- by Jenny
- Diana Dors, Dinner and a Movie
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...
- by Jenny
- Pearl Bailey
Whose broccoli would win in a fight? Pearl Bailey’s or Yul Brynner’s? There’s only one way to find out! Well, looking back on my previous entry for Pearl’s broccoli I see that I’d decided Pearl’s was the best, but now I announce, I have changed my...
- by Jenny
- Pola Negri, The Great Bear Project
Is taking a Pola Negri Banana Trifle to High Barnet like taking coals to Newcastle? I’m not sure, but I do know this much, it was absolutely brilliant fun to do. I’ve been planning to...
- by Jenny
- Yul Brynner
I’ve been on a virtual reality writing retreat this month at Camp NaNoWriMo – it’s the 8th time I’ve participated and the 1st time I’ve hit my target early. 2 days early in fact! Yeah! I am a WINNER. I decided to pat myself on the...
- by Jenny
- Diana Dors
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...
- by Jenny
- Elizabeth Taylor
Ooh, I do love a diet plan. Where it is all laid out in black and white what you should have for your breakfast, lunch and tea. But it’s not easy to follow many days in a row when you are a girl about...
- by Jenny
- William Shatner
I do not have a robot device like an Alexa or Amazon Echo in my house, but Caroline Frick’s “gentleman caller”is a very modern man who “likes his toys” and he has one. An important question was asked of it… Is...
- by Jenny
- Robert Mitchum
Meatfeast! This is an absolutely DELICIOUS chili but man, oh man, it is meaty, meaty, meaty! I made this as my dish for this year’s Cowboy Day Cookalong, organized by the wonderful inspiration that is Greg Swenson over at Recipe...
- by Jenny
- Diana Dors
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...
- by Jenny
- Anne Baxter
I think that one of the secrets of adulthood is that once you have found a good recipe for something, you just stick with it. If I want to make a potato salad, I always make the one in my chum Alastair Hendy’s Home Cook...
- by Jenny
- George Hamilton
Hot on the heels of Bethany B.’s report on Brenda Vaccaro’s T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C Italian Sausages, here’s what she thought of the George Hamilton’s Smoky Chicken recipe. As we Brit’s can’t get hold of frozen juice for love nor money, I replace it with...
- by Jenny
- Peter Fonda
In the modern world, a “blender breakfast” might be better known as a smoothie. Mmmmmm – this is so good. I love it and I always feel very virtuous and slightly smug when I have one. Here’s Peter’s original recipe and here’s my version. I...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I have great affection for Vincent’s House Bread. Not because it is the greatest loaf I ever made but because it is the FIRST loaf I ever made. Way back in 2011 during the Vincentennial year – click here for my blog post about it. I...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
Fluorescent green is not a colour you see very often when cooking, but the unusual spinach sauce in this dish is positively radio-active! I loved the easy method of making the saucy part of this lasagne (bunging everything into a blender and zapping it until it...
- by Jenny
- Diana Dors
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...
- by Jenny
- Brenda Vaccaro
Here are 2 test cook reports on Brenda’s T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C Italian Sausages – were they terrific? Read on to find out! Brenda appeared in the Columbo episode Murder in Malibu and it’s this recipe that appears in the Cooking With...
- by Jenny
- Anthony Andrews
I always love an excuse to buy a new ingredient (currently looking for a UK supplier of mahlab for a Claudia Roden recipe) or even better, a new bit of kitchen equipment, so I loved Anthony’s recipe...
- by Jenny
- Rue McClanahan
Being a guest on the Jonny Trunk OST show on Resonance FM was an absolute HOOT. Do have a listen sometime – here is the link. Ooh, and I’ve worked out how to embed it too. I had soooooooo much fun. We chatted about the Columbo...
- by Jenny
- Sophia Loren
I am on holiday – yippee! But, if you are a burglar reading this, I have a big dog with sharp teeth looking after my flat. Here on Mersea Island every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon you can buy fish directly from the fishermen...
