The Vincent Price Treasury Pilgrimage – Visit 4 – Lasserre – Paris
This is what the Lasserre looked like in 1965 when Vincent and Mary's Treasury of Great Recipes was published. It looked exactly the same last week in 2012. Except the hydrangeas have been replaced with orchids and there is a new - but very similar...
The Vincent Price Treasury Pilgrimage – Visit 3 – Les Halles – Paris
In the best cookbook ever written (IMHO) Vincent writes eloquently about the wonderful food available in Paris. As the lovely people at Eurostar offered me a cheap ticket to Paree recently I decided I would go on the second of my pilgrimages to walk in the...
Vincent Price’s Friday Night Chicken
Any guest who arrives with a Fanny Cradock cookbook as a gift is tops in my book and if my weekend house-guest visits again I will definitely cook him something from "Fanny Cradock Invites..." Maybe "Winged Victory" as I have always wanted to make something that...
Recipe of the Month – Fred MacMurray’s Chocolate Fudge Upside Down Cake
Ooh what a rotten photo! The Recipe of the Month is UP - and it is easy, peasy, goooooooeeeeey and yummy. You make the cake mixture and then pour boiling water over the top and when you take it out of the oven and turn it upside down there is a ready made...
Vincent Price’s Goulash
It’s Halloween, one of my favourite nights of the year, and there is a vast amount of Vincent Price Goulish Goulash in the slow cooker. My CHARGE is coming for dinner tomorrow evening, and like some Aunt in a PG Wodehouse novel I want to make sure he is fully...
Godfrey Winn’s Kedgeree
Dr Lawrence Napper has been obsessed with Godfrey Winn ever since Charles Barr bought his Godfrey Winn Tea Towel into a seminar at UEA and proudly presented it to us. I've been promising him Godfrey's Kedgeree for a long time and so it came to pass yesterday for...
Vincent Price’s Blueberry Muffins La Posada
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuffins! Muffinsmmmm. That's all I have to say about them really. Vincent's recipe was perfect - natch. So there is not much more to say about it. They were gorgeous - me and Lawrence and Nathalie just about ate them...
Cary Grant’s Mushroom Canapes and Tuna Fish Pie
I had a gentleman caller last night. It was date 3 with a fellow from OK Cupid known around these parts as "Mr Shoulder" and I did enjoy seeing him smoking a fag whilst hula hooping at about 1 in the morning. Reminded me a bit of Johnny Marr strumming away with a...
William Powell’s Vatrouskis
Being a guest on Hatty and Marc's Silly Radio Show was SO MUCH FUN. I really enjoyed our chinwag about all the stars and the food they liked to eat. My favourite bit was when listeners could challenge me to see if I had a recipe for a particular...
Richard Dix’s Egg Nog Pie De Luxe
When I am faced with shop full of 78rpms I always buy ones with funny titles like, "My Wife is on a Diet" or "Washing Dishes With My Sweetie" both of which turned out to be winners. So it is with recipes. Sometimes I just pick them because they sound cute. Egg Nog...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
I will be on the radio on Saturday talking about Silver Screen Suppers. Tune in to www.croydronradio.com 1-3pm and tweet in on hattyashdown or on the shout box ! (I don't know what a shout box is - Hatty told me to say that!) I have just made some Janet Gaynor Ice Box...
@FBC12 – three days of bliss
Look out for my lounge on Saturday night on BBC's Arena about the Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour - it was used as a location to represent a 1967 front room on Boxing Day. Now to business! This will probably be my longest post ever. Any conference where you get...
Food Blogger Connect – Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Eek - I'm featured on Food Blogger Connect today. I'm going to be attending this three day event in London and am beyond excited. Can't wait to meet food bloggers from around the world, exchange ideas, eat loads of delicious food and listen to some great speakers. ...
Cesare Danova’s Cream of Broccoli Soup
For the first time in my entire life Cup-O-Soup was on my shopping list. I slightly blame Brian over at my new blog-stalker-obsession-spot Caker Cooking who I virtually met (if you know what I mean) yesterday morning in bed on a blog tour. If you don't...
Phil Baker’s Scrambled Eggs with Roquefort Cheese
My fridge is almost entirely stocked with salad dressings and cheese after last Sunday. I overdid it. So I was very pleased to find this recipe to use up what's left of the Roquefort. Nice and easy and very, very tasty. Phil says: Mash the cheese in...
Ralph Herz’s Thousand Island Salad Dressing
I always imagined Thousand Island Dressing to be seventies thing. But who would have thought that in 1916 Ralph would offer us his recipe in, " Celebrated Actor Folks’ Cookeries: A Collection of the Favorite Foods of Famous Players". I've never made Thousand Island...
