I have been celebrating the completion of the first draft of the Cooking with Columbo cookbook, with champagne

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and a special Columbo sandwich.  YES!  I am soooo excited.  Myrna Loy, Janet Leigh, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, William Shatner and many other stars who have appeared on this blog, had guest star roles in Columbo.  Their recipes will be in this book.  BUT, there is still a long way to go.  A loooooooong way.  But rest assured Columbo fans, this book will appear at some point.  And before then I’ll be looking for volunteers to test cook the recipes.  Because I want these recipes to be watertight.  Oh yes.

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If anyone fancies testing this recipe for Columbo’s fave sandwich – ha ha –  let me know.  This sandwich appears in two episodes of Columbo, so we know the Lietenant likes it.  At some point, I will watch the scenes where he constructs one of these VERY CAREFULLY, in slow motion, to figure out the exact ratio of raisins to peanut butter.  But for now, here’s how I played it…  It’s a 3 (or 4 if you want butter too) ingredient recipe.  Bread.  Peanut Butter.  Raisins.

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I ate this sandwich in a very special place indeed.  At the Golf Course Allotments in Muswell Hill.  Oh yes!  Because I volunteered to man the membership table for the Muswell Hill and District Horticultural Society at the bi-annual opening of the “Rose Gardens” allotment. 

Oh my goodness, what an AMAZING sight this is to see.  I LOVE allotments, and I love this one in particular.  Photos do not do it justice…

Rose Garden Allotments

I absolutely loved being on the membership stand.  George liked my dress and said I should just stand amongst the roses and be part of the display.

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I met the fabulous Hazel of The Fruit Magpie and tried some of her amazing membrillo made from rhubarb from the allotments.

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I got to see my horticultural society chum Jenny Kruss’s allotment – so fabulous and full of a mixture of vegetables, fruit and flowers, and to briefly meet her Kosovan neighbours with their perfectly cultivated plot of green and luscious vegetables.  “Not a single weed” observed Jenny.  Wish I’d taken a photo…

I am so pleased to be a part of the horticultural society, and if you are in or around Muswell Hill and want to join, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It’s only £6 per year, and I reckon I have got about £6,000 worth of enjoyment out of it! And I don’t even have a garden…

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It’s the horticultural society Summer Show on Saturday so I’ve been making jam (2 recipes from the lovely Modern Preserver book by Kylee Newton which Ptolemy gave me for my birthday):

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and there will be biceps (hmm, nice bit of predictive text for biccies!), a fruit tart and a cake to make too.  Come on down if you are in the Muswell Hill area, it’s a lovely sight to behold and only 50p to get in!  

I bet Columbo would have loved it…

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