HippFest Silent Cinema Festival has begun – whoopee! My Mary Pickford Silver Screen Supper video goes out on Saturday morning and is available for 48 hours so if you have landed here looking for more information about her enchiladas or cocktails, please skip to this post for the shopping list and cooking tips. I promised...
“He loved to make spaghetti and meatballs. He had his own special sauce. I never tired of it, and I will never share with anyone else the secret of his meat sauce.” So said Pola Negri! Pola definitely looks like a woman who can keep a secret… But luckily Hedda Hopper had no morals, so...
Ooh, there is some controversy over this recipe! I can give provenance for all the recipes I have except this one. I can cite the newspaper, magazine, book or promotional pamphlet the recipes appeared in for the whole 5000ish of them. For Rudy’s recipe however, the origin is dodgy. I first found this recipe on...
The ex who cannot be named came round for dinner and a movie last night and it was a funny experience for me to have him fall asleep during the movie holding my hand. Hand holding is something I never remember him doing when we were together. It felt quite odd, especially as I sat...
My friend Yadrian came to dinner last night. I wanted to thank him for helping me select a DVD projector and we decided on La Dolce Vita to show it off. I’ve never seen this film but Yadrian loves it. I didn’t realise that he had studied film and philosophy at university, but it […]
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What a lovely lunch on Sunday. Jeanne was here from Atlanta – we had never met before but have corresponded about many Silver Screen Suppers recipes. She makes me laugh like a drain with her emails and pictures of things like Gene Kelly’s Greatest Man Sandwich in the World with a big bite taken out...
My lovely new table and chairs were put to good use on Sunday as I had four fabulous chums over for a Sheik related dinner. The menu was supposed to be: Adolph Menjou’s Venetian Spiced Cheese, Rudolph Valentino’s Secret Spaghetti Sauce and Agnes Ayres’ Chocolate Mousse but I ran out of time so we had...
My heart nearly burst with pride when I saw the photos of three test cooks I have never met cooking up a storm one Sunday for the Silver Screen Suppers project. Nathalie, Zsa Zsa and Esther obviously had a whole heap of fun making Rudoph’s Spaghetti and Ginger’s Parfait. I’ve put all the pics up...
Is Rudi on board a boat here? I think he might be, in which case I am happy. For I am off on a boat trip later myself. A blind date with someone called Oliver. I am breaking all dating rules by not meeting on neutral ground. What if he is a nutter and he...
Rosalind has always been an inventive cook. Once she invited me over for dinner and we drank so much wine that all she could manage in the end was a square of chocolate melted into a bowl of creamed rice. Last night she excelled herself though. She had some of the Chicken From Parma I...
My lovely friend Gary C is coming to stay for a couple of nights next week so I have made a batch of Rudi’s spaghetti sauce for us to have one night for dinner. I couldn’t get the Italian sausage I usually get for this dish so bought Sicilian sausage instead. I hope that won’t...
Last night I took some of Rudy’s Spaghetti Sauce over to Hackney where Ava is convalescing after a double foot operation. YIKES. Her account of the ordeal they put her through has almost put me off wearing high heels, absolutely horrific! We had two bowls of Rudy’s special each whilst watching Sunset Boulevard. Ava hadn’t...
Early morning in the Russell-Stewart household after a late night watching the Grey Gardens double bill. Rosalind and I amused ourselves by sitting on the sofa in headscarves enjoying the antics of Big Edie and Little Edie. My favourite quote was, “I’m pulverised by this latest thing!” and will attempt to use it in some...
“To generalize on women is dangerous. To specialize on them is infinitely worse.” I have given up trying to fathom it out myself Rudolph. It’s just a ZOO PARK! I’m back from the wedding of the century. My sister of the skillet is hitched. It was such a lovely affair and a whistle-stop tour of...
“To generalize on women is dangerous. To specialize on them is infinitely worse.” Back from the seaside after a week of intense recipe-wrangling. My mind is reeling with all kinds of nonsense – is a frying pan the same as a skillet? What English cheese would be roughly equivalent to Asederos – the Mexican cheese...
“Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which women paint their dreams.” It helped that he was the King of the tango… Grrrr. Rudi’s Chicken was a big hit. Secret ingredient? A big mug of sherry. I made it for...