Edna May Oliver’s Roquefort Cheese Salad Dressing
I made half the quantity Edna May suggested for the Lucille Ball Sunday Supper as her recipe would have been enough for an army of salad eaters. We were a party of 5 and I’m going to be having this on salad until Christmas I think… - seen on the left with...
Lucille Ball’s Sunday Night Supper
Had a lovely Sunday with Heather, Glen, Nick and Brad watching The Long Long Trailer and having a whole menu suggested by Lucille Ball. Lucy's Sunday Night Supper for Two or Twenty - Salad - Goulash - Dessert I made Lucille's goulash almost exactly to her recipe...
Hitchcock Competition Winner
The winner of the Hitchcock competition is Jane Tracy. Congratulations Jane! Usually my prizes are won by chums as lots of them enter, but this time the prizes go to someone I do not know, an unknown reader of the blog, and that is just lovely! I got lots of...
Vincent Price Quiche Lorraine
I've gone Quiche crazy. Preparing for the Highgate Horticultural Society competition on Saturday. I couln't decide between Alfred Hitchcock's and Vincent's but my work colleague Obi just clinched it. He said of today's quiche, "I'd rather buy your...
Vincent Price’s Coleslaw
What a few days! I cannot begin to express what an amazing day I had at the Paralympics on Thrilling Thursday. I thought my eardrums would burst when David Weir won his race the sound in that stadium was unbelievable. It was a day full of love and...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
I am sun-kissed and happy after a day at the seaside with the Ladies of the 43 – my ex-flatmates Gaby and Lucy. Oh it was glorious! I love those women. I gave a talk to the lovely ladies of the Southend Women’s Institute last night and I was super nervous...
Alfred Hitchcock Competition
I am celebrating all things Hitchcockian this month with a BIG COMPETITION. Super-dooper prizes on offer and everyone can enter. Here’s the scoop on Hitchcockian action a go-go. 1 – recipe of the month this month is Alfred Hitchcock’s Quiche Lorraine –...
Gene Kelly’s Greatest Man Sandwich in the World
Life is full of surprises and my American pen-pal Margie was right, Gene’s crazy sandwich is GOOD. It is made from mashed potato and French bread and onions and mayonnaise and it tastes mighty fine. Mmmm. Surprise number 2 tonight was The Way We...
Tessie O’Shea’s Creamed Almond Chick
It was a special night at the Palace of Solitude tonight – I had two lovely dinner guests. Two of my very favourite people and what is more, two people who live within spitting distance of my flat. How lovely to have such friends on my doorstep who can come round...
Lana Turner’s Simple and Easy Salsa
Whenever I make salsa I can’t help reminiscing about a gorgeous hunk of a man who made some for me one night wearing a very sexy blue and white striped T-shirt. Ooh, he was a sight to see chopping those tomatoes. Yum yum. When I am on my deathbed I...
Sheila Sim’s Chicken a la King
Vic came round for his tea last night. There was a great article in one of the Sunday supplements last week about the different nuances of the words tea, dinner and supper. Last night was a tea verging on a supper. To me supper always seems a slightly more elaborate...
Ivor Novello’s Artichokes Au Gratin
The esteemed Dr Lawrence Napper has given me a tip off that on Saturday night there will be a tribute to Novello at the Proms and it will be shown on tele. He suggests that fans of the divine Ivor might like to rustle up his dish to accompany events. I haven't tried...
Celia Johnson’s Chocolate Sponge Cake
I have just had a long night of the soul where all my worries gathered at the foot of my bed to torment me. Instead of tossing and turning and hurrumphing I decided to get up. So I started making a birthday cake for my desk buddy Lucy at 4.30am. It...
Vincent Price’s Poached Eggs Harlequin
Wow, what a week! On Thursday I got up at 5am to go and see the Olympic Torch in Camden. I love the fact that my local tube station in Highgate was all flagged up for the Olympics when I got there at 5.30: The torch relay was coooooooooool. Then on...
The Vincent Price Treasury Pilgrimage – Visit 2 – Amstel Hotel – Amsterdam
I passed the Amstel Hotel a couple of times on my way to and from business meetings in Amsterdam but I saved up my visit for Saturday morning when I could appreciate it to the full. I was strangely nervous as I walked across the bridge. It's such an...
Rhonda Fleming’s Cowboy Caviar
Summer has arrived at last in London and I had a really lovely cocktail hour in the garden on Sunday with Vic and Corinna drinking beer and talking nonsense. Vic said he had vowed never to sit on a rug in a garden but we made him do it. It’s a rare sight...
Joan Crawford’s Salad Number One
I ate quite a lot of rich food in Amsterdam including this: in honour of Vincent Price's Hotchpotch of Curly Kale... so on Saturday I was craving a Joanie salad. There has been a tin of pineapple slices in my cupboard for ages so I made this and it was...
