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when you’re cooking it’s easy to build trust
Amrita Lal and Kym McAdam bonded over a famous Aussie sweet treat after each moving to the UK from Down Under
words PUNTEHA VAN TERHEYDEN
After meeting at a barbecue for the first time in person in June 2020, Amrita Lal, 31, and Kym McAdam, 34, instantly bonded. After months spent in lockdown, New Zealand expat Amrita was thrilled to spot a home comfort on the table: lamington cake. Fellow expat Kym, from Australia, had baked it using an old family recipe, and it brought back many happy memories for Amrita. She says, ‘Back home, whenever I was on school holidays as a kid, I’d go to work with my dad. We’d stop at the bakery on the way and I’d usually pick a chocolate lamington. Seeing Kym’s at that barbecue gave me flashbacks of precious memories with my dad, and a welcome slice of home.’
The pair, who’d only previously met online during Zoom quiz nights with mutual friends, realised they got along well in real life, too: ‘After that, we went for socially distanced walks regularly. When lockdown eased, I had a week off work and invited Kym to mine for brunch. She took the day off specially and showed up with a bottle of prosecco –I knew then that we’d be really good friends.’