I’ve been reading Pat Hitchcock’s biography of her mother and it is GREAT!  There are some of Alma’s recipes at the back and I based a meal around these.  But first we had some Joan Crawford canapes, her legendary salami sandwiches and some peanut butter and bacon toasts as above.  Sarah said they reminded her of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the biography Pat said that her father liked to drink a concoction of his own invention based on orange juice and gin before dinner.  We added some Grand Marnier and christened it a “Hitchocktail”.  I forgot to take a picture but they were cute and delicious.  They packed a punch too.  I based the recipe on one for a Sweet Patootie cocktail in the wonderful Savoy Cocktail Book.  What a thing of beauty that book is…

I made a Quiche to Hitchcock’s recipe for a starter course.  This recipe shows up under Hitch’s name in three different recipe collections but I wonder if it was his own private joke, as I have heard tell that he hated eggs…

Main course was Alma’s Beef Beaujolais which was great but unphotogenic.  As well as almost a whole bottle of Beaujolais it had Madeira AND Brandy in it. therefore it rocked.  As does Audio Gold, the magical place where I met my magical luncheon guests.

and for pudding we had Alma’s Vanilla Souffle.  It was “lovely fluff” as Polly put it.  Like a chocolate mousse but vanilla flavour.  I forgot to take it out of the freezer to defrost but we stuck it on top of the gas fire for a bit and that did the trick.

It was a wonderful afternoon.  Gorgeous company and sparkling conversation.  My favourite bit was watching everyone having a go at the Hula Hoop.  Richard surprised us all with his skills and Ben’s face was a picture when he finally got the hang of it.

I want to do it all over again.

And I plan to write to Pat Hitchcock to thank her for including her mother’s recipes in her book.

Isn’t this picture a find?!  Alma and her beloved husband.

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