If Diana hadn’t already made an appearance in the Top 100 Movie Star Recipe countdown with her Artichoke Bean Bowl, this tuna salad would have gone in. It’s something I make quite a lot, with variations. I usually have a tin of tuna and a tin of beans around the place so it’s an easy...
My blog is 17 years old today. 1,741 blog posts. My goodness! So much water under the bridge and so many recipes tried, with only a few FAILS. I thought I’d do a little round-up of where I am up to with the Top 100. Let’s go! Counting down from #93 Andy Clyde’s Baked Ham...
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 some movie star recipe...
Mr Rathbone and myself decided to celebrate spending 57 years on this here planet by attempting to consume 57 Heinz based meals in a year. Did we manage it? YES! It was loads of fun as we sourced lots of Heinz things that aren’t on the supermarket shelves here in the UK, and used lots...
The beans I used in Richard Basehart’s Frankfurter and Beans were Heinz Beanz pimped up thanks to a Sharon Gless recipe, so that dish was a kind of Columbo/Cagney & Lacey mash-up. I’ve made Sharon’s beans before and they are GOOD. A shortcut to beans cooked in the Bette Davis way – dried beans soaked...
Want to sprinkle a little stardust over your working from home luncheons? This is the easiest and tastiest way to do it. I have made this salad so many times because I love EVERYTHING IN IT. Plus it contains two things that you probably stockpiled at the beginning of the pandemic. Tinned tuna and beans....
This recipe comes as part of a pair with David Niven’s Jansson’s Temptation really. Because whenever I buy delicious marinated anchovies from Ocado to make my #98 dish in the top 100 movie star recipes countdown… M&S always seems to be offering a 3 for £7 deal on their delicious little bits and bobs range...
What is left to say about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? I just wanted to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas whoever they are managing to spend it with. This will be the first time in about 25 years that I haven’t spent Christmas with my parents and I am very sad about...
Mr Rathbone’s sister recently told me that when her mum was pregnant with her, she craved Mivvis. I am going to ask my mum if she had any particular food cravings when she was pregnant with me. It will not surprise me at all if she says tuna. Whenever I stop plotting and planning ways...
As regular readers know, I am a massive Diana Dors fan and have written lots about the recipes in the Diana Dors X-Cel Diet book. I am so lucky to work in a film archive and have the TV-am collection at my fingertips – well, I did before lockdown! Diana regularly appeared on the show...
I was planning to propose Jane Asher’s Chicken in Pumpkin as the Recipe of the Month for November as it seemed super autumnal. But, if you have read the post about it, you’ll know why I’ve switched. It was Mr R who suggested I make Diana’s recipe the R.O.M. and he speaks sense. I am...
Happy birthday Diana! I am celebrating today by eating a WHOLE BOX of Black Magic. Well, actually I have eaten ONE chocolate and am sharing the rest with work colleagues. Why? Because when Diana was on Desert Island Discs she said that a box of Black Magic would be her luxury item. I only knew...
Diana’s breakfast mash-up has got lots of things in it that I like, and as I’ve reported here before, I do love me a recipe that serves one. Living alone as I do, it pleases me when recipe writers tip their hats to those of us who aren’t part of a nuclear family. I am...
I was wondering what to do with all the Edam I had left over from the Diana Dors Cheese and Sweetcorn Pasta Salad I made the other day, and Diana herself had a suggestion in the X-Cel Diet cookbook. Caesar Salad. It’s salads all round at the moment because we are in the grip of...
When did you last have some Edam? For me, it was probably the 1970s. It’s a funny old cheese. Who eats it these days? Kids? It’s like a big old Babybel… Mind you, I’m not knocking it. I do like a diet recipe that allows a person to eat 40g of cheese, Edam or not....
Remember I announced to the world via the blog that I was on a diet about 3 weeks ago? Well, I’m happy to report that the pounds are actually leaving the body. Thanks to Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor, and Diana, I am reducing to suit fashion. Extra exercise is helping too… But I think the...
I have purchased some fancy new scales that measure body fat and all sorts. It is official. My BMI chart declares I am CHUBBY. Therefore, I diet. I wanted the postcard where the weighing machine says, “One at a time please!” but couldn’t find it… I have some chums that will help me through this...
Wishing all my lovely readers a super-dooper festive season full of fun, laughter, good food, and plentiful booze. Thanks so much to all of you who have been in email contact over the past year, it makes me so happy to hear from you. Special thanks to all those who have been testing recipes for...
I have a lovely Diana Dors story to tell, and I have saved it until December because BEHOLD THE SPLENDOUR OF THE DIANA DORS ADVENT CALENDAR! Blog reader Sam Dwyer tipped me off to the existence of this bit of superbness, and I immediately bought two. One for me and one for Mr Rathbone. But do...