- by Jenny
- Dinner and a Movie, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price
From June 1-3, 2018, Vincent Price Legacy UK and Silver Screen Suppers are taking part in a fantastic blogathon celebrating all things Amicus and Hammer, hosted by Cinematic Carthasis and Realweegiemidget Reviews, and we’ve picked Scream and Scream Again and...
- by Jenny
- Robert Quarry, Vincent Price
From June 1-3, 2018, Vincent Price Legacy UK and Silver Screen Suppers are taking part in a fantastic blogathon celebrating all things Amicus and Hammer, hosted by Cinematic Carthasis and Realweegiemidget Reviews, and we’ve picked Scream and Scream Again and Madhouse as our...
- by Jenny
- Frankie Avalon
My chum Peter Fuller, curator of the Vincent Price Legacy UK site tipped me off to the fact that Frankie Avalon had written a cookbook, and what an excellent cookbook it is! I...
- by Jenny
- Frankie Avalon
It’s pouring with rain here in London as I write this, but in theory, it is SPRING. Out with the soups, in with the salads. I rustled up Frankie’s salad on Wednesday night because I had all the fixings for it knocking...
- by Jenny
- Juliet Mills
Recently I had a lovely day trip to Nottinghamshire. I was up for an award for my mustard. The first ever Small Food Award for savoury fermented food. I made two fermented mustards but one of them was a weird...
- by Jenny
- Cooking with Columbo, Peter Falk
My chum film-maker Sarah Akrobettoe challenged me to make a cooking demo video over Easter and I did it! It was so much fun to make and edit. I did it all in one day, as my mum would say “all by my...
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. ...
- by Jenny
- Boris Karloff, Vincent Price
You need teeny tiny brown shrimp for this dish. I think that potted shrimp is a very, very British thing, and I’m not sure where else in the world you can get these little fellas. I’ve been doing some trawling around the net for info but...
- by Jenny
- Eddie Albert, James Garner, Vincent Price
Just over five years ago my neighbour Chloë sent a text asking if I was single. She knew someone she thought I would hit it off with. She set us up on a...
- by Jenny
- Rudolph Valentino
“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...
- by Jenny
- Hal Linden
Mr. R recently bought a Mel Brooks box set and we watched Silent Movie on Sunday night after drinking a vast amount of beer. I laughed like a drain throughout and kept saying, “This is the funniest film I’ve ever seen!”...
- by Jenny
- Olympia Dukakis, Phyllis Diller
Every couple of weeks I look at all the bits and pieces of vegetable and salad stuff knocking around in my fridge and decide to make a Phyllis Diller Garbage Soup. I feel very virtuous using up all my odds and ends, chucking in a...
- by Jenny
- Elizabeth Taylor
This is what you should absolutely cook if you have friends coming round for dinner on a work night and you don’t want to be huffing and puffing in the kitchen while they are enjoying themselves in the lounge. You can get this...
- by Jenny
- David Bowie, When Bloggers Meet or Collaborate
I cannot remember when I have had more fun cooking and eating my dinner. This was quite the loveliest thing I have made in a donkey’s age. Greg of Recipes for Rebels and I had a lot of fun way back in February...
- by Jenny
- Yul Brynner
Another winner from Yul Brynner! I had some asparagus going rubbery in my fridge and, determined to use it up, I had it for my tea last night with not much else apart from a little salad. It was lovely. I was going to put a...
- by Jenny
- Nanette Newman
I am in a book group and it is the only time I ever read fiction. I’ve usually got about 35 books on the go, mostly food related. When I saw the size of Bonfire of the Vanities, the pick for our next meet-up, I was a...
- by Jenny
- Bette Davis, Dashiell Hammett, Dinner and a Movie, Lillian Hellman
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...
- by Jenny
- Pearl Bailey
I really love it when blog readers email out of the blue for a chit-chat so was thrilled to get a LONG email from Ellie from Devon about Pearl Bailey a couple of days ago. It was Ellie who reminded me...
- by Jenny
- Sophia Loren
Just back from a wonderful four day holiday in Whitstable. In a huge break with tradition, I left my laptop at home. I am having a month without writing to rest my brain after all the Cooking With Columbo excitement. Writing a blog post is...
