Gingerbread Barn, Part II

Progress continues on the gingerbread barn. It's still not particularly impressive looking, but progress is progress. Let's take a look at what I've been doing today....


First thing I had to do was bake a top for the silo. I made one yesterday, but when I was looking over the directions this morning, I realized that I made a huge mistake! The silo top, unlike all of the other pieces, is a "shaped" piece from a muffin pan. When I made it yesterday, I thoughtlessly put the rolled out gingerbread on the inside of a muffin cup. While reading the directions again this morning to figure out what I would need for today's work, I noticed I had misread the directions. I was supposed to drape the gingerbread on the bottom of the muffin pan, making it just a tad bit bigger. So I pulled out the extra gingerbread I had saved and baked a new top for the silo.

Next up--coloring! The directions say that I'm supposed to brush red (or burgundy) food coloring powder onto all of the walls that make up the barn. The problem is, I can't find food coloring powder to save my life. A google search pops up lots of places where I can order it online, but I recklessly chose to wing it by not trying to acquire materials until the day I need them. I don't want to wait several days for an Internet order to arrive, so it was time to improvise.

I wandered around the cake decorating section of Michaels this afternoon and purchased a few "coloring options." I didn't really know what would work best, so I bought all of the variations available with the intention of trying them out on the back of a gingerbread piece that wouldn't be visible in the final creation. And that's what you see in this photo.

The left side I tested a "food coloring marker"--I didn't even know such a thing existed--but it's supposed to be safe for consumption and therefore fair game for a gingerbread house. On the right I tried a red sprinkle powder. I didn't really expect that to work well since it actually has a "sparkle" to it, but it's not terribly obvious unless you're looking at it with the light in the right direction.

The red bar to the right of the larger gingerbread piece was a test of a red food coloring spray. Think spray paint, except in a smaller can and edible. =)

And the bottom of the gingerbread barn I tested regular old, liquid food coloring. I "washed" the area with water, then dropped a single drop of food coloring in it and spread it out. Of all of the tests I did, I decided I liked the results of this one the best, and that's what I used for the front of all of the vital pieces.

Here's a clearer example of how I turned the barn red. I washed the area with water using a brush. The water was already tinted red from previous tests, but it wasn't dark enough to satisfy me. So I dropped a single drop of the food coloring on it.

Then use the brush to spread out the color. Repeat as often as necessary to cover the entire piece.
And we've got the side of a barn!
Here's the front of the barn. The directions in my book talk about humidity being bad for the gingerbread. It absorbs the water the air and doesn't become as stiff and will start to sag faster. I'm working in sunny California, and humidity isn't really a problem. I did, however, just coat the entire surface of these pieces with water. Figuring that couldn't possibly be good for the structural strength of the gingerbread, I threw all of the pieces back into the oven for a few minutes. I want these pieces to be dry! That's probably why the directions wanted me to use food coloring powder. It's already dry.

And here I paint the silo roof blue. Looks like I've been letterboxing, what with all the inky fingers, eh? =) Just food coloring this time....

I'm almost ready to start "gluing" all of these pieces together. First, I need glue, which is what I'm making here. The bowl on the left has three egg white. I removed the yolk--I want the royal icing to be white, after all, not yellow! The right bowl is a bunch of powdered sugar. And a dash of creme of tartar, all to be mixed well. I know my mom has an electric mixer, but I'll be darned where she hid it, so I used the manually egg mixer instead.

Oddly, I found that using my feet to hold the bowl steady while I worked the hand mixer was easiest. While technically speaking, this gingerbread barn will be completely edible, I don't really expect anyone will actually want to eat it. The recipes for creating gingerbread and icing are focused more on their practical use than taste. There's a different icing recipe I use for making cakes, for instance, which tastes a heck of a lot better than this stuff. And after everything sits out for several days, the food will likely be pretty stale. The gingerbread barn will technically be edible, but it won't be good to eat.

So hygiene and safe food handling practices aren't really a high priority, which is why I felt no compunction about mixing the icing on the floor while holding the bowl steady with my feet. =)

Next up, I need a place to set up my little gingerbread barn. I found this board lying around and thought, "Yes, that will do perfectly."

