I love the idea of looking forward to an event, moment, emotion or tried-and-true beautiful, tangible object making an appearance every December. Traditions are my favorite part about the holidays.
On Christmas Eve, at my mom’s house, we enjoy a great dinner which includes mushroom soup (dried mushrooms sent from the farm my mom grew up on, in Poland) and the custom of passing “opatek” – unleavened bread – breaking off a piece and expressing good wishes to family and friends. When I moved here four years ago, there was an opportunity to create new holiday traditions.
One new ritual of ours is to visit the restaurant Taka and delight in the extravagant, handmade gingerbread miniature holiday scene created each year. This year, co-owner Billy Kessler, with the assistance of Jason Asch, created a scene inspired by the fairy-tale Russian ballet, The Nutcracker Suite.
“I began brainstorming and sketching out ideas for the scene in October and latched on to the classic Nutcracker Suite,” said Billy. “We call it The Samurai Nutcracker because we have samurais dancing in front of the Christmas tree.”
In addition to the dancing samurais in traditional Asian dress, the two feet by three feet by two feet diorama – completely and painstakingly handmade and one-hundred percent edible – features twelve marzipan mice of varied sizes sitting on oversized marzipan gifts adorned with royal icing bows surrounding the illuminated Christmas tree, which is made of 30 gingerbread stars laid flat and topped with a white marzipan dove. Gingerbread nutcrackers line the perimeter of stage-left and right. The back panel is made of gingerbread and candy stained glass windows. Each mouse has an original expression. Every nutcracker features a marzipan soldier’s uniform with exacting detail.
The detail is spectacular, right down to the black and white fondant tile floor, graded to give the scene perspective. The Samurai Nutcracker took Billy and Jason more than 40 hours to create.
“It’s wonderful to see children stare at the scene – it makes the time investment well worth it,” said Billy. “At first, adults don’t normally recognize that the piece is completely made from edible products – gingerbread, fondant, marzipan and royal icing. Second glance you see their excitement and curiosity.”
The scene will be in the lobby of Taka until the first week of the New Year. It’s visible from the sidewalk, however you should see it up close. Amazing.
Happy holidays and the absolute best wishes in the New Year to every Jingle Belle.
Briefly: I had a Bruce moment last Thursday on the boardwalk. I was eating lunch outside Pop’s Garage with the uber-talented Bob Egan and the unofficial “mayor” of this town strolled by. He took a few steps into the restaurant, looked around, and said about the “new” boardwalk, through his billion-dollar smile, “This all is really great.” Continuing southbound down the boardwalk with a slender bald friend, we saw him peeking in the windows of other storefronts. He disappeared past Stella Maria walking towards the Carousel.
Richard@TheBPlot.com
