Twenty-seven bakers were inspired to enter this year’s Gingerbread Spectacular held at the Opera House for 19 years now. Their designs always charm, amaze and delight us all leaving us to wonder how did they do that? What went on in those kitchens?

Well, that’s exactly what I asked Eni DeLisle and Hilary Allen who constructed the fabulous Harbor Theater in gingerbread, including an audience of wee gingers watching “White Christmas!” Recently, we met at the theater to look back at their experience – and their were some surprises.

Eni was in the food industry most of her life. She’d made gingerbread houses before – once for the Martha’s Vineyard Black Dog Bakery as head pastry chef followed by many more while she was a pastry chef at the Ritz Carlton, famous for its gingerbread houses. Eni figured she had the experience ...

So, Eni contacted the Ritz for that recipe, but it was for giant proportions, so she cut it down but they had no luck with it. They tried the family recipe Kevin Kiley distributed during the gingerbread class held in mid-November at the Opera House, several recipes online that were supposed to be "competition grade."

"You know," began Eni, "it's different when you don't have the equipment that your professional kitchen does. Oh, because at first, I'm like, wow, you know, black dog, the pastry, you know, and then the Ritz Carlton. I'm like, Oh, my, I have a really fun background ... It will be fine ... But you know what? They weren't working for me in my kitchen. “I tell you it’s a totally different story making one at your home,” Eni said. “It’s different when you don’t have the equipment in a professional kitchen. The gingerbread broke off one of my Kitchen Aid mixer beaters!" (We all burst out in laughter).

Hilary and Eni began working on the Harbor Theater gingerbread Dec. 1. They did eventually find a gingerbread recipe to work with after much trial and error. But in the end, literally the end, like the day before they had to bring it to the Opera House, an issue arose, or actually, it was the opposite ...

Everything was finally perfect, all the wee gingerbreads in their seats, one or two have Eni's grandkids' names on the back of their heads; the movie "White Christmas" was about to start; Hilary's Art Deco design work piped onto the building looked fabulous. And then ...

"Everything was perfect. Hilary's ready to go home. And, all of a sudden, we both start freaking out. Poor Hilary burst into tears because it was caving in, peeling off and collapsing on one side above the ticket office, yeah, and, I mean, it was gorgeous, and then all of a sudden, like, in slow motion you're watching it fall apart ... And we thought the baking was the hardest part," said Eni. 

They found out the reason for the cave in/meltdown was, the gingerbread was all enclosed space, moisture was stuck there by the royal icing. The moisture was trapped inside and the gingerbread was soggy when it was trying to dry. How did they save their Harbor Theater? With a fan and a heater. Next morning, that gingerbread was pretty dry. They were loading it into the car quite close to the gingerbread drop off deadline.

"I had never had a gingerbread house since I was a little kid," shared Hilary. "Maybe we made them in school or something, but I have a lot of art and drawing experience. My mom and my sister are artists. And I took a lot of art throughout school, sure, and thought about going into art. But as far as like the actual design, I got a lot of my inspiration from the theater logo and just Googling Art Deco theaters. And, I used to do a lot of botanical illustration that I think came in handy for the piping and the decoration."

Interjects Eni, "Sure I can draw. But, she (Hilary) was a pro. I've worked with a lot of people, and she's top notch with a real steady hand. Well, most of the time ... when she wasn't crying ...”

"Actually, I should not own up to the fact that I had any experience, because I went into it like, oh, the baking part, yeah, no problem (laughter ensues)," starts Eni," but you do need to start early to do a really good, good project and, that way your gingerbread dries out and all that stuff. Yeah, now we know."

I was curious about the theater seats for the gingerbreads and was told they were made with a type of cookie cutter resembling a pedestal or stump they used to make the sconces in and outside the theater. For the seats, though, they just cut off about one-third of the cutter design at the bottom of it and tilted it a bit, using icing to hold them in place.

"And I think Diane (Demetriades) came over and did that, you know, she put them together, and then, then we put them into the chairs. We had help from Diane, Angela (Percival), and Abbie (Clark) who also work at the theater," Eni said. "Then Hilary and I put the icing on. So there was some fun, because we're like, oh, look, those two are talking to each other!"

Ballparking now, Hilary and Eni estimated that since Dec. 1 to drop off on the 11th, they both put in about 40 hours. Combine those with the hours Diane, Angela and Abbie contributed brings the entire construction work time close to 100 hours. And, noted both bakers, it takes time to shop for all of the items you need, like that perfect little cookie cutter. Or that gingerbread recipe ...

Said Eni with a grin, "I feel like just that last week was probably within 40 hours! (pauses) And, you know, I don't think I ever baked the gingerbreads at the Ritz. I was the head decorator. (more laughter)."

The bakers begin thinking about what other gingerbreads they could make. They are both Barbie and Barbie Dream House collectors, and are crazy about cats and dogs. And I was like, "Ahhh ... so you're obviously doing this again next year!"

Eni looked directly at me and said, "Well, I wouldn't say obviously ..."

Here are some other gingerbread building tidbits from Eni and Hilary about their adventure as ginger contractors:

* Sometimes you have to bake 10 gingerbread recipes to find the one that works for you.

*When making your gingerbread, if the sugar and molasses heat up too much it can turn into brittle.

* Start out small with little gingerbread men, then a small house (maybe even a kit to start)

* Make sure you have the right size pans! Will the finished gingerbread even fit on any of your pans? Any of them?

* Decorate, for the most part, before assembling it, because it's easier to pipe on a flat surface.

The Harbor Theater gingerbread won in the Best Representation of a Local Landmark category. While I was at the Opera House, others just like me, kept going back to this gingerbread. The detailing, the smiling ticket taker and gingers waiting to be admitted, and most of all, those 20-odd gingers getting ready for some classic, magical holiday fun watching "White Christmas" on the screen illuminating their faces as each of them illuminated ours.