The directions specify that I should cover the board with "brown paper." I don't have brown paper readily available, but I did find this dashing Christmas wrapping paper. It'll have to do, I guess. I'm a bit curious why the color "brown" was specified--when this scene is done, none of the paper should even be visible. Maybe along the edges, but I wish the author of the book put more explanation into "why" certain details were listed. (I also wish the author added more options for "substitutions" in case someone finds it difficult to acquire a specific item needed for a house--it would have been great had there been an alternative to colored food powder instead of having to wing it on my own.)

And that's where I'm at now. Next episode, a real-life barn raising!

Gingerbread Barn, Part I

Yes, folks, for the first time since December 2001, I am building a gingerbread house. Or, technically speaking, a gingerbread barn. =) Since everyone seemed to enjoy the pictures I took of the last one I made, I'm doing it again. But this time, with even more photos, documenting every last bit of its construction!

So far, all of my creations have come out of a book called Gingerbread: Things to Make and Bake. This year's entry is no exception. It has patterns for all of the pieces needed for each creation, in the actual size. So the first step is much like carving a stamp--tracing! I pulled out a pad of tracing paper and copied each of the patterns for the barn that graces the cover of the book. If a particular piece is needed more than once, I trace it multiple times. I tend to ruin the tracing paper after cutting out each piece, so I don't reuse them.

So in this first photo, you can see the book along with the pages I've traced out of it.

Next, it's time to make the gingerbread. Need a little flour....


Gotta include ginger if it's going to be a real gingerbread house, of course!


Now for the 'wet' ingredients: corn syrup, brown sugar, and margarine. The lumps in the saucepan is the unmelted margarine.

And finally, mix it all together, and presto! Gingerbread! Doesn't look like much, does it?

After several minutes of mixing, first with a spoon then with my hands after the gingerbread started getting too hard to mix with a spoon, and it starts looking more like gingerbread. I let it cool a bit before starting the masterpiece!


I roll out the gingerbread on parchment paper, then place my tracing over it. Is that a Speedball linoleum cutter in my hand? YES! It is! =) I tell you, it's just like carving stamps. Except this time, I'm cutting directly through the lines and completely through the gingerbread.


Once the cutting is done, I remove the tracing paper and peel off the parts of the gingerbread that aren't part of the structure. I put the extra gingerbread back in the bowl to be rolled out again and again, until all of the pieces are done.

This here piece is the front of the barn, waiting its turn in the oven. (I had quite the assembly line going.) This particular piece I scored to give the appearance of wooden planks. I did this to all of the walls for the barn.

This side wall for the barn just got out of the oven and is cooling on a wire rack. You can't see the "wooden planks" as well in the photos after it bakes, but I did the same thing with this piece as the front of the barn.


Finished! At least with baking all of the gingerbread pieces. All of these pieces of cooled and I piled them on top of each other since I ran out of places to store it. Assembly will have to wait for another day--it took me about five hours to trace all the pieces, make the gingerbread, cut out all of the gingerbread pieces, bake them, yadda, yadda, yadda. This is not a one-day project!

Like the farm animals I cut out? Two cows, two horses, and three sheep. I've saved all of the extra gingerbread I have left over in the frig in case I accidentally break a vital piece later. Nice to already have some gingerbread ready to roll out and bake rather than make a new batch from scratch. Hopefully I won't have to resort to it, but just in case.....

Cyber Monday is Here!

Okay, I have to admit, it seems that I ordered a few too many AQ calendars, and I still have about 30 of them sitting here at AQ headquarters collecting dust. As things are going, this might be the first year I've actually lost money on these things. Bummer. But what should I do with them?

And with the so-called "Cyber Monday" here, I figured I'd join the trend. I've marked everything in the AQ Marketplace as 30% off. Yes, the calendars are now 30% off--down to just $9.80. The AQ patches are 30% off--down to $1.40 each. And even Wassa's Patented Eye Bleach is 30% off--now down to the bargain price of just $3,500!

This is a limited time offer, however, only available today, and only while supplies last. (I doubt I'll run out of patches or eye bleach, but I only have about 30 calendars--those could realistically sell out.)

