My goodness. I can’t quite believe that I have been writing about movie stars and their favourite recipes for NINETEEN YEARS TODAY. That’s crazy! When I started I was living on a houseboat and this was my kitchen. I was nursing a broken heart and decided to learn to cook by trying to make the...
I’ve launched a new THING over on Substack today. A virtual reality star-spangled dinner and a movie club. It is something I’ve wanted to do for ages, and now it exists. So exciting. Come and join us! Everyone is welcome, wherever you are in the world, whether you are an expert in classic movies or...
During the first UK lockdown of the pandemic, me and Mr R made Friday night videos of the movie star cocktails we made when all the pubs were closed. It was loads of fun and we stuck all the videos on YouTube if you fancy having a look. Lots of cocktails were named after movie...
Bette Davis’ Baked Beans were the first thing I ever made for the Silver Screen Suppers project way back in May 2006. I was living on a houseboat with a tabletop oven that had to be turned on with a pair of pliers feeling very sorry for myself. Boat kitchen – cooker back left near...
Oh my goodness, this is the most delicious movie star favourite dish I have made in a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG time. Bravo Bette! This recipe is a winner. Despite having an ingredient that is not available here in the UK. When any of my chums go to the States, they usually ask me if there is any...
I can’t believe that I’ve been writing this blog for 12 years – goodness me. So much has changed in that time. When I began I was a broken-hearted singleton living on a houseboat on the Thames. My tabletop cooker had to be turned on with a pair of pliers… Now I am a landlubber...
I promised myself that one of the things I would do once the Columbo book was finished was this. Treat myself to two celebrity related dishes from my chum’s Tonight at 7.30 cookbook and watch an appropriate movie while I ate them. I know Kristen Frederickson through the Guild of Food Writers. We have never...
Date for your diaries UK based chums! Feud: Bette and Joan starts on BBC2 on Saturday, December 16th with a double episode – whoop whoop! I got a sneaky peak of the series when it aired in the USA and I absolutely loved it. It’s event TV folks! I just wanted to remind you, that...
I am loving Feud: Bette and Joan and decided this month to offer TWO recipes for you to try out, one by Bette and one by Joan. More pix on the Recipe of the Month page if you are looking in April 2017 including a cute dog chewing on a ham bone, and Mr Rathbone...
Although I started this blog 10 years ago on 14th May 2006, I didn’t actually COOK anything until the 22nd May. The first film star recipe I ever made? Drum roll please… Bette Davis’ Baked Beans. These will be on my wish-list next time Caroline Frick pops over from Texas… I remember that day 10...
Yesterday, after lovely separate family Christmases, Mr R and I had our own festive dinner, with a mallard from Pipers Farm. Wrapped in swaddling clothes My motto for 2016 will be: “use it up and wear it out”, so in that spirit, I used some of my “Bette-Davis-marmalade-mountain” in the gravy. It was utterly DIVINE....
It was lovely to get a mention in The Scotsman last week… it put the wind up me a bit though… I have no idea where they got the notion that I’d be making a Bette Davis Marmalade cake! It’s not exactly going to be a “retro afternoon dinner party” either but I do like...
This month’s column is up over at www.eatdrinkfilms.com and it looks lovely. My neighbour’s dog Ringo gets fame at last! Chewing on the Bette Davis Ham Bone! Both recipes are there and both are delicious. I am especially fond of Bette’s Boston Baked Beans as they were the first thing I made for this project...
I’m thrilled to be featured on Emerald Street today. So if you are visiting from there, welcome to the wonderful world of film star dining and drinking! Check out your favourite stars from the side-bar or just have a roam around… As the article mentioned Bette’s Baked Beans I thought I would post the recipe...
My lovely friend and colleague Julie celebrated 10 years with the AP last week so I thought it was high time I made her a cake. For various reasons I had to make it a few days in advance so decided to make an Ottolenghi cake that I know would keep. So from “Jerusalem” I...
I barely lifted a finger last weekend as I was riddled with a cold and milking it. But on Sunday I did rustle up a Brown Bette to follow the slow cooked pork that we had for Sunday lunch. I figured that pork and apples are a classic combination and so it was. The pork...
Does that sound appealing to you? Me neither! I’ve been looking sideways at this recipe for many years thinking about attempting it and then running away. Luckily for me, I was invited to participate in the Knoxapocalypse II challenge along with 6 other brave souls. We each sent in a gelatin based recipe and these...
Hollywood Salad contains cream cheese and dried fruit. Lawrence proclaimed it to be: “A cheeseboard on a biscuit”.
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I absolutely love getting things in the post. One day recently totally unexpectedly I got this from my old mucker Amy Sargeant. She’d mentioned ages ago that there were some film star foods mentioned in this book and I was intrigued. Buying a copy has been on my massive “to do” list for months, but...
Last night I was eating grade 11 wagyu beef and tonight it was corned beef hash. That is just the way I roll! there has been no jiggery pokery Instagram style with this picture – that is exactly the colour it was – it’s got BEETROOT in it. Was it weird? Yes. Was it tasty? ...
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 for me too. They lie in wait for some kind of jam/marmalade/pickle/ mustard or chutney extravaganza. Trouble...
