it's cheap and it's fun.

i am assimilating.

i was so inspired by the wonderful be crafty workshop this weekend in fargo that yesterday i went with eggboy to target, and bought a tree but no ornaments: just some felt, burlap, pillow stuffing, and a hot glue gun. all night long we listened to old christmas songs while we glued together our ornaments in the shape of fortune cookies, sugar beets, shamu... 

our tree is so friggen cute.

so to start off what will surely be a bunch of d.i.y. posts, here is the easiest beyond easy thing to make ever. you probably don't even need directions. but humor me.

christmas tree flags

supplies

felt

sharp scissors 

a hot glue gun*

string

*i like using a hot glue gun because it dries so quickly. also, my first attempt at this was with fabric glue and it did not stick to the felt at all. 

clues

plug in your glue gun.

fold over about two inches of felt, and cut a triangle so that when you unfold it you have a diamond shape. 

glue the edges of one side of the diamond, and then fold it over your string and press down to seal.

repeat as many times as you want.

string on your tree or anywhere else!

(if you're real fancy you can stuff the flags with pillow stuffing!)

-yeh!