If you wanted a calendar for yourself or as a Christmas gift, this is your best chance!

AND--premium members still get another 10% off during the checkout process, which means you can score AQ calendars for $8.82 each.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

Trying to Contact a Member?

Atlas Quest is largely a closed community--closed in the sense that communication is meant to happen between members. If you don't have an account on Atlas Quest, you were out of the loop.

This is great for keeping out spam, but makes it difficult when someone who finds your letterbox by accident wants to contact you. Some would go through the effort of creating an account just to contact a member, which works, but is a bit overkill. Others would contact an admin and we'd forward the message on to the owner of the box in question, assuming we could figure out who it was meant for.

Now, however, there's a special Contact Member page that non-members can use to contact members. If you're logged into Atlas Quest, it'll just kick you to the normal page that allows you to send an AQ mail. If you want to try out the page, you'll have to log out and be a "non-member" to see it in action.

Non-members can contact you either by specifying your trail name, your member number, or the letterbox number. In the case of the box number, AQ will look up the owner of the specified box and send the message to that person.

The main home page on Atlas Quest now has a prominent link to this page at the top of the third column. (If you don't see three columns, scroll down the second column. It means your browser isn't wide enough to support three columns and the third one "collapsed" below the second one.) If you want to give muggles an easy way to contact you about your box through Atlas Quest, be sure to include either your trail name, member number, or box number in the box.

Or leave your e-mail address, which has always worked as well. =)

The "rude" button

There's a new button on the message boards of Atlas Quest, that I affectionately call the "rude" button. Basically, it's to be clicked whenever you think someone's post has crossed a line--it's inappropriate, unnecessarily harsh, or just plain rude. I expect everyone to be civil to each other, and while disagreements are fine, being just plain mean is not.

Unlike the other buttons, you will not see how many people have clicked the rude button--this button is basically for the moderators to keep an eye on potentially problem areas. There's a special widget available only to them that allows them to see which posts are considered the most rude or might require more attention than usual. If you've clicked on it, it'll show a 1 in parenthesis so you can see your own vote--but that's as high as you should ever see the number.

It doesn't show the real counts since there are people on the boards who may think it's funny to click the rude button on posts by people they don't like even if there's nothing at all rude about it. I don't want someone who's abusing the button to be able to hurt the feelings of such people, so only moderators can see the real rude counts. It's really for their use anyhow.

On a related note, AQ does do some extra processing with these clicks. If you do think it's funny to abuse the button by clicking it all over the place, AQ will stop reporting the clicks to moderators. Essentially, if you cry wolf too often, we start ignoring you. =) So if you want your clicks to count for something, it's best not to abuse the feature.

Right now, the rude simply helps keep moderators informed of potentially problems that are brewing. I've thought about adding auto-timeouts for those who regularly cause problems on the message boards, and it may still happen at some point, but for now, it's purely a moderator tool. Regardless of your opinion about a subject or person, however, you are expected to act in a civil manner. Remember that--you don't want to draw the attention of moderators to your posts, and such posts are considerably more likely to do so now.

If you haven't read it yet or it's been awhile, you might want to review the message board's Best Practices. There's always a link for it under the 'Boards' menubar option, and there's good advice in it. Use it. Believe in it.

Let's Review Some Basics

I got an e-mail this morning about a box that was listed more than a dozen times. It's one of those boxes that gets planted by one person, who then invites everyone who finds it to add a stamp to the box. Which is all fine and good--no problem with that. In fact, it's a lot of fun to see all the additions people add to such a box over time.

The problem happens when everyone who contributes a stamp to the box decides it needs to be listed on Atlas Quest. The thing is--it's still just one box. It doesn't matter how many stamps are in it--it's just one box.

So I fixed the listings by changing the "traditional" boxes into "other" boxes. This has two distinct advantages. One, everyone's P and F-counts stay accurate. (Or at least more accurate than they otherwise would be.) And two, it keeps the search results from getting cluttered up with multiple listings of the same box over and over and over again.

I posted about the change to the state board it was applicable figuring everyone in that area should know what was going on and, in the future, to list mere stamp listings as "other" boxes rather than full-fledged "traditional" boxes.

