The Mochi Factory...in Gingerbread by JustJenn

The Mochi Factory Gingerbread House

I hope you and your loved ones had a lovely Christmas! My December consists of:
Dec 7th - My Birthday. Yes, you may have heard about that! :)
Dec 25th - Christmas
Dec 26th - Mochi Making with the family
Dec 31st - New Year's Eve

Every year, my family makes tons and tons of fresh mochi (pounded rice cake) for a Japanese American New Years celebration. I'll post about this year's mochi making next...but on Christmas, my friend JustJenn dropped off the most awesome gingerbread masterpiece! Check it out!

Since she was a little girl, Jenn would make elaborate gingerbread houses with her mom (a librarian). And you wonder how Jenn grew up to become an architect, huh?! Now Jenn makes them with her boys!

See the Mochi conveyor belt in the window! Too cool. The mochi pieces are represented by cut marshmallows.

You can see thru the window and the conveyor belt goes up the side of the house! Jenn draws out ARCHITECTURAL plans for her gingerbread homes. Yes, gotta use that degree for good and yum.

The mochi conveyor belt climbs up the side of the house. The lamp post is a lollipop! The top of the house is covered with chocolate licorice. Awesome!

Did you see this detail? The fish pond is sprinkling sugar and the goldfish is, naturally, a cheese goldfish. Everything is edible! Jenn uses royal icing as her glue.The walkway is a fruit leather and the railings are pretzels.

My whole family was in awe during mochi making! And the kids were good that they didn't pick off all the pieces. Thank you sooo much Jenn for including our family tradition in your gingerbread tradition!!!

** Updated to add JustJenn's post about her Mochi Factory...you have got to click here and see it. It includes the behind the scenes architectural drawings, paper mock up and hints for making your own masterpiece! **
Next post, Mochi making!