Silver Screen Sunday Extravaganza

What a FANTASTIC afternoon we had in Cardiff at the Silver Screen Suppers event. There was a lot of love in the house and a LOT of cream cheese too! Chefs Ruth C, Katharine and Anita rustled up tonnes of Silver Screen Supper foodstuffs and the guests wolfed the lot washed down with champagne cocktails and lashings of wine! It was a stardust sprinkled buffet table groaning under the weight of Greer Garson's Gucamole, Lana Turner's Simple and Easy Salsa, Anna Sten's Russian Sandwiches, Katharine Hepburn's Brownies, Janet Gaynor's Ice Box Cookies, Colleen Moore's Shamrock Salad and - my fave - Mae West's Pumpkin Pies. YUM YUM YUM.

Lots of guests came done up as their favourite film stars (Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLaine, a singing cowboy (not sure which one!), Cary Grant and Lauren Bacall to name but a few), Anna ran a fabulous film quiz and I gave a little 10 minute introduction to the project. Several people volunteered to test cook (email me at silverscreensuppers@yahoo.co.uk for a list of recipes) and there may be a chance for me to visit St Donat's - former holiday home of MARION DAVIES in Wales sometime soon.

The event was all in a very good cause - raising money for Theatre Versus Oppression - see http://www.theatreversusoppression.com/ and photos of the splendid food can be seen here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fritzyritz/ or by clicking on the picture of the heaving buffet table in the side bar. I put on 3 and a half pounds - that's how GOOD it all was.

Oh and if you are wondering, I have put ROMY SCHNEIDER at the head of my post to welcome Joan and Bette's brand new bundle of joy into the world. She goes by the name of Romy so how can she fail to be fabulous?

Anna Sten's Coffee Parfait

In a country kitchen in Devon with a whirlwind of cooking activity going on around me I attempted another version of the Coffee Parfait, this time from the pen of the actress Gary Cooper referred to as "Anna Stench". The fact that I was on a cookery writing course surrounded by PROPER cooks only added to my shame when the cream curdled and the resulting Parfait looked more like runny beige cottage cheese. Not a dish with the "gosh" factor the food editors are looking for by any means.

Doris Day came to the rescue with her excellent solution of heating the milky mess and adding some egg yolks and sherry thus turning what could have been a disaster into a Baileys-esque after dinner tipple for fifteen.

Anna Sten's Russian Sandwich

Oh the Russian Sandwich is a thing of great beauty! I cannot WAIT for an unsuspecting guest to be at my house one lunchtime so I can ask the question, "would you care for a sandwich?" then disappear into the kitchen to make one of these TOWERING SPECTACULAR CIRCULAR SANDWICHES!

Basically you need 6 circular pastry cutters which are smaller and smaller in circumference. You cut circles from bread then spread and top with ingredients in this order as the bread circles get smaller. 1 - jam, 2 - cream cheese, 3 - cooked chicken, lettuce and mayonnaise, 4 - a slice of tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise, 5 - a slice of cucumber, lettuce and mayonnaise. Put the last and tiniest slice on top. Put a small piece of fruit and a stuffed olive on top of the whole tower of pisa and secure everything with toothpicks.

SUPERB! That made me so very, very happy as I sort of knew it would. A thing of beauty is a joy forever... It's quite something to try and eat it without getting cheese, jam and mayonnaise all over your face but a guaranteed talking point for greedy guests!

Apparently Gary Cooper hated Anna Sten so much that behind her back he would refer to her as "Anna Stench." Well I for one don't like Gary Cooper if that is his attitude to the woman who introduced me to the Scooby Snack of Silver Screen Suppers!