Gingerbread builders set to face off

Five teams of local chefs paired with local architects will battle for the best gingerbread house this weekend at the annual Christ Kitchen Gingerbread Build-Off.

In the Iron Chef-style event, the teams will decorate their gingerbread houses (or mansions or barns, if past year’s creations are any indication) in three hours with the public watching. They’ll have to include a mystery ingredient revealed that morning.

The build-off will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday on the mezzanine level of the Davenport Hotel.

Kids are invited to decorate their own mini gingerbread houses at the same time in the Grand Pennington Ballroom. The cost is $10 per house.

Money raised by the event benefits Christ Kitchen, a job-training ministry for Spokane women living in poverty. For more information about Christ Kitchen go to www.christkitchen.org or call (509) 325-4343.

To market, to market …

Interested in a taste of the pork being raised by Wooly Pigs?

Heath Putnam and his wife Zuzana have Berkshire hogs and unusual Mangalitsa pigs that they’re raising with the help of Gary and So Angell at the Rocky Ridge Ranch in Reardan, Wash. They were featured on the cover of last week’s Food section.

Putnam and the Angells will be at the winter farmers’ market at the Community Building, 35 W. Main Ave., on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

They’ll have pork from some of the Berkshire hogs available to purchase, including sample packs of roughly 10 pounds of pork for $49. The packages will include some ham slices, loin roast, various types of bacon, sausages or ribs. That price is only good at Thursday’s market, Putnam says, since he underestimated his costs for USDA processing.

They’ll also have retail cuts available to purchase, including boneless loin roasts, sausage and bacon.

For more information about Wooly Pigs contact Putnam at (509) 536-4083.