A little tipple you might fancy trying over the holidays. Hereby wishing you all a wonderful, fabulous and fun festive season. Here’s how Carole liked her martinis. Notes – A bit sherry-like. Unorthodox – lots of vermouth. We used Noilly Prat vermouth. Mr R said, “I like an oily sprat.” I said, “It reminds me...
Well, this was a revelation! Mr R sent me a text in the week to say he’d found a couple of bottles of prosecco (where? behind the sofa?). Did I have a cocktail recipe we could try that involved fizz? Well yes, I did! And it was fab! The angostura bitters really take the sweet...
I think we are getting close to having a critical mass of movie star cocktails tested for the Down the Hollywood Hatch book. Me and Mr R gave this one a whirl last week and we both enjoyed it. One of those cocktails that tastes different with every sip, the conversation went like this. Mr...
This is fast becoming a favourite tipple here at Silver Screen Suppers Towers. It’s from the 1933 Celebrity Cocktail Book – which would be a perfect Christmas prezzie for a loved one. There are only 50 or so left of the facsimile copies I commisioned so don’t dilly-dally if you want one! Only available from...
Everyone is hereby invited to party like it’s 1933. Stick this in yer diary! Live on Instagram @silverscreensuppers Hello, my lovelies. A big announcement. I have a new THING and it is a gorgeous limited edition reprint of a rare 1933 cocktail booklet. This delightful dinky book was originally created to commemorate a competition organised...
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 each of...
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.” Five quarts is almost 5 litres. But rather than be considered a...
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 doing his excellent impersonation of John...
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 cooking machine from (I am guessing) the 1930s. My landlady told...
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 demo during lockdown of the...
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 O’Shea. As I am moving shortly, I’m in a bit of a whirlwind, so...
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 dancer I know. https://youtu.be/YnrcCtlXi38 I want...
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 flavours blend perfectly and it’s very quaffable. As usual, Difford’s Guide...
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 libation. Here’s what you’ll need. I had to...
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 Astoria bar book is equal parts sloe gin, apricot brandy and lime...
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...
My lovely friend Sasa reminded me at the Murder, She Cooked launch party that I had vowed to write a book gathering together all the movie star cocktails I know of. It’s on the list, Sasa! Our conversation also reminded me that I hadn’t yet dipped in to a fabulous book he gave me called...
Happy International Angela Lansbury Appreciation Day! It’s a momentous day for me as I am celebrating completion of the Murder, She Cooked book. I am on tenterhooks awaiting my final proof copy but I THINK it is finished. Here’s Jessica reading an advance copy looking for typos, rogue apostrophes and squinting modifiers. I don’t know...
The June Havoc Almond Cocktail has been on the “to test” list for a while as she is in not one, but two episodes of Murder, She Wrote. The first is a truly remarkable one for film buffs. The Days Dwindle Down (1988) has a star-studded cast that includes Harry Morgan, Martha […]
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Yinzerella of Dinner Is Served 1972 made a Mahogany Pie for this year’s Pieathalon and her blog post included some sensational clips of a movie I’d never seen. Mahogany starring Diana Ross. Just one look at these gifs convinced me I had to get hold of it on DVD. I knew Mr R was a...
Do you have a bottle of Angostura Bitters hanging around in your cocktail cabinet? You bought it for some tipple or another years ago, and it now just sits there, unloved? Most of us do. Luckily, Vincent Price was involved in an ad campaign that featured recipes containing this magic elixir. Use it up and...
The pubs are open, and I have been in TWO. Yes, I have left my eyrie and gone out into the big wide world, leaving North London for the first time in 17 weeks. I went on a train and everything! Here is me having my first pint of beer out in the real world....
This is the penultimate Quaranatini Time! Pubs are set to re-open here in the UK TODAY so there’s only one more movie star tipple demo video to go. The last time me & Mr R exchanged money for cold beverages in a pub was on our wedding day – 20th March 2020 – which was...
Wanna see Mr R do an impression of Marlon Brando playing the Godfather? Haha! We LOVED our Godfather cocktails (although, these should probably be called a mixed drink rather than a cocktail) and had two each. OK, so I got the movie wrong when I did my ‘STELLA” impersonation of Marlon, but I was improvising!...
Gosh, I’ve just realised that I am a week behind with the Quarantini Times! So here’s a link to the demo for Ralph’s Scotch Sour and hot on the heels of this will be the demo for the Marlon Brando Godfather. Where does all the time go? I have no idea! Ingredients for the Bellamy...
This one comes with a warning, Mr R had to put me to bed for half an hour after consuming just one Buzz-Bomb (and some of the rest of the champagne of course). I lay there like a MUMMY, unable to move a muscle. This cocktail is a humdinger and no mistake. I mentioned in...
