Tommy Christopher is Asylum's White House correspondent.

At the White House yesterday, Michelle Obama held the Holiday Press Preview, which included a tour of the White House Christmas decorations.

After a few minutes of taking snapshots of wreaths and trees, I was ready to call it a day. Then I saw a crowd of reporters firing questions at Chef Bill Yosses, creator of the Gingerbread White House.

This is one bad-ass confectionery domicile. Keep reading to learn more about the political treat.

Chef Yosses is a patient man, as a new reporter wandered over every few seconds to find out that the first lady's garden, a new addition to the yearly tradition, was made of marzipan. Surprisingly, nobody asked what marzipan was. (I think it's almond paste.)



There were only a few things that I wanted to know about the scrumptious structure. My first question: Who gets to eat it? (Hint, hint!)

"Anyone who's willing to eat a house that's been sitting out in the room for two months," he said, not offering me any. He went on to say that the house took about six weeks to build, and weighs almost 400 lbs. It's made of gingerbread panels they cut with a band saw, and covered with white chocolate. Just to show Chef Bill that I have some food cred, I said, "That's white chocolate fondant it's covered in?" I could tell he was impressed.

The really cool part is that everything on the gingerbread White House, except the tiny brass light fixtures, is edible. I don't know about you, but when I see the Ace of Cakes using plywood to prop up his cakes, I'm thinking, What a rip. I tried to get Bill to trash-talk those cake cheats, but he wouldn't bite: "Well, I used things that weren't edible, so I'm not going to pass judgment."

Since Bill had evaded my first shot at determining the house's fate, I tried again. I asked him if the house just gets thrown out when they're done, or do they preserve it? He told me no, it gets sent to the Visitor's Center when they're done with it. I finally got him to admit that after a few weeks in the White House Visitor's Center, it does, indeed, get thrown out, presumably along with a piece of Bill's soul.

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