- by Jenny
- Diana Dors
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....
- by Jenny
- Bette Davis, Joan Crawford
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...
- by Jenny
- Ray Milland
When my chum Orlando Murrin heard that there were a couple of Ray Milland recipes in the Columbo cookbook he let his friend Rosie Jones know. Rosie is Ray Milland’s second cousin and she offered to test his Chow Mein recipe....
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
This report comes from a blog reader based in Berlin. Thank you so much Vera Roth! First, here’s Peter’s recipe, then Vera’s notes on how she made the dish, then her fabulous photos. All of this makes me want...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I woke up craving these today, and luckily I had the wherewithal about the place to make them. I’m on a writing retreat this weekend. But a writing retreat in my own bed. Lovely. Not – actually – me. I consider Buckingham Eggs to be my...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
It’s that time again… It’s the #ColumboTV tweetalong tomorrow night and the episode is… In this episode, the Lieutenant rustles himself up a Black and White Soda. I had no idea what this was, but the power of the internet has revealed it contains...
- by Jenny
- Jack Cassidy
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. Love and miss you all, but especially my sister of the skillet Dr Caroline Frick! Something that rang true to me as a childless spinster, was something I read many years ago. When you don’t...
- by Jenny
- Ruth Gordon
Today we have a test cook report from the lovely Clive Smith. This did make me laugh! Clive liked Ruth’s Omelet so much that he had it two days in a row. I don’t blame him! For those who may not know....
- by Jenny
- Roddy McDowall
My lovely chum Peter Fuller, curator of Vincent Price Legacy UK sent a very detailed report on his testing of the Roddy McDowall recipe so I’m going to post it here in full. I was having a conversation with Battenburg Belle over...
- by Jenny
- Jack Cassidy
Fishy fishy! Two households recently enjoyed testing Jack’s excellent trout recipe. One in London, one in Hastings. Both sets of diners sent me excellent feedback for the Columbo Cookbook and some photos that made me exceedingly happy....
- by Jenny
- Juliet Mills
I’ve had to do a last minute recipe switch for the Columbo cookbook. I realised that I’d included a recipe for Hayley Mills, but it is, in fact, Juliet Mills who appears in the No Time to Die episode. It’s a good thing I realised, not...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
Under Doctor’s orders, I am trying to eat liver once a week. This is no real hardship as I love liver, however, I am not confident about cooking it. Luckily my ex Vic, who lives downstairs from...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
If I met someone who had never seen an episode of Columbo, I think I would recommend Murder By The Book as the one to start with. It’s superb in so many ways… Not least… but also… Credit is due for the screengrabs to the amazing...
- by Jenny
- Ian McShane
Ooh, this was GOOD. I followed the recipe in this Sainsbury’s advert… But you know what? From the minute that advert starts, you realise that times have changed since 1992. I totally remember the days when you went to a supermarket and you got...
- by Jenny
- Groucho Marx
I got a tip-off that the Museum of Soho radio show this month will be all about THE MARX BROTHERS so I thought I would share a Groucho recipe in tribute. This is a bit of a mad recipe, but what...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
I’m on the home stretch with the cookbook and I’m beginning to get those long nights of the soul – waking up and panicking about how much there is still to do – eek! I have about 3 months before...
- by Jenny
- Peter Falk
My fellow Shellac Sister Lady Jane is well known for being averse to cooking. But she stepped right up to the plate to test this recipe for the Columbo cookbook. Admittedly, there isn’t really any cooking involved, but when you are a LADY,...
- by Jenny
- Faye Dunaway
My new favourite cocktail? Yes. This was utterly divine. The jalapeño flavour got more pronounced the more I drank, and the closer my schnozzle was to the wheel on the glass – ha ha! Here’s an article about the creation of this cocktail – respect is due...
- by Jenny
- Gene Barry
Ooh, reading the report by Sarah Bailey of Sarah’s Cooker-ebook made me want to make some of these again, they are such tasty little meatballs. I love Sarah’s photos (all at the bottom of the post), and having them with roasted cauliflower and...