When I heard that Gill of the Realweegiemidget Reviews blog was organizing a Michael Caine blogathon I really wanted to participate. I was dying to make his Chicken and Bacon Pie but I couldn’t work out WHEN. Life is so busy at the moment,...
- by Jenny
- Anthony Andrews
When my mum opened my Cooking With Columbo cookbook on Saturday, the first thing she said was, “Ooh, there’s a lot in it!” and I’ve had similar reactions from other friends and family. I thought I would...
- by Jenny
- Johnny Cash
To celebrate Columbo’s 50th birthday and the launch of my new Cooking With Columbo book I organized a Columbo Bowl Chili Cook-Along and it was so much fun. Here’s a map showing where in the world Johnny’s chili was rustled up! Over 20...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
It was so lovely to have a get together with my friends and test cooks and have a little party to celebrate the launch of my Columbo book. Yes! It really exists! I can’t quite believe the book is out in the world, but it...
I had a rotten hangover on Saturday, so making muffins was a bit of a therapeutic affair. This recipe is from my chum Greg’s book Recipes for Rebels – In the Kitchen With James Dean. I just loved the fact that...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
If you have seen or read Julie and Julia you may remember that the Julia Child task that filled Julie Powell with the most fear was BONING A DUCK. For me, the dish in the Cooking With Columbo book that most gave me the heebie-jeebies was this one,...
- by Jenny
- Ed Begley J
Test cook KSB in Michigan rustled up some asparagus Ed Begley Jr. style and sent me some great feedback. She said, “I shared it with my daughter and we both agreed that it was a little tart but had a...
- by Jenny
- Dabney Coleman
There’s always fun to be had when Columbo gets invited to a posh restaurant. Sometimes he offends the suited and booted waiters by asking for a bowl of chili, but sometimes he enters into the spirit of the thing by ordering vast amounts of fancy...
- by Jenny
- Natalie Wood
Natalie is in the news at the moment. Will we ever know what really happened on that boat? I doubt it. It’s making me very sad reading about it. I’ve written here before about how much I love Natalie, and I always think about her...
- by Jenny
- Rod Steiger
I am pleased to announce that I THINK I have finished the Cooking With Columbo book. I just have one tiny thing I want to fiddle with, that’s the page margins. I am so scared that I’ll change the margins...
- by Jenny
- Gloria Swanson
I love Haggis with a passion, so I adore Burns Night. This year, I didn’t make my traditional Haggis pizza, I went to Battenburgbelle’s place where we had an amazing Scottish feast. Cathy cooked a delicious chicken stuffed with Haggis a la Nigel Slater, it turned...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
Greg of Recipes for Rebels has created ANOTHER wonderful graphic for the cook-along, feel free to include it in your blog posts, print it out and frame it (which is what I’m going to do) or just appreciate the splendor of it! Just...
- by Jenny
- Jack Cassidy, Shirley Jones
I am very lucky to have Mr Rathbone in my life. He’s really good at proofreading. On Sunday, he was in bed with the Cooking With Columbo proof copy, and I was in the kitchen making City Chicken. Living the dream! I really love this “Meat...
- by Jenny
- Johnny Cash
Ooh, much excitement coming soon in February! I do hope that lots of you will join in with the Columbo Bowl chilli cook-along… I’m organising this to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Columbo going out on...
- by Jenny
- William Shatner
Do those photos make your mouth water? They do mine – if that’s the grammatically correct way of putting it. After much agonising over the differences between American and English grammar and much wordplay, I have FINISHED the Columbo cookbook. Eek....
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
I love it when test cooks send photos of their dishes and ingredients they used, especially when they are not based in the UK. I am always intrigued by how different things look in different places. Plus, there are...
- by Jenny
- Tyne Daly
Here’s a test cook report from my lovely writer chum Sarah Broughton in Cardiff. I don’t see Sarah as often as I would like, but I’ll never forget when we spent a long weekend working on our short novels during NaNoWriMo...
- by Jenny
- Robert Vaughn
Here’s a report from my lovely fellow film archivist, and neighbour across the back lawn, Corinna. She made Fettuccini Alfredo à la Robert Vaughn for myself and my ex Vic and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS. The test cook report she sent...
