by Jenny | 18 Mar, 2024 | Dinner and a Movie, Joan Fontaine
This month’s selection for the Silver Screen Supper Club Dinner and a Movie is the wonderful Rebecca (1940) and we had a super fun watch-party last Sunday. Folks joined us here in the UK from Canada and the USA to chat about Mrs Danvers giving our heroine the...
by Jenny | 10 Mar, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Jack Lord
I wasn’t sure if I would like this dish, but I did. It is weird, but good! Jack is best remembered by me as the dapper gent starring in Hawai Five-0 and as I have written about this series in the Cooking the Detective book I wanted to try Jack’s...
by Jenny | 5 Mar, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, John Nettles
Bergerac has been all over the news this week as it’s rumoured that there is a reboot in the offing. Oooooh, goodie! Names being bandied around for the main role are Aidan Turner, David Tennant and James Norton. Aidan Turner, please! I do not know what Un Piot...
by Jenny | 23 Feb, 2024 | Errol Flynn, Movie Star Cocktails
Potential for a hangover fairly high this weekend? Here’s a cure! I had to test this myself for the cocktail book I am working on with Mr Rathbone as he is not a fan of tomato juice. He has a way with words and almost always comes up with a pithy comment about...
by Jenny | 21 Feb, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Sheila Hancock
It’s pizza, Jim, but not as we know it. More like cheese on toast with sardines on top! I had to try it though, as I really want to feature Inspector Morse in the Cooking the Detectives book and there are ZERO recipes from John Thaw in my collection. As John...
by Jenny | 17 Feb, 2024 | Joan Crawford
I’m thrilled to have been asked to celebrate the wondrousness of Joan Crawford at the Hippfest Silent Film Festival by introducing their Gala Screening of Our Dancing Daughters on Saturday 23rd March – Joan’s birthday! I’ll also be hosting a...
by Jenny | 17 Feb, 2024 | Mike Douglas, Phyllis Diller
Occasionally, I made a non-movie-star-related dish that I am really proud of. For the Mildred Pierce Dinner and a Movie extravaganza, I made a chicken and waffles dish that made my chest puff up like a proud pigeon! This is a dish featured in the fabulous Brunch at...
by Jenny | 15 Feb, 2024 | Preston Sturges, Screenwriter Cocktails
Always a pleasure to be forced to test a bourbon-based beverage, and this one popped to the top of the list one Friday recently. We might include screenwriters and directors in our Down the Hollywood Hatch cocktail book (Preston was both) so thought we’d give...
by Jenny | 15 Feb, 2024 | Cesare Danova, Dick Van Patten, Karen Black, Murder, She Cooked, Robert Stack, Sharon Acker, Van Johnson
What’s been cooking over at Murder, She Cooked? Quite a lot since I last did a round-up. If you are a Murder, She Wrote fan, skip over to the Substack for episode reviews and companion recipes delivered monthly to your inbox. Here’s what’s been going on in Cabot...
by Jenny | 11 Feb, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Mildred Natwick
Mildred’s pie surprised me by being really good! I love it when a pie does that! It’s one of those recipes that doesn’t look very interesting on paper but makes you raise your eyebrows when you eat it. I used a mixture of cherry tomatoes and larger...
by Jenny | 7 Feb, 2024 | Anne Bancroft, Dinner and a Movie
If you fancy treating yourself to a classic movie plus a movie star din-dins to go with it, over on my Substack the featured movie for February is The Graduate. Here’s a link to the post that contains Anne’s tamale pie recipe – come and join...
by Jenny | 4 Feb, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Roger Moore
This is a cute little recipe for when you fancy potatoes dauphinoise but you don’t possess a fancy mandolin to slice the spuds thinly. Just chop your potatoes into little dice instead! This recipe appeared in a kids’ cookbook, hence the simple way it is...
by Jenny | 30 Jan, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Jack Webb
Just before I published this I realised I had made a schoolgirl error. I did a brain-leap and accidentally renamed this recipe Jack Webb’s Friday Night Beef and Tomatoes and now I look at it PROPERLY, I see it is actually Joe Friday’s Beef and Tomatoes. ...
by Jenny | 22 Jan, 2024 | Cooking The Detectives, Michael Douglas
I experienced a resurgence of that “fear of the butcher” feeling this weekend. It was my fault for leaving it to the last minute to get the veal for this recipe, so it was a valuable lesson learned. I’d known that I was going to make it on Saturday...
by Jenny | 13 Jan, 2024 | Andy Clyde, Top 100 Movie Star Recipes
I’m kicking off 2024 with a great little recipe that I return to almost every new year. It’s a brilliant way of using up your leftover Christmas ham or, if it is a different time of year, your Thanksgiving ham or basically, any lovely ham you have kicking...