- by Jenny
- Dinner and a Movie, Jack Lemmon
Sometimes I fantasize about having chums round for a poker game and serving food like Oscar “Divorced, Broke and Sloppy” Madison does in this movie. He’s a filthy bachelor living in squalor and one of his card-shark chums observes of his...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I think we’ll be talking about Vincent’s Goulash recipe on the Museum of Soho radio show tomorrow from 10am, so I thought I’d put the recipe up. It is such a great thing to cook for Halloween – you can call it GHOULISH GOULASH. At the end...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I’m going to be on the radio on Sunday talking about Vincent Price, I’m very excited. It’s the Museum of Soho show on Soho Radio and you can listen to me make a fool of myself live between 10-11am. I’ll put the link to the show in...
- by Jenny
- Ian Buchanan
Whenever I see or hear the word pheasant, a Pavlov’s Dog type reaction occurs in my brain, and this exchange goes through my mind: Actor 1: “My father hath a pheasant.” Actor 2: “Hath he?” Actor 1: “Pheasant he hath.” Actor 2:...
- by Jenny
- Johnny Cash
Oooh, this was fabulous! I have blog reader and friend Zelda from Dinner With Zelda Manners to thank for this wonderful recipe. She generously spent time creating a vegetarian version of the Johnny Cash chilli for the Columbo cookbook, and it’s absolutely delicious. I...
- by Jenny
- Vera Miles
My lovely chum Peter tested this recipe for the Columbo Cookbook for me and I’m going to include his whole verdict on the recipe as a post. As a little update on how the book is going, I’m hoping to have the text...
- by Jenny
- Phyllis Kirk
Who could resist a salad with a title like that? Not me! It’s not “Tomato Salad With Flair” you note, it is Tomato Salad With A Flair. Phyllis Kirk sounds like she could be a character in The Archers. Are you listening...
- by Jenny
- John Carradine
One day after living in my rented fourth floor flat in a 1930s block for about 3 years, I thought to myself, “I wonder if I can get to the recycling bins through the back door of the fire escape?”...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
Like a small fussy child, there is absolutely NO WAY I would eat this bowlful of fruit if it was put in front of me. But mushed up into a smoothie I can handle it. Why is this? I have no idea. Maybe because it feels...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
Hot on the heels of Vincent Price’s Waffles are Jane’s. Now, I have never heard of putting fruit IN waffles, but that’s the way Jane has them, so why not? I’ve been looking after Ringo, the dog from number 14, while Chloë and D-Fran have...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I can’t believe I’m only just now getting around to writing about these waffles as these were made YONKS AGO when my darling Caroline Frick was in the house, way back in April. Over from Texas for a short visit, I set Dr Frick on waffle...
- by Jenny
- Martin Landau
Remember when I said a few blog posts back that everyone looks good in a cowboy hat? Well here’s another bit of evidence if you need it… and plus… my word! I absolutely love it when a reader of my blog or a recipient of...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
It was almost dark when I got home from work this evening, so Spring, it definitely is not. Autumn seems to have descended upon London this week, and along with it a teenager-style attitude to cooking which effectively is this: “I can’t be bothered to...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
Have you ever left something important on a bus? I once got all the way up to my fourth floor flat late on a very rainy evening, and realised the moment I closed the door that I’d left a 6 pack of cold beer...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda
I’ve had a couple of these for breakfasts during Jane Fonda month so far… I know that Jane loves a smoothie, and her brother’s version has had to stand in for the one she demonstrates in her video about breakfasts, as I did not have any...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
I love Mondays. I never go out on a Monday evening. For me, it’s a night when I cook something nice to eat, and go to bed really, really early. Tonight was no exception. I made some of Jane’s spaghetti and I’m about...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
I’ve done it my friends! I have done the Jane Fonda Workout! It was excellent fun. I loved it! Mind you, I was quite amazed at how flexible La Fonda was, and by contrast how feeble I was. She is AMAZEBALLS in the workout...
- by Jenny
- Ralph Herz
If anything can scupper my month of living like Jane Fonda by trying to eat healthily and exercise, it is THIS. If I was a chocoholic, I wouldn’t have a chocolate fountain in my house would I? So why, oh why, as a self-confessed-guilty-pleasure-style-slightly-ashamed-of-myself-addict do...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
I have a day off work today to do some editing on the Columbo book. As I’d heard Jane mention in her YouTube video about breakfasts that oats were good for the brain I decided to make myself some of her Apple-Raisin Oatmeal for breakfast. ...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
It is official. This month I am living my life like Jane Fonda. When my friend Sanja gave me this book, I vowed to spend a month eating and exercising like Jane. That month is now here. I...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
I made a batch of this to kick off my month of living like Jane Fonda – more about this coming soon…. It produced 2 x 1 litre Kilner jars of granola so lucky Mr Rathbone got one for scoffing on his holiday, and I kept one...
