extreme pepperkaker, part one

I was feeling a little down yesterday because the annual Christmas cookie baking festival at my grandparent's house in Richfield was happening...without me. But lo and behold, just when I was about to go to my room and cry, my friend Silje invited me and some friends over to make a pepperkaker house with her and her mom.
(No, I wasn't really going to go cry in my room...but the thought of it sure tugged at your heart strings, right?)

Before I go any further, I must clarify something right away. Silje's mom is an expert pepperkaker maker. I'm serious. She has written books about it and won contests and could probably pepperkaker the planet if she put her mind to it.

With that said, our pepperkaker adventure began as any pepperkaker adventure might. Silje's mom gave us some basic tips, showed us examples from her book, and told us that we were the creative geniuses and she was the technician. Any plan we devised could and would be fulfilled.

And then she dropped the bomb: "By the way, your creations are going on display at the town hall...and they will all be part of a pepperkaker replica of the city of Tromso."

She suggested that we design our own Tromso Peace Building, or something new and creative like that. After discovering that our creations were going to be under public scrutiny, her idea of a group project sounded pretty good. We began the creative planning process...being sure to include architectural styles from all seven or five of the world's continents - and an ice-skating rink. (There was some heated debate amongst the designers regarding the accurate number of continents in the world...but the Americans are right. You can't just leave out South America and Antarctica.)

"Extreme Pepperkaker, part two" will be coming soon.