by Jenny | 17 Dec, 2023 | Movie Star Cocktails, Robert Mitchum
It’s big, it’s boozy, it’s brilliant. Robert said the following of his very Christmassy tipple, “This recipe will make five quarts. I make no apology for the excessive quantity on the theory that only a dope would go to the trouble for less.”...
by Jenny | 9 Dec, 2023 | Dinah Shore
In my two-year looky-aftery home, there is a secret cupboard in the kitchen. It’s hidden under a work surface, and if you didn’t know it was there, you’d never know to look for it. This has already become The Cupboard of Rarely Used Gadgets. The...
by Jenny | 23 Nov, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, John Nettles
Pepperoni in a frittata? Yes! I wasn’t sure how this would turn out but as the only other recipe I have for John Nettles involves pigs trotters I thought I would give it a whirl. I’ve been writing about John this week for the forthcoming Cooking the...
by Jenny | 19 Nov, 2023 | Michael Landon
Oooh, this is a handy little recipe to have up your sleeve. So simple, so delicious, so adaptable. Bravo to the man those of us who are of a certain age will always think of as being Pa Ingalls. I didn’t have exactly the combination of veggies that Michael...
by Jenny | 6 Nov, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Jerry Orbach
Cooking steak, just for myself, always feels like a big treat. But actually, I wouldn’t be confident about cooking it for someone else. I don’t do it enough to be blasé about it being done to their liking. But when you are home alone, with a nice juicy...
by Jenny | 3 Nov, 2023 | Edgar Rice Burroughs, Screenwriter Cocktails
Mr R called this, “A soft drink bourbon,” and I thought it was a great way of trashyfy-ing a bourbon with a cherry. It felt a bit like a drink you would have in a tiki bar to me, although now that London’s Trader Vic’s has closed, I am going to...
by Jenny | 30 Oct, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, William Conrad
I woke up yesterday morning to a scribbled note that read, “No kettle, no toaster, but I had a wonton crimper.” It took me a while to remember what this related to but eventually, it came to me. It was a line from a conversation with an old friend...
by Jenny | 27 Oct, 2023 | Adolphe Menjou, Movie Star Cocktails
Ooooh, this was a perfect Autumn warmer. I loved this and think it would be great as a Halloween tipple. It’s the season for one or two of these for sure. Mr Rathbone insisted on calling the originator of this beverage Adolphe Mangetout, which in turn led to him...
by Jenny | 23 Oct, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Tony Curtis
This is an easy peasy and very dependable goulash recipe from Boinie, who I didn’t know until I googled it, was of Hungarian heritage. Goulash is one of those things like chilli, where there are a million different ways of making it, but some things crop up in...
by Jenny | 16 Oct, 2023 | Dinner and a Movie, Ernest Hemingway, Screenwriter Cocktails
Mr Rathbone once had a party in his flat, and someone bought him a bottle of absinthe as a gift. But then some big boys in the kitchen drank it all and ran away. Because of this and because it is in a Jimmy Durante cocktail I want to try, I bought him a bottle for...
by Jenny | 12 Oct, 2023 | Marilyn Monroe
Here’s a post from before my move where I was trying to eat as much food from my frozen archives as I possibly could. Marilyn’s lasagne is GOOD my friends, very good! I am in a “use it up and wear it out” phase at the moment and this dish was...
by Jenny | 1 Oct, 2023 | Joan Crawford
I’m excited to announce that the new version of Cooking With Joan Crawford is now available, wherever you are in the world. Here’s the link to the UK Amazon page, do switch to your own country if you are elsewhere for the correct pricing. Here’s a...
by Jenny | 26 Sep, 2023 | David McCallum
I was sad to hear that David McCallum has gone to that Hollywood in the sky. I remembered that I had a draft post about his curry, written by the beloved Mr Rathbone, so thought it would be apt to share it today for all David’s fans out there. This was a test...
by Jenny | 16 Sep, 2023 | Dinner and a Movie, Ian Carmichael, Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Terry-Thomas
Welcome to new readers who have landed here via Talking Pictures TV. I’m excited to propose a fabulous star-spangled menu for everyone to enjoy alongside a screening of I’m All Right Jack on Sunday 8th October at 6.30pm. We are having a Silver Screen...
by Jenny | 12 Sep, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Rock Hudson
I had some cooked chicken hanging around the place before I moved house, and this looked like a good way of using it up. What a nice surprise it was when this “doesn’t look much on paper” recipe turned out to be absolutely scrumptious. Bravo Rock!...