Wow--throughout the rest of the day, I've been getting a blizzard of messages pointing out other boxes that were similarly listed incorrectly, and have been fixing them as fast as the reports come in. Boxes in Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, yadda, yadda, yadda. Who knows how many more reports I'll get before the dust settles.

One thing I've learned, however, is that this problem is much more widespread than I thought! It's happening all over the country!

So I'd like to set the record straight. It doesn't matter how many stamps are in a box--it should be listed as just ONE traditional box. If you feel that it's absolutely necessary to list the individual stamp contributions, you can do so either in the clue itself or by listing the stamps as "other" boxes, which is actually the most accurate listing for such boxes.

To make it easier for people to record finds on all of the "other" boxes, you have two options. One is to create a massive series of "other" boxes, though technically it'll throw off the "other" P and F-counts. Seeing as there are no standards for what counts as an "other," it's not like counting "others" has much meaning anyhow, however. It is more work for the person who created the original box, however, having to add new listings every time a new contribution is added.

The other option is to create an "other tracker" that's open to everyone, then in the clues for your box link to the tracker with the instructions that they can join the tracker and add their "other" box to the list. That'll make it much easier for people to find a single list of all stamp contributions, and each person is responsible for adding their own contributions to the list if they choose to.

It doesn't really much matter to me, but the one thing that DOES matter to me is that anytime multiple stamps are tucked away into the same box, it should be listed as a single traditional box.

If you've planted or found such boxes, you might notice that your official P and F counts may have gone down--in some cases, by as many as 40 or more. Sorry about that, but be honest with yourselves. You didn't really find that many boxes in the first place--you found one box with that many stamps, and now your counts will reflect that.

So please, in the future, let's be more careful about distinguishing between planting a real, honest-to-goodness letterbox and merely adding a stamp to an already existing box. If you've planted such a box, it might be a good idea to explicitly state in the clues that anyone who adds a contribution to the box should list their stamp as an "other" to make sure anyone who adds to the box knows how to list it correctly. There's obviously been a lot of confusion over the matter, so as a planter, help your finders by explaining how to add their contributions correctly.

Thanks!

The West Coast Trail and Juan de Fuca Trail

It's official! I've booked a ride on the Victoria Clipper from Seattle to Victoria for 3:15 PM tomorrow afternoon. =) My plan is to find a place to spend the night in Victoria tomorrow night (so far, I don't actually have any reservations anywhere, but I have all my backpacking gear--I can stealth camp if I really have to! Ha!)

Then I'm off to Bamfield and the trailhead for the northern terminus of the West Coast Trail. I have to take an "orientation class" before they'll give me my permit--you know a trail is tough when you're required to take a class about the trail before they'll let you on it! Then I get to hike the next 50 miles through knee-deep mud, up and down 30 stories worth of ladders, cross two rivers on boats, and numerous serge channels on hand-drawn cable cars, all the while timing my hike on the beach to make sure that a high tide doesn't drown me. If the rain doesn't drown me first--this is a rain forest where precipitation is measured in feet rather inches. (Actually, being Canada, it's probably measured in meters rather than centimeters, but you get the point.) The area regularly gets more than ten FEET of rain per year. What's in it for me? It should be fun! And it's allegedly the most scenic trail in the entire North American continent. =)

Once I claw my way off the trail, I'll end up in the bustling little town of Port Renfrew. Rather than go home, I've decided to extend my hike by doing the Juan de Fuca Trail, another 30 miles along the Vancouver Island coast before getting a ride back to Victoria. The Juan de Fuca Trail conveniently starts right by Port Renfrew, so I don't even need a ride to that trailhead. It's also supposed to be a tough hike, and is allegedly the second-most scenic trail in the entire North American continent.

I'm not exactly sure when I'll finish, but I'll get a ride into Victoria once I finsh both trails. I'll stay in Victoria and play the tourist until October 1st when I'm booked to return to Seattle again on the Victoria Clipper. Hopefully that night I'll be online and post that I survived the hike. Until then, if you wonder what happened to me, that's it! =)

-- Ryan

A Death in the Family

It is a sad day in our little letterboxing family today--Janet, better known as Blooming Flowers to most of us--passed away. She had been diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) earlier this year, which would ultimately cut her life way too early.