No sniggering at the back please! Prunes have all kinds of negative connotations here in the UK, I wonder if it is the same in other parts of the world? Ah, I see from a quick Google around the block, that it is the same everywhere! I am doing that thing that many, many...
All is chaos at Silver Screen Suppers Towers as the landlord asked if I would like my lounge painted. Although the idea of having to move everything out of there, before applying the KonMari decluttering method, filled me with the fear, with the help of Mr R, it is done. Here’s how it looks. It...
I just love Diana. I loved her when she was a glamour-puss in the 1950s: and I loved her later in life, when she got a little chubby: Then in the 1980s, Diana set herself a dieting goal of losing 52 lbs. (25.5 kg) by her 52nd birthday, appearing regularly on the TV-am breakfast show here in the UK,...
Before we start, I’d better admit that I am squiffy. I’ve drunk a whole bottle of Prosecco, plus some Amaro, brewed by the mysterious Asterley Bros… So here’s the scoop. I was sent in the post a lovely dinky bottle of Amaro, hand crafted by the Asterley Bros. I do not know these boys, I...
The Diana Dors diet continues. I love tuna, and I love beans, so therefore this was a hit with me. The dressing was surprisingly lemony and it’s a nice sturdy portion for one. Very satisfactory indeed thanks Diana! Finely grated rind of 1/4 lemon 3 tablespoons Slimmer’s Oil-free French Dressing 1 teaspoon snipped chives 75g...
I am back from my divine holiday and about half a stone heavier than when I left. Therefore, I am on a diet. But not just any diet, the Diana Dors Diet. I’ve been eating everything under the sun, including delicious seafood from the legendary Company Shed: and boozing it up with endless glasses of...
On a Spinster’s Sunday there must be eggs too… So here is what I had for my breakfast today. Mmmmm – beans, eggs, bacon (well ham this time…) all in a fluffy package. I’ve written about the Diana Dors diet here before, it’s such a genius multi-media plan and I love it. I might make...
Oh, I forgot to say, I won the Guy Chester cookery cup! I don’t want to rub it in too much with Battenburg Belle, as by rights, she should have scooped it. We do not understand the scoring system and she got more firsts than I did. But I guess the seconds and thirds added...
Oh the shame of it, like a stake through the heart. The judges at the Muswell Hill Horticultural Society Spring Show thought my fruit cake was “very tasty but just a little dry”. Oof! This post is therefore a note to self about what might have caused this. For the recipe is destined for the...
I am on a diet. Boring but true. As I was home alone on Bank Holiday Monday I thought I’d check out what Diana recommended for breakfast on the X-cel Diet. I have much to say about Diana and her diet. In fact, am slightly obsessed with it. As I am with all things Diana...
My ex Vic has never made a cake before. He recently got it into his head to have a go at Diana’s which was a recipe of the month a while back so I loaned him one of my cake tins and a cooling tray. As you will see from this photo, it was a...
At the risk of showing off, I am going to mention again that my Diana Dors Easy Fruit Cake won second prize at the Muswell Hill Horticultural Show on Saturday. My feathers were all puffed up with pride. The morning of the show was always going to be hectic as I had to make a...
The Diana Dors double bill is out on DVD! The booklet contains an article by yours truly about Diana’s fashion style and there are lots of pix of her frocks to drool over. I’ve got a copy to give away to one lucky winner. Diana is GREAT in both of these films and I love...
When you are in the same room as Jay Rayner, Mary Berry, Nigella Lawson and Ottolenghi, you know something magical will happen. So it was tonight. I went to the Guild of Food Writers Awards and oh my goodness me, something amazing happened. My Diana Dors obsession has been growing lately. There has been the...
Only the prospect of a man I really fancy coming round with a copy of the Diana Dors LP under his arm would ever make me cook an aubergine. But it’s happening tomorrow so I have done it. Mr H has found a copy of “Swingin Dors” and is personally delivering it. I am […]
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I have a Diana Dors curry in the slow cooker and will be channeling her bombshell energy on Wednesday as I’m off to an awards ceremony in a dress that I think is the kind of va-va-voom item that Diana herself would have worn. I will feel UPHOLSTERED and whether I win the award I...
“I was the first home-grown sex symbol, rather like Britain`s naughty seaside postcards.” Oh my stars, Diana was so LUSCIOUS. Just gorgeous. And our viewing of “Yield to the Night” proved that she could act too, given half the chance. What a humdinger of a movie. It was a long awaited Silver Screen Supper in...
