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By Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin
Student Toni Ahu-Fisher puts final touches on a gingerbread
mansion for the KCC dessert buffet.

Treats are extra
sweet when offered
for a good cause

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Star-Bulletin

This being the season of sugar-plum fairies, it's easy -- too easy -- to indulge that sweet tooth. But when you chomp down on goodies for a good cause, calories are minimized, or is that rationalized?

Either way, try one of these special events:

Gingerbread Festival for Easter Seals: Alan Wong's Regional Cuisine Marketplace is baking up the makings for gingerbread houses. The package also includes icing, pastry bags and candies. Plus you get a reserved table for two hours on Sunday at the Neal Blaisdell Center, Hawaii Rooms, where community college culinary students will help you assemble a unique house to take home.

Cost is $27.50 for an 8-by-8-by-8-inch house; $47.50 for a 9-by-9-by-10-inch house. Proceeds benefit Easter Seals' Home Economics Enrichment Program for teens with disabilities. The event runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 536-1015, Ext .232.

The Enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria: If you don't want to make your own gingerbread house, you can bid on one created by pastry arts students at Kapiolani Community College. The students' Swiss Gingerbread Village will be sold in a silent auction, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 15 in the Ohelo Dining Rooms at KCC.

The event is part of a buffet of desserts and wines billed as "Old-World Yuletide Treats." Tickets are $25, to benefit pastry programs. Call 734-9499, Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

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Westin Hawaii Prince Hotel
Elves fashioned of chocolate will be on display.

Christmas chocolate for charity: Christmas is about sharing and song -- and chocolate. Get a bit of all of that in the lobby of the Westin Hawaii Prince Hotel, where pastry chef Barry Yadao has created a display of angels made of everyone's favorite substance, chocolate.

At 7 p.m. Mondays this month and on Dec. 21, youth groups will sing Christmas carols alongside the chocolate, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the hotel is offering free refreshments.

From 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, it's high tea with finger sandwiches, scones, chocolate-dipped strawberries and fine teas. From 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, it's a "Holiday Food and Wine Celebration" with a selection of appetizers.

Then on Sunday, Dec. 17, Yadao will host "Santa's Sweet Shop," 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring traditional and island-style treats, plus a lesson on making candy-canes.

But getting to the sharing part, the point of all this is to draw attention to the hotel's other lobby displays -- Christmas trees and holiday aloha shirts designed by 10 local charities. Vote for your favorite display by making a donation to that charity.

Call 944-4412.

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calendars and events.