- by Jenny
- Jackie Cooper
As some readers will know, I am a big fan of the #ColumboTV tweetalong that happens once a month on the big old Twitter machine. Folks all around the world press PLAY on their DVD machines at the same time and...
- by Jenny
- Frankie Avalon
Imagine my surprise to open the work fridge last week and find this in a door shelf. YES! It is back! I wrote a post back in May about Frankie Avalon’s Salad Dressing and my disappearing salad dressing bottle. Pinched from the work fridge for a second time!...
- by Jenny
- Jane Fonda
I have been wanting to make a Jane Fonda recipe ever since I saw this photo, which to my mind is the best movie star cooking photo EVER. and on Sunday, my friend Sanja gave me a gift. This… which I didn’t even know existed....
- by Jenny
- Ross Martin
This is my absolute FAVOURITE Silver Screen Suppers dish. Out of the many hundreds I have made, this is the best. Sanja and Sasa loved it too. Sanja is my friend from Belgrade. She cracks me up, as does her...
- by Jenny
- Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson
Today I’ve been recovering from the #cowboydaycookalong at Battenburg Belle’s – it was a humdinger of a hoedown and I am feeling a little worse for wear… Mr R has gone off to record his radio show, so I am home alone, and...
- by Jenny
- Hoyt Axton, James Garner
Yee-haw and giddy-up! It was National Day of the Cowboy yesterday and those who know me well, know that cowboys are my weakness.. Also, I will grab ANY opportunity to wear a cowboy hat. I absolutely love hats and I do not...
Everyone agreed. If you are going to make Vincent Price’s Tropical Chicken, you’d better get yourself to a funfair that has a coconut shy. Because the coconuts you get from Waitrose are TOO SMALL to contain a whole chicken breast when...
- by Jenny
- Martin Landau
Very sad to hear about Martin Landau going to that Hollywood in the sky yesterday. Had to cheer myself up a bit with a big helping of his very own Martini recipe. Martin is one of my favourite Columbo villains and I’ve written about the...
- by Jenny
- Peter Lorre
You know when you walk from your kitchen to your bedroom to go and get something, and when you get to your bedroom you’ve forgotten what you went there for? I felt a bit like this about Peter’s Pork Chops. I made them...
I absolutely LOVE internet cookalongs, and the first one I ever got wind of was over at Dinner is Served 1972. At that point I wondered if I’d ever be invited to participate in one, like a schoolchild desperately hoping for an invite to the...
- by Jenny
- Red Buttons
We’ve been having a heatwave here in the UK on and off, and it’s been too hot to cook some nights. All I want to do when I get home from work is switch the fan on, and eat a bit...
- by Jenny
- Susan Strasberg
Ooh, these were a revelation! Really, really good! I’ve never had blintzes before but I liked these very much. When I told Mr R what I was planning for breakfast he did his best John Lennon impression saying: “put them over there, not near the...
- by Jenny
- Hedda Hopper
Until recently, these were the house cocktail here at Silver Screen Suppers Towers. I had quite a few of these over the festive season before the Bourbon ran out. They are so good, they make you go a bit berserk. ...
- by Jenny
- Peter Fonda
When did you first hear about chia seeds? For me it was only a few months ago. On the health food front I am definitely not what you would call an “early adopter”. Also, I made my first ever smoothie only this year. Deliciously Ella I...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I made this dish recently because the caretaker of my building threw away my cauliflower. Yes, a perfectly good cauliflower. But I guess it was my fault. I’d put it out on the fire escape because my old dinky fridge was too full, and it was...
- by Jenny
- Kim Novak
This has been the week of the frozen archives. My new fridge arrived on Friday and I am stupidly excited about it. It’s a FRIDGEMASTER. Have you ever heard Ken Bruce’s music quiz POPMASTER on Radio 2? If you have, you will know that I will be referring...
- by Jenny
- Natalie Wood
This is a photo of me, many moons ago, pretending to play a Wurlitzer dressed as Natalie Wood. Why? It’s a long story. I am almost at the stage where I know how to rustle up Natalie’s Huevos Rancheros without looking at the recipe. It has become the...
