My dear wife Karen and I arrived a bit early for my Beddian Birthday dinner celebration with the kids Sunday at the big buffet restaurant at Turning Stone Resort and Casino some 25 miles up the New York State Thruway from Syracuse.
It seems I told Karen that set 4:30 as our meeting time but I’d actually told the kids 5:30. See what happens when you were born in 1957 and are turning 57 years old?
Karen wanted to stroll through the expansive complex’s Gingerbread Village anyway. And so I pulled out my iPhone 6.
All the facts and figures you need.
The chefs at Turning Stone surely went to town to craft these edible delights.
Yummy.
I wanted to lean right in because each one smelled as good as it looked, too.
A magnet for the younger ones.
Children couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what went into these Gingerbread delights.
Red brick gingerbread.
The roof also looked very realistic. And tasty.
Full of furniture and people.
And then there was the Gingerbread Mansion. So that’s what the upper pan lives like.
You can buy the following …
Of course, plenty of sweets were available for purchase at the counter at the end of this hallway display. My dear wife Karen looks over what she might want to haul home. Because we had that buffet awaiting, we didn’t buy a thing.
Are you a fan of Gingerbread House displays? Do you have the patience to bake and construct such a thing? How many gingerbread man cookies can you eat at one sitting?
Mark Bialczak 
They look fantastic – we don’t have anything like them here 😦
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Love those! What was that realistic roof you mentioned made from? I can’t tell what edible object it is. You and Mrs. B really know how to get into the spirit of the holidays!
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I am assuming all of this is Gingerbread, Mrs. B. What do I know, though? 🙂 Diabetes and all, I forget.
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my kids love them and always make them with my mom. I’d give it a shot, too, just for fun. But guarantee mine would look nothing like what you saw. Those are fun. Detailed and precise. Feats of gingerbread architecture 🙂
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I bet you could come up with a pretty good looking ranch, Liz. 🙂
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WOW! Those are so cool! Are the elves and the furniture in that last one also made of candy? No, I do not eat gingerbread cookies, or ginger anything, nor do I build the houses. (There is too much potential for roaches in Florida! UGH!) However, I always *WANTED* to build one. I do think I’d have the patience and ability, and better yet, I wouldn’t be tempted to eat the construction! LOL! 🙂 Thank you for sharing, and ALSO for updating us on your birthday celebration! (I’ve been waiting for this!)
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Gingerbread houses would draw all sorts of critters down yur way, and that’s all I’m going to say, Rachel.
Sorry I made you wait so long for the birthday dinner update. I have to schedule to fill December, you know. 🙂
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yumm-yumm ❤
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Sweet tooth, Leyla! 😮
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Our eldest daughter, Danielle, has a tradition where we all get to make a gingerbread cookie out of the dough she created. They are gone before they’re even completely cooled down. 😉
The gingerbread houses at Turning Stone look too good to eat. I’d feel guilty breaking up one of those houses for a snack.
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They look too good to demolish with a fork and knife wrecking ball, I agree.
I mentioned on your place, remember the big Gingerbread exhibit every year at the Erie Canal Museum, Judy? It was the whole top floor, with a competiton of restaurants and bakers?
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How did I miss that? Or, my memory is worse than I thought. Sounds scrumptious. 😉
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I love them! I’ve never made one, but we just saw some at Michael’s and they looked so neat. Except for the glitter.
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No glitter on the gingerbread house for Kerbey. I will remember that for future parties, my friend. 🙂
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I LOVE gingerbread and gingersnap cookies! Looks like a wonderful display, Mark–I would be tempted to take a few bites out of the fourth house. 😉
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I think the Turning Stone caretakers slapped down a couple dozen visitors for trying just that, Ermine. Careful …
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Good will power. I couldn’t walk out after smelling all that sweetness without buying something for later.
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My dear wife Karen showed tremendous will power, Kim. I knew I forbid myself because of the sugar thing.