Don Ameche was a man’s man and didn’t have any truck with mixed drinks. He liked his bourbon straight up and with no nonsense about a chaser. Here we raise a glass to him and get excited about next week’s BUZZ-BOMB cocktail. Mind you, looks like he enjoyed a cold beer now and then too…
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Up periscope! This cocktail is a humdinger. Mr R thought it was “psychoactive” and I saw a yellow aura all around his bonce after drinking just one of these Schnorkels. It was like he’d just eaten a bowl of Ready Brek. The Schnorkel wasn’t actually named in Binnie Barnes’ honour but the Stork Club Bar...
This week we propose a Mary Pickford for your cocktail hour. You will need 2oz rum, 3/4 oz pineapple juice and 3 dashes of grenadine. Shake with ice. Serve with a whistle swizzle stick if you have one! Cheers Mary!
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This week’s Quarantini Time features a cocktail named after the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks gleaned from the amazing Savoy Club Cocktail Book. As his niece Leticia Fairbanks pointed out to me in a comment on a previous post about this cocktail, her uncle was teetotal for most of his life and certainly wouldn’t have been drinking...
I love Martinis! I waxed lyrical about them here when the Carole Landis Martini was the recipe of the month. So here’s a little video demo of the way Martin Landau likes his Martini… …and here’s the recipe – CHEERS my lovelies! 2 oz good quality vodka, 1/2 oz or splash of dry vermouth, ice...
It’s Friday so you know what that means? QUARANTINI TIME! This weeks cocktail du jour is the Shirley Temple. Mind you, I realised after watching an episode of Mad Men the other day that a cocktail should have 3 ingredients and these only have two. I suppose that makes them a “mixed drink”? Shirley Temples...
When I volunteered for the Vincent Price Blogathon I had grand plans of throwing an elaborate dinner party with many dishes gleaned from Vincent’s fabulous cookbooks. Remember the days when you could have chums over for food and fun? I could have kicked off proceedings with a Vincent Price Cucumber Crocodile as I so often...
My second movie star lockdown cocktail was a Charlie Chaplin. A very fruity little fella composed of sloe gin, lime juice and apricot brandy. I had a few technical problems with the Mary Astor Painless Anaesthetic video so I may do that one again sometime, but a new Quarantini Time should be popping up here...
Hello chums! Get your cocktail shakers out and join me on Instagram Live this Friday for a MOVIE STAR COCKTAIL! I was planning to make a little edited video showing this cocktail under construction but I didn’t get around to it. A special prize to anyone who can work out what was on the kitchen...
It seems strange to be writing about something that happened on a cold January day when we are slap bang in the middle of a heatwave here in London. But I’m catching up on writing about The Great Bear Project. Finchley Central is the last of the Northern Line underground stops that are OVERGROUND on...
When I think of Jean Harlow, I always think of her like this… so when I saw that my lovely internet chum Samantha of Musings of a Classic Film Addict was co-hosting a Jean Harlow Blogathon I thought to myself, I’m going to spend a whole day in bed wearing a sequined negligee, eating chocolates...
I was beside myself with excitement when I saw that my fave food mag Delicious Magazine has a new column called Kay & Fred’s Movie Night. Kay Plunkett-Hogge and her partner Fred will be selecting a movie and suggesting a meal to have alongside it each month. Whoopee! The first recipe was utterly fabulous –...
Had these last night to kick off my birthday celebrations. Why am I writing a blog post on my BIRTHDAY? Because Mr R is still asleep and I am over excited, so I am up and sitting by the gas fire waiting for festivities to begin. We have SNOW in London today for the first...
It has been the week of the bad back. Painkillers haven’t touched it. Alternation of the application of a frozen slab of parsnip soup with a hot water bottle has had no impact. The only thing that helps with the constant pain is BOOZE. Luckily there is a new house cocktail – Astor’s Painless Anaesthetic...
Last time Angus and Clive came round to dinner they brought LOADS of booze, including a bottle of bourbon, from which only a sip was taken. They refused to take it home with them at the end of the night, so I promised to make them some Hedda Hopper cocktails aka Malice In Hollywood #1...
I pressed the “publish” button for my book on Friday – eek! I’ve been celebrating all weekend. Here I am, cocktail in one hand, proof copy in the other. Don’t I look pleased with myself?! Well I AM pleased with myself. It was a lot of work but I am very proud of it. More...
All of the film star recipes I make and write about here have some kind of provenance. They are either something the star claimed to make themselves, or something they stated was their fave thing to eat in a particular Hollywood eating establishment, OR dishes that were made for them by their cook, wife, mother,...
I got a tip-off from my favourite food blog Dinner is Served 1972 that the Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas was a humdinger. Yinzerella and her mom watched it on HBO celebrating the event with kaftans and a Liberace cocktail. Here in the UK we are VERY lucky as Behind the Candelabra got a cinema...
Oh auspicious day! Firstly I went to the bfi to be filmed talking about NEWTS for a television programme. Then I got my tax return filed a week early. Then I finally took the plunge and sent my book proposal to Unbound. Ooh, I am so excited. I do so hope that they like it....