by Jenny | 6 Sep, 2023 | Anthony Hopkins
Ten years of Pieathalon?! AWESOME! I have participated in every single one and have made some bonkers pies for sure. Last year I got the Saggitarius Hamburger Pie which was essentially a dome of meat inside a pastry case. This year it was another MEATY one – a...
by Jenny | 3 Sep, 2023 | Claudette Colbert, Dinner and a Movie
This month’s Dinner and a Movie suggestion is It Happened One Night – skip over to Substack to read all about it, and join in! Clark Gable cooks scrambled eggs in It Happened One Night, so it seemed serendipitous that I had a recipe for same via Claudette....
by Jenny | 1 Sep, 2023 | Johnny Weissmuller, Movie Star Cocktails
Behold the first movie star cocktail made in the NEW Silver Screen Suppers kitchen. I haven’t quite worked out the best place to take food and drink photos, so for now, I am choosing a rather precarious spot on a beautiful (but decommissioned) mini-Aga-type...
by Jenny | 23 Aug, 2023 | Movie Star Cocktails, Shirley Temple
When Rich Watson read that I was on a relocation vacation he kindly offered to write a guest post for the blog. Thanks, Rich! His lovely deep dive into the beverage known as the Shirley Temple follows. Some of you may remember that me and the mister made a video...
by Jenny | 13 Aug, 2023 | David Niven, Diana Dors, Gene Tierney, Peter Fonda, Phyllis Diller, Una Stubbs, Vincent Price
Silver Screen Suppers Towers has moved to the seaside. I put my intention to do this out into the universe a few months ago, and a beautiful place to live has been handed to me on a plate with parsley around it! I have an absolutely wonderful kitchen and am planning...
by Jenny | 24 Jul, 2023 | Benny Hill
It was renaissance man Martin Green who tipped me off to this fabulous piece of TV ephemera. when I went to hear his DJ set at Spiritlands on the South Bank here in London. I say TV rather than film, as most of the stars featured on the cassette and in the recipe...
by Jenny | 21 Jul, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives
I am a stickler for sticking to recipes, so naturally, I made this on a Sunday. Just like Vincent Price’s Friday Chicken, it would have seemed wrong to make it on a day other than the one specified. This was on the test-cook list for the forthcoming Cooking the...
by Jenny | 16 Jul, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, David Suchet, When Bloggers Meet or Collaborate
Calling all Poirot fans! I have a treat for you. Every now and then, Taryn from Retro Food for Modern Times and I do a cookalong together. If you put an enormous skewer through the planet with the top of it going through London, it would probably emerge somewhere...
by Jenny | 12 Jul, 2023 | Bebe Daniels
Sometimes you don’t see a dressing for ages, and then three come along at once… On the left, we have Angela Lansbury’s Mustard Vinaigrette. On the right, we have David Soul’s Torino Dressing, and in the middle, a French Dressing. When I needed...
by Jenny | 7 Jul, 2023 | Barbara Stanwyck, Dinner and a Movie, Movie Star Cocktails
The film for this month’s Dinner and a Movie is Ball of Fire (1941), and the suggestions for accompaniments are Barbara Stanwyck’s Meatloaf, her Pimento Salad and a cinnamon-based cocktail I have named after her character in the movie, The Sugarpuss...
by Jenny | 27 Jun, 2023 | Joyce Grenfell
We are having a mini heatwave here in the UK, so thoughts turn to salads. I am becoming quite a fan of chicory (or endive, depending on where you are in the world) because it turns out to be the kind of thing that will last a while in the fridge when you have...
by Jenny | 22 Jun, 2023 | Movie Star Cocktails, William Gaxton
I have no idea who William Gaxton is, but I LOVED his cocktail invention. We toasted the much-loved Tina Turner with one of these, and if you want a few minutes of pure joy, watch Ann-Margret having the time of her life performing Nutbush City Limits with the best...
by Jenny | 20 Jun, 2023 | Cooking with Columbo, Murder, She Cooked, Rue McClanahan
I’m organising a Murder, She Wrote Watch Party on Sunday – everyone is welcome, wherever you are in the world! All the details are in this Substack post if you’d like to join in, it’s going to be loads of fun. The episode we are watching...
by Jenny | 18 Jun, 2023 | Ruta Lee
I am revving up to move house, and I have a four-drawer freezer full of things to eat up. I am also in a state of mild panic about all the people I want to see before I leave London. I am not going a million miles away, just around 70 miles as the crow flies (110...
by Jenny | 9 Jun, 2023 | Dinner and a Movie, Jane Russell
It’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes month over at Dinner and a Movie! Join us if you fancy watching the film sometime in June and then sharing your thoughts on it. There are a few recipes from the Kitchen of Jane Russell for you to rustle up in this post, and here...
