Melissa Rogerson: In the kitchen

It’s been a kitchen kind of day today.

Every month or so, Biggie and I go to the Queen Victoria Market on a Saturday morning and buy a ridiculous amount of meat, fruit and veggies. Then Fraser takes the girls out in the afternoon while I chop, marinade and otherwise prepare all the food and load it into the freezer. Fresh food is nicer, true, but this way there’s always something good to eat at home, however tired we feel.

Today was that day—I think I have 20 family meals plus assorted in the freezer now.

You’d think I would have given up on cooking for the day (I did make Fraser cook dinner tonight), but I still had a way to go.

You see, on Tuesday we’re going to our game pimp’s house to celebrate (somewhat belatedly) her birthday. And what do you get the gamer who has everything (and then some)? *Stefanie, if you are reading this, stop now. Or at least soon.*

Last year, inspiration struck. Biggie and I sat down and made a batch of gaming-inspired cupcakes. They were a big hit, and mostly recognisable. I think this one was probably my favourite:

This year, we’re trying something more comprehensive. A friend taught me to play Tikal recently (thanks Jon), so it’s on my radar. And on Monday, I found a hexagonal cookie cutter. The final factor was the Tikal tile breakdown that someone uploaded to the Geek ... you can see where this is heading, can’t you.

My goal for the evening has been to create a full, playable copy of Tikal—in gingerbread.

My mum has probably the yummiest recipe ever for gingerbread in the world. It’s a soft, honey gingerbread that is great for kids (especially if you ice/frost it) - but adults love it too. The mother of one of Biggie’s friends confessed recently that she looks forward to the Bigster’s birthday parties because of Nanna’s gingerbread.

Because I’m writing this while I wait for the gingerbread to cool enough to add some decorations, I’ll fill this in by giving you the recipe, still in Imperial measures because it’s so old.

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Judy’s Gingerbread

12oz plain flour
Pinch salt
Level tblspn ground ginger
4 oz butter
6 oz soft brown sugar
4-5 tablespoons honey

Sift flour, salt and ginger into a bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips (I cheat and do this bit in the food processor), mix in brown sugar.

Bind together with honey and knead on a floured benchtop until smooth.

Rollout onto a floured surface and cut into shapes.

Bake @ 400F, second shelf down, for 5-10 minutes.

(I bake them for 5-6 minutes @ 180 in my metric oven)

Makes lots.

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It didn’t take long to make a batch of gingerbread—although longer than it need have since Otto decided to help too. The hex cutter is a great size, too.

The goal of exact playability was lost when I thought about the need to cut ten different sizes of square gingerbreads, each slightly smaller than the last. We’ll find a work-around—and it will probably involve SMARTIES.

Of course, there had to be a Meeple (isn’t there one in every game box, whether it belongs there or not).

Volcanoes ready to ice:





Mixing the orange icing was another game tie-in—Fraser and I have been playing a lot of Colour Clowns with Otto, who is just learning how to mix colours to make orange, green and purple. She remembered enough to tell me to make the orange icing by mixing yellow and red, so clearly although it’s a very ordinary game, it has some educational merit.

That’s what I’m using for Treasures, and I think there will be jelly babies for the playing pieces. (Intriguingly, in the FOUR BOXES of smarties I bought, there were exactly 21 yellow pieces ... and a Tikal set has 22 treasures. Cutting smarties in half is hard work!

And here’s what they look like with Treasure:

Iced and ready to decorate (check out the Volcanoes):





Otto had to make her own shapes too. Now to you or me, this shape is a sideways pig—but to Otto, it is Jack-Jack from The Incredibles.





That’s as far as I have got. I have four colours of smarties for playing pieces, and plan to buy some giant smarties to be the Leaders. I still need to find tents for base camps (maybe mini toblerone pieces?) and draw the stepping stones and pyramid bases.

I have no idea how to do the pyramids, though. I think perhaps I will just pile on brown smarties.

(This article first appeared on Gone Gaming on the date referenced below.)
© 2006 Melissa Rogerson

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