I've gotten a few people e-mailing me thanking me for the Blooming Flowers theme up right now, but I would like to make sure that everyone knows that that was Wassamatta_u's creation. He created it for her shortly after she was first diagnosed with AML, before *I* even found out she had been diagnosed with the cancer, and put it up again first when she was rushed to the hospital and today when she passed away. He jokes a lot, but he's actually a pretty thoughtful guy. =) But he really deserves all the credit for the theme. I just let him put it up.

On another note, there is a tributes page set up on Atlas Quest in honor of Blooming Flowers. If you have a fond memory of her or incident to tell, please share it with the rest of us. Or even just to offer your sympathies and prayers for her and her family.

While reading her profile today--strange that I'm compelled to do things like that after someone dies, as if trying to get to know them better after the fact, but I particularly enjoyed her answer to the question about what animal she would be and why, writing, "A cat. I like to lay in the sun and be pampered."

Here's to laying in the sun and being pampered. =)

But our little community will still miss you.

Calendars!

The official Atlas Quest 2010 Letterboxing Calendars are here! I have two calendars this year--the usual, run-of-the-mill original style calendar with photos taken by letterboxers from all over the place.

Then there's what I call the Tortuga Edition because it has only photos that I took. While looking through my own pictures for the year, it seemed like I took an unusually large number of photos that I liked and turned them into a calendar. I don't really expect that calendar to be especially popular, but I figured my own family members would probably like it better when the holidays come rolling around. ;o)

But I've made it available for anyone who would like it--the photos are pretty good, I think!

I'm also doing things a bit differently this year than in past years. In years past, I would collect a bunch of calendar orders then order them in bulk, exactly the number of calendars I need. This time, I'm still ordering calendars in bulk--but I've already ordered them. Ordered them this morning, in fact. So rather than taking an unlimited number of calendar orders, the number of calendars this year are limited in quantity. Just 100 of the "original style" calendar, and just 10 of the "Tortuga edition."

When they run out, I won't be taking anymore calendar orders. Eventually, I'll get them online so you can order them directly from lulu.com, but they'll cost more there and probably not until October at the earliest.

I should also point out--you can order the calendars now, but I only put in the order for them this morning, so I won't be shipping them out immediately. It should take an expected "3 to 6 days" for the calendars to be printed, and probably another good week or so for the calendars to be shipped via ground across the country. Then I need to repack them and ship them on to you. At the very earliest, you probably won't have a copy in your hands for at least two weeks from today, but they should arrive by the end of the month. =)

If I used one of your photos in the calendar, I'll be sending you a free calendar. Don't include the free one in your order if you wish to order additional calendars. I'll contact each of you personally about how to get your free calendar.

And remember--Atlas Quest is always ready to take more photo submissions for the 2011 letterboxing calendar. Just go to the Project X page for rules and the submission form.

Calendar Photo Deadline Approaching!

For those of you interested in submitting photos for the 2010 letterboxing calendar, be sure to upload them by the end of the month! Full details about the project can be read on the Project X page. (I moved the link so it's now under the 'Marketplace' menubar option rather than the 'Toolbox' option where it used to be--in case you're having trouble finding it.) It has some descriptions for what I'm looking for in photos along with previous calendars of photos that had been selected as winners.

I included my favorite photo of last year's calendar in this post. Isn't that photos absolutely awesome! Seems like every year I get at least one photo that when I see it, my eyes pop out and I immediately know that I'll use it. Not that many of the other photos are absolutely stunning, but certain photos are just hard to get. A bright red cardinal sitting in a tree during a snowstorm? That's not the kind of picture you can plan for! The bright red against that cold, white background--what an amazing photo! A nice scene of a sunset can be beautiful, but finding a pretty sunset isn't actually all that hard to do. (Probably why I get so many sunset submissions!) But this photo..... wow. It's the one that really grabbed my attention last year. I'd never be able to get a photo like that in a hundred years!

Which one will grab my attention this year? =)

-- Ryan