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these are wonderful and yes i love them. i make one with my class and sometimes with the grands. buy the kit and glue it together with icing, then add our own custom candy decor. so fun ) hope you had a great giant buffet, even if it was an hour later than expected )
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That must be fun, making it with the students and then the grands, too. A gingerbread housing complex, Beth. 🙂
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Lots of candy action and sticky- ness )
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Glad you had a great place to go, delicious buffet, I am sure and the fantastic gingerbread houses are amazing! Hoping you continue to have a wonderful new year in your life, since birthday is past… Happy Holidays!
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Happy holidays, Robin. Take care, my friend.
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I do love the displays. I do not have patience to bake such magnificence. I do have the appetite to eat such a creation. So maybe I shouldn’t go see a display…..
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The guards would have to talk you off the little rail, would they, Colleen? 🙂
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Possibly…..
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The gingerbread displays are great! I like the red brick one best 🙂 I hope the evening was a wonderful one, Mark!
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The red one looks like a real house, I agree, Christy! It was a great night at the hall and restaurant, thanks. 🙂
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Those are so cute! I can’t image the work that went into them.
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Sounds like a fun date. Too bad about the time confusion. Hope it all turned out well anyway Mark. ❤
Diana xo
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We just had time to enjoy the gingerbread houses, Diana. All was fantastic! 🙂
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You, too, would prefer the chocolate, it seems, Ann. I thought gingerbread was more universally acceptable as the mean taste of the holidays!
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Thank you for this wildly sweet post, Mark. I don’t care for the taste of gingerbread, myself, but I sure do like the taste on display here!
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I’m a chocolate girl myself, but still can’t help but be impressed by the old school charm of one of these. I’m inspired to make a rock n’ roll gingerbread house, or a haunted gingerbread house, but, yes, as for the patience thing…only in my mind.
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A rock n’ roll gingerbread house would be the best. With a little band that could blow the roof off, of course, Marissa!
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Yep, know if we could only find someone with the talent, materials and patience to actually make it!!
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They look good enough to eat!
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The mansion comes with papers for the mortgage, Austin! And then you have dessert for 30 years worth of payments … 🙂
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Is the Diabetes extra?
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I know, right?
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I think the red brick gingerbread house is adorable. They all are really. I’m a fan of the display and often have the children decorate them in my classroom. I think it is a wonderful way to get into the spirit of Christmas. 57 is too young to be pulling the I forgot card, Chum. Save it for when you really need it. Admit what’s true…you’re a dude and got the time wrong. You’re forgiven. 🙂
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OK, Aud. I’m a dude and I got the time wrong AND I was too lazy to check before I just blurted out 4:30. 🙂 The red house is a good-looking one, Red.
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I’ve always wanted a gingerbread house Mark, but never attempted it. :Love the cookies though. Anything that has ginger and molasses in it has to be a winner. I’m hoping I’ll have time to make some cookies today for the grandkids tomorrow. We’re celebrating early this year and I can’t wait to take pics of the kids with their afghans. Hehehe, early Christmas and birthday presents! I can handle that. Your pictures made me drool, not exactly lady like, but I guess old lady like maybe.
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Drooling is allowed, no age restrictions, Angie. Happy afghan day!
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I always loved these as a child and tried several times, unsuccessfully, to make them for my children. (MY gingerbread never came out quite right.) Then I found Wilton’s chocolate house kit. Man what fun. It was so pretty that one of the kids school teachers wanted to buy it from me, but I wouldn’t sell. I wanted the joy of seeing the kids tear into it. What fun!
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Shame on that teacher, S.K. Bully for you to keep it for the kids to tear into!!
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Yummm – love gingerbread. I’m way too clumsy to ever build something as amazing as the pieces in your pics Mark.I’ve never actually tried to make gingerbread – I specialize in eating it 😀
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Agreed, Paul. I’m for eating, not building. 🙂
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Love gingerbread cookies, I used to make them. Now I buy the ready made house or cookies so that the grandkids can decorate them. Have a great Christmas!
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Having it there for the grands is great, Dora. Decorating for them is fantastic spirit-building. Merry Christmas to you and the family, my friend.
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