Most contemporary chefs would be alarmed at the amount of time Bette cooked her scallops for (30 minutes parboiled then 10-15 minutes under the grill) and I was a bit concerned they would be chewy, but they turned out fine. Here are before and after shots of the bacon-y little tidbits. I am already mildly...
Ah, the website has returned from its holiday at the seaside. I was getting worried there. 5 years of blogging, over 500 posts about hundreds of film star recipe experiments – I thought it had all gone for ever. I shall be lavishing care and attention upon the site now it is back. I made...
Still time to enter my competition. Prize? A jar of Bette Davis Marmalade made by yours truly. All you have to do is answer this multiple choice question. You can email me or put your choice in a comment. Closing date Monday 31st October at midnight. Overseas readers welcome to enter – I’ll find a...
Recipe of the month is up. I’m already worrying about when I might find the time and the company to make this. Got a crazy month with two holiday weekends. This weekend is the WI JAM FESTIVAL in Oxfordshire. We have submitted one of the jars of Gloria Swanson’s Bar-Le-Duc (thousands of pips picked out...
There is a vegan version of the Brown Bette in the oven making my whole flat smell delicious. It is my offering for dinner tomorrow at Paulette’s with Angus & Clive (we must select Hollywood monikers for them) and I’m really looking forward to scoffing it. Had a wonderful afternoon yesterday meeting The Completion Club...
A gloriously silly evening at Paulette and Ivor’s house last night which involved Angus acting as sous-chef for the Brown Bette. It turned out surpisingly yummy, especially considering that I was so drunk by the time I got around to making it I kept having to weigh everything two or three times. Much hilarity was...
“I only want to talk about the nice things.” A superb afternoon and evening incorporating much Joan and Bette madness was had today. The noodles were very strange but tasty. Incorporating half a pound of cheese (a whole standard supermarket portion plus a bit extra) plus almost a whole brick of butter (we left about...
“I didn’t bring your breakfast, because you didn’t eat your din-din!” Happy Birthday Blog! It is 4 years since this blog was stared and my goodness, what a lot has happened. A commemorative batch of Bette’s Baked Beans are in the slow cooker – it was the very first dish I made, on a rainy...
Bette looks how I feel. Mildly pissed off that her marmalade yet again hasn’t set. I am beginning to come to the conclusion that it must be the ratio of fruit to sugar that’s to blame rather than my technique. I’m going to have to do some research on preserves. It was nice to have...
“…don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.” It’s a good point Bette, we just CAN’T have it all… As someone once said, you can’t expect to have a great job, a great relationship and a great place to live all at the same time. You can only have maximum two at once....
Oh I am having such fun this weekend. Doing a LOT of writing work and a LOT of cooking. Fab. It’s Sunday and so I decided to treat myself to Bette’s favourite Sunday morning breakfast dish. And delicious it was too. It’s the first time I have tried it but wanted to have a test...
“That’s me: an old kazoo with some sparklers.“ Ooh! A lucky shamrock charm bracelet. I want one! I’m feeling a bit like an old kazoo myself today so have cheered myself up by re-reading Rita’s verdict on the Bette salad recipe. I haven’t seen Rita in a LONG time which is something I must rectify...
“Why am I so good at playing bitches? I think it’s because I’m not a bitch. Maybe that’s why Miss Crawford always plays ladies.” Bette or Joan? Bette or Joan? I am increasingly obsessed with both of them and just can’t decide who I like best. At the moment Bette has a slight edge because...
“Everybody has a heart. Except some people.” I spent most of the weekend crying and making marmalade. It wasn’t the making of the marmalade that made me cry, it was, as usual a boy. A big cloud of woe hung over me whilst I stirred Bette’s marmalade for about four hours and my melancholy mood...
“I will not retire while I’ve still got my legs and my make-up box.” Me neither doll.William and Cary came over for tea and we polished off the Hollywood Salad for appetizers. Cary decided that the gherkins I placed on top of each salad smeared cracker would be “the copyright buster”. Ha ha!Much fun...
“I didn’t forget your breakfast. I didn’t bring your breakfast. Because you didn’t eat your din-din.” Bette is still coming up trumps with the recipes. There is just something GOOD about all of hers I think. And I do love the use of the term “din-din” – I’d forgotten all about that – my...
“I am just too much.” Ah, the beans were a great success. Rosalind even had two portions. John G (her ex) said they were good but he wasn’t sure why they had to have been cooking for 8 hours. Made the whole flat smell of molasses though which on the whole was a good thing....
The butcher that Rosalind remembers being on Berwick Street is alas no more. Had a lengthy conversation with two barrow boys on the market who told us that there are now NO BUTCHERS in the West End. They are all gorn. R has bacon in her fridge so I shall make do with that and...
Stomach is churning at the prospect of dinner tonight with Square Jawed Georgie who wants to meet up because he says “some things need explaining” and there are “some things you need to know”. What, what, what, what, what? Is it fair to expect me to try and eat tapas with wobbly hands and wobbly...
My good intentions at getting going on this project have been foiled by the fact I didn’t read the recipe. Bette’s Boston Baked Beans require 8 hours of cooking and I didn’t get home until 6pm so methinks they will have to wait until next weekend. Instead of a gourmet dinner I had myself pilchards...