- by Jenny
- Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn
I’ve got my head down making last minute tweaks to the Columbo cookbook – my goodness what a lot of work! It’s fun though, and I haven’t quite started panicking yet. I’m putting cooking on hold a bit and trying not to be tempted by...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
I had SUCH a lovely surprise in the post this week. Lovely food illustrator Miriam Figueras sent me this AMAZING illustration of Columbo in his chef’s hat! Isn’t it wonderful? He will forever be in my kitchen, keeping an eye on...
- by Jenny
- Johnny Cash
I’m throwing a party and everyone is invited! It’s a Virtual Reality Book Launch Columbo Chili Cook-along Party! The Columbo Bowl for short… Cook up a chili wherever you are in the world and join in the fun. It’s to celebrate the 50th anniversary of...
- by Jenny
- Rue McClanahan
Just here for the recipe? Scoot down to the bottom of the post. I had problems when I made these cookies. Not problems in my life, problems with the cookies. They were really tasty, but very floppy. I blamed my oven, haha!...
- by Jenny
- Patti LaBelle
Happy New Year one and all. I am kicking off 2018 with something new – I made a cookery demonstration video! Yes I did! Zip right to the bottom of the post if you can’t wait to see...
- by Jenny
- Billy Connolly
I love the fact that my work colleague Neil Owens tested this recipe for the Cooking With Columbo book with a couple of fish he’d caught himself, how cool is that?! Here’s his report. Mmm. I want one of these right now!...
- by Jenny
- Ian McShane
Film historian and writer Vic Pratt comments: ‘I’m by no means a natural in the kitchen. However, Ian’s tasty recipe was straightforward enough that even a saucepan simpleton like me managed to knock this up for a party of...
- by Jenny
- Jack Cassidy
Rebecca and Jim emailed out of the blue and offered to test cook something for me. They both work at the awesomely named Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton and found the Silver Screen Suppers blog as they are Columbo fans and were looking for...
- by Jenny
- Diana Dors
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....
- by Jenny
- William Shatner
Report just in from my desk-mate Lucy Smee who tested William’s steak recipe for the Columbo Cookbook… Small review: I chose this recipe to test as I’m a big Star Trek fan, and hardly ever cook steak at home so thought it...
- by Jenny
- Janet Leigh
Here’s a lovely test report from my Shellac Sister Lady Jane. She rarely sets foot in the kitchen so this is quite an honour. Thank you, Lady Jane! ****** So, Trix went to London again today and I decided to test...
- by Jenny
- Joan Crawford
To celebrate the fact that Feud: Bette and Joan has its UK premiere TONIGHT I thought I’d suggest her recipe for Danti-Chips as a fun snack for you to rustle up. When I launched the Joan Crawford cookbook in 2014 I organised a virtual reality...
- by Jenny
- Patrick O'Neal
As I have mentioned several times on this blog, I am not really well versed in different cuts of meat, so I was really interested in a test cook report from the lovely Gaye Fisher...
- by Jenny
- George Hamilton
This is a tricky recipe for those based in the UK as it calls for a lot of things we can’t easily get here, notably frozen orange juice. I wanted to give this another run through for the book as I’d read somewhere that BOOZE could be...
- by Jenny
- Faye Dunaway, Movie Star Cocktails
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....
- by Jenny
- Valerie Harper
I am a Bread Angel! It’s a network of wonderful home bakers who teach, make bread to sell in their local communities, run micro-bakeries, and often do wonderfully altruistic things involving bread. Our motto is “Bake Well. Do Good”. Isn’t that fabulous?...
- by Jenny
- Jeanette Nolan
I’m hoping that my friend Michelle is going to test this one for me here in the UK because I have had to make a couple of major substitutions in this recipe for non-America based cooks. Firstly, we can’t get condensed beef consommé for...
- by Jenny
- Ross Martin
I love it when my test cooks follow the film star recipe EXACTLY, as I personally tend to rigidly stick to doing what I am told… But I also love it when they put their own take on a recipe....
