One of my more ridiculous undertakings of late was a supplementation of the Jessie Ngaio experience with biscuitry. Her ‘Cold Salt Skin’ exhibition opened on Friday, and we thought ‘what better way to enhance the already-psychedelic mermaid artworks than to pump its viewers full of sugar?’ There was also wine.
I know that there was at least one coeliac in the room, and for me that’s enough to make the whole operation gluten-free. Dietary accessibility is the coolest. And really, no one should be able to tell that they’re gluten-free, because they should not taste like your archetypal crumbly dry rice flour-y mess that is what most coeliacs are fed. I’ve come to trust the Gluten-Free Girl as a good starting point for GF translations of classic recipes, and while I think her flagrant use of sorghum flour does impart a very particlar flavour to the products of her recipes that doesn’t always please me, I am very grateful for access to her approach to gluten liberation and I think she’s doing good work. And so I used her recipe for cut-outs, substituting half white rice flour and half almond meal for the sweet rice flour, which I have not yet been able to find in Melbourne. The frosting is a standard buttercream. Edible glitter was also involved.
This, despite being one of the most labour-intensive things I’ve done for someone else, was totally fun. It’s not exactly my style – or at least I’d like to think so – but anything with repetition is something I can really get into for its more meditative qualities. Also, pastry bags are good fun. It became quite an assembly-line process with a very definable rhythm, and seeing all of these little creatures take shape was a trippy process. I tend to think that about all baked goods that are made to look like living things. Putting faces on gingerbread koalas at Each Peach is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever done. Try listening to Bjork’s ‘Oceania’ and looking out over a sea of mermaids. Freaky shit.
But the best good fun of these was watching a gallery full of folks take pictures of them with their phones or pick up a tray of them and serve them to their fellow patrons. They went quickly with few casualties and they seemed to please people. Especially the person they were most meant to please.
I can’t help but feel that they look a bit Communist.
wooden spooning 