Last month marked the tenth anniversary of The Ritz-Carlton, Sharm El Sheikh in this picturesque resort city. To commemorate the auspicious occasion, all guests, members of the media and the ladies and gentlemen of the resort witnessed General Manager Carsten Fritz cutting a specially designed cake which was create to resemble the number “10,” in the main lobby. 
In conjunction with this happy event, the resort celebrated the annual lighting of the Christmas tree and gingerbread house.  In this happy occasion, the chefs who had created the gingerbread masterpiece mingled with the guests, and Santa Claus made a welcome appearance, delighting especially the children as he presented them with gifts and cookies.  The Sinai Weekly crew had a short interview with the Executive Chef.
SW: What inspired you to build such an enormous gingerbread house?
JB: “Well, we wanted to do something that would engage children in activity, as this time of year is very popular with family travelers. So as you can see, with the shape and the style of construction of the ginger bread house, it is easy for children to go in and out and of course pick things up from inside – delicious chocolate Santas and such! It’s a nice cozy familiar place where they can let go, and be free at Christmas time.” – Stated Jarrett Beaulieu, The Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton.
SW: What does gingerbread signify or symbolize at Christmas?
JB: Gingerbread has been baked in Europe since the eleventh century. In some places, it was a soft, delicately spiced cake; in others, a crisp, flat cookie, and in others, warm, thick, dark squares of "bread," sometimes served with a pitcher of lemon sauce or whipped cream. It was sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, but it was almost always cut into shapes such as men, women, stars or animals, and colorfully decorated or stamped with a mold and dusted with white sugar.

In Medieval England gingerbread meant simply "preserved ginger" and was an adaptation of the Old French gingebras, derived from the Latin name of the spice, Zingebar. It was only in the fifteenth century that the term came to be applied to a kind of cake made with treacle, an un-crystalized syrup drained from raw sugar during the refining process, and flavored with ginger. Ginger was also discovered to have a preservative effect when added to pastries and bread, and this probably led to the development of recipes for ginger cakes, cookies, and flavored breads.
With this in mind, and taking into consideration that at this time of year, most of our guests come from Europe, we wanted to make them feel at home during Christmas, from all aspects.
SW: How long did it take you to make the gingerbread house?
JB: Well, as you know, at the Ritz-Carlton, we want to serve the best quality at all times, so we have been thinking about the concept for a few months now, planning to ensure that Christmas here runs very smoothly in the kitchen…the actual house itself took 72 hours of intense work. A lot of work and time went into this house, but I am happy to see the results pay off so well. This was done primarily by our pastry team led by Ashraf Yousef and Yasser Fattouh.
SW: What is special about this gingerbread house? Any ingredients special to the Ritz?
JB: If I told you what the ingredient was, then it wouldn’t be special to the Ritz-Carlton. What I will tell you though, is the cinnamon that we use in the icing is very special.  Can’t you smell it in the air?
SW: How long is the gingerbread house up for?
JB: Till after Jan 7th 2010 as we are celebrating Orthodox Christmas then with our valued Russian guests.
SW: What other Christmas events do you have in store for your guests?
JB: Starting from Dec 15th, we have special daily events till Christmas and New Years. The gala dinner for New Years is always fantastic, I mean usually everyone has one, but we are confident that ours is very special because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback we get from guests. We turn our whole reception area into a large banquet, with a stage, elaborate table designs, and a night to remember. We feature a seafood bar including oysters, prawns and mussels as well as an array of international foods and action stations.  We also have a seven course set menu in our signature restaurant, La Luna with champagne to bring in the New Year with style.
On behalf of the Sinai Weekly team, we would like to applaud The Ritz-Carlton for the fantastic event, and congratulate on the 10 years.