Author: Angela
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In a Vase on Monday | 27th April 2026
I wasn’t expecting to join in for another few weeks — there’s nothing to cut outside yet. But the windowsill pelargonium needed trimming, and the bud vases needed filling, so here we are.
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Six on Saturday | 25th April 2026
Snow that didn’t arrive, kalanchoes from three different Christmases, an accidental amaryllis discovery, and dahlias plotting their summer takeover.
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Fusilli Alfredo
There are three ways to make alfredo. The Italian way uses three ingredients and decades of technique I don’t have. The American chain way uses flour, which is cheating. My way uses cream, butter, and cheese — just dairy being dairy. A Roman nonna would not approve. My son came back for seconds.
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Sämpyläjauho | Bread Roll Flour
Sämpyläjauho is a Finnish bread roll flour that looks like multigrain, sits next to whole grain flour on the shelf, and radiates wholesome energy. Read the ingredients label. It is refined white flour wearing a costume.
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Six on Saturday | 18th April 2026
Hügelkultur experiments, crocus dreams, heritage seeds from Nordgen, and a school greenhouse with a story I’ll tell you someday.
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Hiivaleipäjauho | Bread Flour
Hiivaleipäjauho is Finland’s bread flour — a higher-protein wheat flour whose name literally means “yeast bread flour.” Refreshingly honest labeling for a country whose all-purpose flour is called “semi-coarse.”
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Mannapuuro in a Cocktail Dress
Mannapuuro is Finnish semolina porridge — simple, austere, the kind of thing your mummo made. My version uses cooking cream, vanilla sugar, and a tempered egg, which technically makes it a custard. Add strawberry jam and it tastes like strawberry ice cream. I didn’t plan this. The Year of Custards keeps claiming victims.
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Puolikarkea Vehnäjauho | All-purpose Flour
Puolikarkea vehnäjauho is Finland’s default wheat flour — the bag you reach for when a recipe just says “jauho.” The name literally translates to “semi-coarse wheat flour” which sounds rustic but isn’t. It’s your standard all-purpose flour with a complicated linguistic relationship to the word.
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Six on Saturday | 11th April 2026
Week six. Ten beds down, the alliums are in the ground, someone has been eating my pea seedlings, and the bird feeder is doing brisk business. Plus a baguette mystery.
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Blue Raspberry Gelatin
Last time I made jello, the French syrup turned it into an accidental dinner party dessert. My son was unimpressed. He wanted BLUE. So I reverse-engineered radioactive blue raspberry gelatin from Finnish soda syrup, citric acid, and enough food coloring to stain the spoon permanently. Formula locked.