by Jenny | 6 Jun, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Susan Saint James
I have had a huge jar of pearl barley on my kitchen counter for around 5 years. I look at it on a regular basis and think, “I must use that for something”, when I probably should be thinking, “I am going to throw that away.” But here comes...
by Jenny | 4 Jun, 2023 | Dinner and a Movie, Jane Russell
I’ve selected Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for June’s Dinner and a Movie, so if you fancy joining the fun, grab yourself a copy of it and watch it in your own time, on your own sofa sometime in June. There will be chit-chat about the film in our virtual...
by Jenny | 18 May, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, David Soul
I’m knuckling down to writing the Cooking the Detectives book, and next week is POIROT week. But which screen representation of Poirot? Chatting to some friends about Miss Marple, we all agreed that everyone has their favourite Marple, but I’m guessing the...
by Jenny | 16 May, 2023 | Vincent Price
Asparagus season here – yippee! The minute I spotted some, I grabbed it, with this lovely luncheon in mind. Sometimes when I’m working from home I fancy something fancy and this feels fancy. Egghead would approve! It’s so quick and easy too. I...
by Jenny | 11 May, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Telly Savalas
For the forthcoming Cooking the Detectives book I’m trying to work on one sleuth per week. Last week it was KOJAK! I’m writing a guide to a “taster episode” for each show and there will be a recipe from the kitchen of the actor who plays the...
by Jenny | 7 May, 2023 | Cecil B Demille, Dinner and a Movie, Gloria Swanson, William Holden
Greetings to those dropping by from Dinner and a Movie for some extra recipes suitable for serving alongside a screening of Sunset Blvd. First up, possibly the maddest thing I have ever made William Holden’s Lime Gelatine with Carrots, Nuts and Olives. Yes, this...
by Jenny | 6 May, 2023 | Dennis King, Movie Star Cocktails
God bless the King. Dennis King. Another classic cocktail from the brilliant Bottoms Up! cocktail book, published in 1928. This copy, with the original corkscrew still attached, is available to buy for a cool £4,000. The Saratoga is a classic for a reason, the...
by Jenny | 5 May, 2023 | Fanny Brice, Movie Star Cocktails
I’ve been saving this for Coronation weekend and here it is. In case you don’t know, there’s royal stuff going on in the UK tomorrow so if you are going to be toasting the new King or any other regal person in your life, here’s the ideal...
by Jenny | 28 Apr, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Tom Selleck
Cor! This was good. But no wonder, it’s got loads of things I love in it. Plus I made it with fancy truffle mayonnaise. I think Tom would be proud of me. Here’s what you need. Under construction (I used an ice cream scoop as instructed). Voila! Easy...
by Jenny | 24 Apr, 2023 | Lauren Bacall
What has happened to this year? Are we in some kind of accelerated time warp machine? Today I thought to myself, “I must check when the The Great Muppet Show Co-Star Caper is happening so I can write about Lauren Bacall’s spinach salad recipe” (as...
by Jenny | 19 Apr, 2023 | Stanley Tucci, Tuccitime
This was a bit of a “two-recipes-in-one” job as one of the ingredients in Stanley’s recipe is a marinara sauce. Luckily, the way Stanley makes his is all over the interwebs, so I made a batch to this recipe to incorporate into the aubergine mix....
by Jenny | 17 Apr, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, David Suchet
It’s traditional to have roast lamb over Easter here in the UK, so David’s recipe was plucked from the “to test” pile for Good Friday. It’s a bit of a strange one, and I’m not sure it will make it into the Cooking the Detectives...
by Jenny | 16 Apr, 2023 | Dinner and a Movie
Hello chums – I’ve just opened the doors to the Silver Screen Suppers Club virtual reality cinema bar so join us for a chat about All About Eve – the chatroom is open 24/7 on the Substack app. It’s effectively our opening night and it’s...
by Jenny | 14 Apr, 2023 | Charlie Chaplin, Movie Star Cocktails
I am a big fan of Richard Godwin’s online cocktail emporium The Spirits. Recently I was delving around in there, reading about Apricot Brandy and I spotted this comment on the Charlie Chaplin cocktail. “The original recipe of this from the Old Waldorf...
by Jenny | 7 Apr, 2023 | Cooking The Detectives, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
For Christmas one of my gifts from Mr Rathbone was an offer to test cook three dishes for the forthcoming Cooking the Detectives book. The first one he went for was Robert Wagner’s Chili and on Friday night he rustled up the second. It was LUSH. The sauce is...