- by Jenny
- Sophia Loren
Divine! As is tradition, while we are on our holidays on beautiful Mersea Island, staying in this fab fisherman’s cottage… we always buy freshly caught fish from the jetty, and make something film star related. This recipe was a BIG HIT. I know...
- by Jenny
- Rip Torn
I’ve been receiving brilliant feedback from the lovely folks who have volunteered to test cook recipes for the Cooking with Columbo book. There is still lots of time to join in – just check out the Columbo Cookbook page and choose something...
- by Jenny
- Nan Grey
I had a boyfriend once who could make chips. Proper chips. Like you would have here in the UK from a fish and chip shop. I was always VERY impressed by this. I have never, ever made chips. Not even oven chips. Until now. Who...
- by Jenny
- Robert Quarry
Quick as a flash, after the horrorfest that was Robert Quarry’s Beer and Cheese Soup, he has redeemed himself. Mmmm – this is GOOD potato salad. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE potato salad. I always make it the same way though. To...
- by Jenny
- Robert Quarry
I should have loved this. Beer. Cheese. Soup. Three things I love. Also bacon. Alas, it was not the beer and cheese soup that was in my mind’s eye. It was very weird. I think I made it look pretty good for the photo...
- by Jenny
- Constance Bennett
Spring has finally sprung here in London – I think – and now we are on the way to summer. We’ve had a few false starts. Here’s a way of cooking chicken that feels summery to me somehow. Constance provided this...
- by Jenny
- Henry Fonda
I have made a grown-up decision. I am going to buy a new fridge. The fridge I have in my rented flat is small and CRAMMED with jars and bottles. It has a tiny freezer on top, also crammed with foodstuffs. The main reason...
- by Jenny
- Mary Astor, Movie Star Cocktails
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...
- by Jenny
- Sam Wanamaker
Mmmm – I like! This is, I think, the final of the core 69 recipes I’ve settled on for the episode specific dishes in the Cooking With Columbo book. Sam Wanamaker directed the Grand Deceptions episode, and this is the recipe I’ll be recommending. Unless, maybe, I...
- by Jenny
- Frankie Avalon
There is a tale to be told about this salad dressing bottle. It’s one of life’s great mysteries… I bought this bottle when I was first really getting into cooking, I lived in Crouch End then, it was about 10 or so...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I learned something fundamental last week. You cannot stir a curry with one hand and try and film it on your iPhone with the other. The saucepan spins and spins and spins! Just like the little coloured spinning wheel of death I get on my...
- by Jenny
- Rhonda Fleming, Theodore Bikel
Who would win in a fight? Rhonda Fleming or Theodore Bikel? Well, me and Mr R considered the benefits of each of their meatloaves on Saturday as I took two big chunks of each out of the frozen archives....
- by Jenny
- Hector Elizondo
Ooh, this was DELICIOUS. Soooooo good. So easy too. Rustled up, scoffed up and washed up before sundown. Fab for a week-night dinner. It’s a bit of a variation on another recipe I have from Hector, his Famous Pasta Pomodoro – similar ingredients, although no...
- by Jenny
- Sharon Gless
When I wrote about Tyne Daly’s favourite cocktail – The Greyhound my chum Lindy asked on Facebook if I had any recipes for Sharon Gless: and indeed I do. Tyne and Sharon appeared together in groundbreaking kick-ass cop show Cagney and Lacey: If you...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I’ve made a couple of these lately. Once for the brilliant cheese & wine party we had at my place, organised in order to drink all of the 24 bottles of lovely wine my ma...
- by Jenny
- Kim Novak
Peel me a grape! Well, actually, peel me 24 of them, as Kim’s recipe calls for 2 dozen peeled grapes. On Friday I spent the day in my kitchen tending 4 batches of dough to make 20 loaves of bread to sell at my nephew’s brewery....
- by Jenny
- Joan Crawford
I cannot believe that Feud: Bette and Joan is over already! That just flew past. I am a few episodes behind though. I don’t have a TV, a friend at work grabs the episodes for me and puts them on a memory stick so that I...
- by Jenny
- Vincent Price
I’ve been on a little holiday to Whitstable and very lovely it was too. Four days in a fabulous and oh-so-peaceful little home from home, that was full of books and a beautiful orchid: It was a perfect place to write – and cook...
