Dilini Algama

Beige coloured cake batter in a floured round tin on the countertop.

Against a backdrop of a bookshelf on a blue-green tablecloth is a red cake plate with a border of big white hearts. The is on it missing one quarter. The top looks very cooked and dark brown, the middle looks like normal cake.

Same cake from a slightly higher angle. There is a vase of flowers behind the cake.

On the same tablecloth is a thin Whole Earth Cookbook. To the right is my mother’s handwritten chocolate cake recipe or rather the list of ingredients.

Amma sent me the recipe and I made the sponge cake of my childhood. I had the heat on 200°C and nearly burnt it, but my husband said it’s very good.

I found my mother’s bilingual chocolate cake recipe or rather the list of ingredients in a cookbook I nicked off of her shelf.

Twinsies, Simon! My mother has the same model. She’s having the recipe book scanned and sent to me. I’m very happy to share it with you! ☺️

Oh I occupy a good seat at this club too 😀

My parents surprise me now by getting more things right with my 3yo nephew. Where was this when I was growing up, you big lemons?

at my parents’ parenting*.

look me over and say that’s more important because her dishes were replaceable and I wasn’t. She’d give me a hug and say it’s okay. This is something I carry forward.

I could roll my eyes at many things my parents’ parenting when I was growing up, but how my amma reacted when I broke her ceramics or glass is something else. I was called ‘Butterfingers’ in the family and she wouldn’t let me wash her Pyrex. But when I did and something broke she asked if I was hurt

The cover of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals where little Gerry is on the donkey his dog is next to him and the rest of the family is a quick doodle in the background.

I had and lost this book ages ago and just found a copy at Oxfam in Frankfurt. As my neff would say, voohoo!

I found something similar by Kenwood on the net. My mother is the only person who still says ‘liquidiser’ and this explains it somewhat.

reocarchive.byethost31.com/kenwood/A700...

Do you have the Kenwood recipe book from 1982 or 1983 that came with the stand mixer affair in England? It has the most basic yet brilliant sponge cake recipe and an excellent choux pastry recipe.

The resistance grows.

‘Nourishing’ is now next to ‘hydrate’ on my list of words that make me want to punch a pillow.

As a person, and as someone doing IVF, I appreciate the heck out of people that tell us before we meet that they are infectious with a cold, the flu, covid, what have you so that we can make an informed decision about meeting up.

In the spirit of life and bounty, I share my chives returning for the first time. How all this [gestures expansively at figs and chives] is the result of dirt and water is beyond me.

The fig salad looks so good! Enjoy your fig bounty! ☺️

That’s Ornamental Flowers. I found The Flowers of May and The Oxford Book of Wild Flowers on World of Books. The book on Greek peonies and The Frampton Flora were chance Oxfam finds on two separate occasions. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

A heap of adjectives in thank you responses of authors to reviewers

"Socially acceptable ritualistic flattery" for reviewers ...

#dgfs2026

I forgot one!

Me too! This is my collection. I’d love to scan and frame some of the beautiful plates, but I worry for the spines.

My cream Paris Olympics t-shirt (bought later on sale) has mud splatters on it from playing in the mud with my 2 1/2yo neff in Sri Lanka.

I can imagine it’s quite popular. Sure thing. It’s from 1960.

the toxic (ex) boyfriend 👇

#IchBinHanna #IchBinReyhan #PDprekär

The Night Manager owes us a ducking good next season.

I bet it’s an enchanted forest! Thank you so much!! I’d love to see photos of your Hochbeet to come the weather. I can just imagine how lively it’ll be with the bees and wasps 😍

And The Night Manger third season!! I have no nails left for light consumption!

The Hausmeister lets me take over a Hochbeet here in the garden. These photos are from last year. I might add dandelions this year. I have poppies planned and cowherb. Someone nicked the cowherb last year. I believe they had the pox as was my wish.

I love moss too! And all wildflowers! No, not concrete! I share in your distress. My mother-in-law has the grass clippings and raked leaves hauled away. I could literally cry.

Dandelions and erigeron, please.

Ooh, I love partnering up for the dandelions! In my past dandelion rescue work I’ve learnt that they need to be replanted quickly. They wilt awfully soon.

I have a thing for wildflowers and books about them.

Basil Karapetian for good tech support characters. Please don’t kill him off.

Now I do too! I knew the French ‘dent de lion’ origin, but ‘pissenlit’ was very new!