Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes

I missed the Movie Memorabilia Bazaar at the Cinema Museum the other weekend because I was too hungover to leave the house. But lovely Dorothy was there, not in her usherette uniform this time, but still working the Silver Screen Suppers magic nonetheless. She made some of Anna's Tea Cakes and reports back that special celebrity guest Caroline Monroe had one and said it was lovely! Worlds colliding - super.

It is little things like this that keep me going. I had to defend myself this week when someone I barely knew launched an astonishing attack on my much beloved project. What was the point he asked? Why bother testing the recipes? Why not just reprint them? Why was it taking me so long?

Hmm. I employed the "bubble" technique recommended by Lisa over at The Sassy Minx to try and avoid being crushed by it all. And then in my mind I blew a big raspberry in his general direction!

Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes

It was "cherry roulette" in the office today as I experimented with glace cherries on the top of my AMW tea cakes last night. They sank to the bottom so I didn't put any on the second batch. The cakes all disappeared in double quick time so they were definitely a hit. I received several emails from folks either exhalted or dejected about the discovery (or not) of cherries. The big boss is still dubious about "recipes by dead people" but they looked so cute in my retro dot baking cases that even he couldn't resist!

I kept two aside as it's my second date with the New Yorker tonight. Wonder what he will make of them...

Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes

"It's a pretty sad situation, to be rejected by the Chinese
because I am too American."

Jennifer has not only posted some fabulous pictures of home movie day here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onedollyshoe/sets/72157622488364579/

but she has also made some Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes. These are proving to be a hit with most testers but they are not really what we in the UK would expect from tea cakes - no sultanas in these babies. Jennifer proclaimed them to be like vanilla fairy cakes - not sure if that would translate for our USA based chums - but she is right about possibly jooshing them up with some lemon flavoured icing. Nice.

I particularly liked the fact that she took some of these into a work meeting! Love the idea of archivist types over there at the Wellcome Trust sampling some film star fodder!

Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes

"I've come to the conclusion that everybody should marry,
including me."

Well, I'll see if anyone ever asks me Anna...

I love this picture, and I am going to measure my own hair when I get home to see if it is as long as Anna's. Could be...

Had a lovely time with little Shirley last night working on her papier mache project. She seemed most peturbed that one of the legs on her trouser bowl was wonky - having one wonky leg myself I couldn't really see the problem. Tonight we shall paint it.

Paulette had made some AMW Tea Cakes and totally delicious they were too. MUCH nicer than the ones I made, I think she adds some secret ingredient when she is baking things to make them taste so good. Or maybe it is the magic of the heart shaped baking cases. I bought Paulette some of these as a "thank you" gift for looking after me during my post-break-up-trauma-period and they are such lovely things.

I was extremely happy to be back in the fold there, especially when Paulette had to search for something in the food cupboard near the back door. Pleased to see that the lightbulb has STILL not been replaced, making it necessary for Paulette to do the thing which always makes me laugh: don the head torch.

Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes

"Every time your picture is taken, you lose a part of your soul."

All the recipe-wrangling over the last week or so is beginning to bear fruit. Our first feedback form arrived this morning fresh from the floral-bedecked marital home of the new Mr & Mrs Day in West London.

As a wedding gift I gave them heart shaped muffin cases and the lovely Clara reports back as follows: "I made about 18 tea cakes in wonderful heart shaped cupcake cases. They were so delicious that Mr Day and I polished off the whole lot within about 15 minutes of them coming out of the oven!" Asked if she would make them again the response was, "Absolutely – but not too often as our fish supper sat uncooked in the fridge as we had no room for anything else!"

Any modifications suggested? "Raisins," superb!

Still time to test a recipe for us if you are game - just email silverscreensuppers@yahoo.co.uk - a lovely picture of Clara's Tea Cakes can be perused in the sidebar.

Anna May Wong's Tea Cake

There is a mini Vesuvius erupting in my oven. I decided to make Ruth a birthday cake using Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cake recipe. I made twice the mixture and instead of making individual muffin type cakes, bunged it all in a cake tin. As Sidney and I waited for the spare ribs to come out of the oven I noticed it was rising in the tin like a round loaf of eggy bread.

Sidney suggested placing the cake tin on a baking tray and I nearly resisted his practical advice. When I had a look just now it had exploded, flowing down the sides of the tin and collecting around the bottom like a fluffy petticoat. I have popped some foil over the top and will hope for the best.

As Della Reese puts it "It's so nice to have a man around the house", while I was making the cake, Sidney fixed four pairs of sunglasses and one brooch that have been in my mending box for a donkey's age...

Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cakes

"I'm Anna May Wong. I come from old Hong Kong.
But now I'm a Hollywood star."

It's my first night in the new W1 abode. Night is falling over Centre Point, Big Ben and the London Eye and a batch of tea cakes are in the oven. The Marathon Man from my office requested some as a reward for his months of training. He did it in 4 hours 22 minutes so it's the least I can do.

It's fun cooking in a new kitchen. Not for the first time I've had to use a colander instead of a sieve. Not the first time either that I've been puzzled by arty symbols for grill / fan assisted grill / oven / fan assisted oven etc. I just guessed.

Lucky the supermarket isn't too far away either. I had to make an emergency trip after trying to break one of the eggs in the fridge door only to find it was hard boiled! No fancy frenchified ball point pen writing on the shell to say "boiled" like there was in Dan's fridge...

Anna May Wong's Teacakes

"Every time your picture is taken, you lose a part of your soul."

I can hardly believe that this is a 1940s photograph of Anna - she looks so MODERN. And her cakes are so good. Rosalind and Jimmy both said so. Unfortunately they got a little squashed in transit from Washington D.C. but Rosalind is "planning a trifle".

Anna May Wong's Egg Foo Yung

In the Photoplay Cook Book from which this recipe hails, Anna May reportedly defined Egg Foo Yung as "The simplest Chinese recipe of all...a delicious luncheon dish." Therefore, I chose to slap it together for a nice Saturday afternoon supper. Well, I hate to break it to our readers, but not only do I think that this is one of the worst things I have ever put in my mouth, but I also believe that there is NO way Anna May would have let this touch her lips. I am not going to mince my words. This is NOT a do-over in any way shape or form. Indeed, it is only my sincere love and admiration for the Anna May Wong that prevents me from being even more blunt.

To be honest, I had been the most scared of Janet Gaynor's cheese foundue recipe - but the Egg Foo Yung has made me start dreaming of it.

More on the flip.