The Vincent Price Treasury Pilgrimage – Visit 1 – Dikker and Thijs – Amsterdam
When I first clapped eyes on the best cookbook in the world – Vincent and Mary Price’s Treasury of Great Recipes - I knew many great culinary experiences lay ahead. The mighty tome arrived in a box in a huge postal sack from the USA, delivered to work as I knew...
Tony Curtis’ Toltot Kaposzta
Tony says: “When I was a kid in New York, my closest friends were Irish and Italian and we shared everything, even holidays. So I figured I might as well get into the act and always asked Mom to whip up her stuffed cabbage, my favourite then, and my favourite...
Gracie Fields’ Potted Shrimp
I found the little brown shrimp I’d been looking for. Even though I have never had potted shrimp I knew the big pink ones that are more available wouldn’t be right and these teeny brown ones were perfect. This was recipe of the month last month and I’ve...
Corinne Griffiths’ Anchovy Eggs
Quote from Black Narcissus: Q: What do nuns eat? A: Sausages. Quote from Silver Screen Suppers Towers: Q: What do spinsters eat? A: Eggs It did make me laugh when a gentleman caller asked me recently what I was reading and picked up my bedside book, “Eggs I Have...
Vincent Price’s Coq au Vin Rouge a L’Averngate
It is day one in my new academic diary and it is time for this old kazoo to go back to school. My intensive 6 month writing boot camp with Lisa Clark begins today. I took the day off work and have been writing like a machine. My new project Movie...
Hattie McDaniel’s Sweetcorn Pudding
Ah, the soothing power of Gone With the Wind. Always a tonic. I made Hattie’s Sweetcorn Pudding from Modern Screen magazine and as always it was darn good. Usually I make it in a shallow dish but this time I baked it in a soufflé dish and it turned out lovely and...
Viola Dana’s Kansas Toast
I was a bit worried that this would turn out like Harold Lloyd’s Eggs Dolores which were, quite frankly, disgusting. But happily Viola’s tomatoey eggs were delicious. The esteemed Dr Lawrence Napper sent me this recipe, transcribed from Picture Show...
Anna May Wong Tea Cakes
Ah, these turned out perfectly! I decided to make some of these as well as the Ice Box Cookies for the "Women in Early Hollywood" event and good job I did - they were all scoffed! This one is definitely going in the Silver Screen Suppers book and I have...
Janet Gaynor’s Ice Box Cookies
The JG Ice Box Cookies are wrapped in foil and in the fridge. I am going to bake them tomorrow and give them out at the event I am speaking at in a desperate attempt to get everyone to like me so much they won't ask me difficult questions. It's a panel...
Vincent Price Burgers
And then the mice came… I think my romance is well and truly over. What a shame. I was having a conversation with my 12 year old chum Jessie about it on the bus the other day and when I said it wasn’t going well she said, "Oh dear. And you had...
Barton MacLane’s Baked Chili
Ooh, this was a weird one. Mixing an egg in with the mince then baking it before covering it with the chilli mixture and baking it again. This resulted in a kind of thin brick of meat with tomatoey stuff on top. Not a great success. Ben was very...
Jack La Rue’s Spaghetti a la Jack La Rue
I am trying to introduce a shuffle system for my two freezers. This makes it sound like I am living in some kind of enormous farmhouse with two chest freezers and an Aga. This could not be further from the truth. But as I cook so much and my landlord...
Dorothy Dandridge’s Emotional Omelet
This week has been one hell of a roller-coaster ride so I’ve been planning an emotional omelet for five days. And you know what they say, “you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs”. I have no idea why Dorothy christened her omelet so, but it’s a good...
Bette Davis’ Marmalade – Roast Chicken With Marmalade
I’ve been thinking about having another go at the Bette Davis Orange Marmalade recipe. This is mostly because my kitchen cupboards are overflowing with washed-up empty jam/gherkin/pickled onion/caper/whatever jars and I’ve heard a rumour that Corinna has more...
The Women of Old Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard
Oh goodness, I am on a panel - I am bricking it. 3 July 2012 - 6.30pm - tickets are £10 Looking In, Looking Out Festival, Conway Hall London Bidisha leads a high-kicking whirl through Hollywood history and a celebration of the brilliant women who co-founded Hollywood,...
Vincent Price’s Tortellini Palermitana
It's time to start eating things from the freezer. First up, some of Vincent's Tortellini. It was good. Real comfort food as yet again, someone has bust my balloons... I'm Tired I'm not exactly sure what happened but I have a pretty good idea. ...
Hal K Dawson’s Zucchini Soup
Just back from an enormous creative boost at the Sheffield Documentary Festival. Met some amazing new people and some much cherished old friends – the wonderful Sarah and Suzanne. I was also thrilled to see my much-adored mentor Hugh. I just bumped into...
