Random Glamour

Indeed it is time to at least imagine how life should be...

and no, dears, that's not me but rather - Carol Burnett

Alice and Ellen Kessler knew how to put on the style.

Robert James Collier, very Upstairs Downton.

Hedy Lamarr, whose real name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler.

Adolphe Greenberg, aka Adrian.

The Maharaja of Indore 1929.

My new heartthrob from the TV series 'Indian Summers' Henry Lloyd-Hughes.

What's the point of glamour without a spot of decadence?

...and romanticism -  the new Poldark, Aidan Turner:

Glamour, romance and pure decadence personified - Marlene!

Vivien Leigh placing  the Oscar for her role as Scarlett on her mantelpiece:

Salvador:

Diva of divas with her claws out methinks - Callas:

The lovely Jean Simmons...

Followed by my fave photo of the one and only - there will never Bea another Beatrice Lillie (photograph by Norman Parkinson in London 1951). It looks like to me to be in the Café de Paris:

Dovima could even make Ketchup glamorous:

Why do I never meet boys like this ? Leonardo di Caprio, Gatsby...

To finish we have my own moment of glamour, with a visit to the wonderful Cabaret room Crazy Coqs. Always a treat; this time the artists were Claire Martin and Joe Stilgoe who were Ab. Fab. The venue inside Brasserie Zédel in Soho is a true delight.

As was the discovery of a cocktail I actually really liked.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

    A few drops of absinthe

    1 ½ oz. dry gin

    1 oz. dry vermouth

    ½ oz. Benedictine

    1 dash Angostura bitters

    1 brandy-cured cherry

Preparation

    Swirl a few drops of absinthe in a chilled coupe.

    Shake the other ingredients with ice in a mixing glass,

    then strain into absinthe-coated coupe.

    Garnish with cherry.

     Bitter and sweet and evocative of a Kurt Weill song

and the Weimar —

 I could imagine Sally Bowles knocking back this one.

it's called, fittingly, the Cabaret Cocktail.

Cheers!

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Random Divas and Icons

Here we are me lovelies, with an other random sample of some of my mindless wanderings on 'Tumblr'

 Norma Shearer - Queen of the M-G-M Lot.

Barbara Stanwyck photographed by Eugene Robert Richee 1940

Bea Lillie wielding a lethal lorgnette

Ethel in quotes.

Gertrude Lawrence in Lady in the Dark

The to fabulous for words - Carol Channing

'Best new comer' at the Baftas, Maggie Smith with Jon Voight.

Joan Crawford photographed by Cecil Beaton 1956.

P.G. Wodehouse.

Virginia Woolf.

That ultimate cad, Terry Thomas

Elaine Stritch on the set of Call Me Madam.

A rather dashing Richard Burton.

When smoking was cool - Sophia Loren.

I have no idea who this is but I adore her.

Ann Miller.

Edna Best by Dorothy Wilding 1925.

The fascinating,  Anna May Wong.

Yvonne De Carlo being rather stern in 'Hotel Sahara'.

Lady Diana Cooper Viscountess Norwich as as The Madonna in The Miracle

Who else but, Katharine Hepburn - ClarenceSinclairBull1942.

Cecil Beaton in1938.

And to end with 
Greer Garson "the glorious goddess of good"

With thanks to my fave tumblers

http://mattadoresit.tumblr.com/

and

http://theflamingcurmudgeon.tumblr.com/ 

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Food Heroes - Rose Elliot

Hello me dears.
Here is another in a random series on my food heroes
Today is Rose Elliots turn

I have been a great fan of hers since the early 80s when I bought her ' The Bean Book, Fontana 1979 ' 
It has been my bible for any thing to do with pulses ever since. It is one of the books I simply never would be with out. Her simple and open style combined with every detail of the ingredients you could ever wish to know makes it a good read as well as being instructive.

Her first book, Simply Delicious, was published in 1967. Her latest cookery book, The Best Of Rose Elliot: The Ultimate Vegetarian Collection was published by Mitchell Beazley this year (2014).

I have just added another of her books to join my battered but loved copy of the bean book on the shelf.

We love charity shops here at 'Delargo Towers' and at £2.25 a bargain.

Rose Elliot became vegetarian at the age of 3, grew up in a spiritualist family and started cooking for the guests at a spiritualist retreat when she left school. Encouraged to write her recipes down  she was given rave reviews in the times after her little vegetarian booklet was published by the organization that ran the retreat.

She is a Fellow of The Association of Professional Astrologers International, is a member of  MENSA and was awarded the MBE for services to vegetarian cookery in 1999

Bibliography from wikipedia

Chronological list of books by Rose Elliot (Incomplete)

• Simply Delicious The White Eagle Publishing Trust 1967
• Not Just a Load of Old Lentils The White Eagle Publishing Trust 1972,
• Thrifty Fifty, 50 Low Cost Recipes, Hampshire: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1973
• The Oxfam Vegetable Cookbook, Oxfam 1975
• The Bean Book, Fontana 1979
• The Festive Vegetarian: Recipes and Menus for Every Occasion, New York, U.S.A.: Pantheon Books, 1983
• Rose Elliot's Book of Fruits, Fontana Paperbacks, 1983
• Book of Savoury Flans and Pies, Fontana. 1984.
• Beanfeast; a beginner's guide to wholefood cooking, Fontana 1985
• The New Vegetarian Cookbook, London: Octopus Books, 1986
• Vegetarian Mother and Baby Book, Pantheon Books, 1986
• Cooking with Beans and Pulses : With foreword and star recipes by Rose Elliot, Holland & Barrett / Thorsons Publishers. 1986.
• Vegetarian Dishes of the World, HarperCollins Publishers, 1988
• The Zodiac Cookbook, Pyramid, 1989
• Vegetarian Four Seasons, New York, NY, U.S.A.: Random House, 1994
• Life Cycles, The Influence of Planetary Cycles on Our Lives, Macmillan, 1993, and Pan, 1995.
• Rose Elliot's Oxfam Vegetarian Cooking For Children, Vermilion, 1995
• Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Fast Food : HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996.
• Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking, Thorsons, Wellingborough 1996
• Quick and Easy Vegetarian Meals for Students, Martin Books, 1997
• Vegetarian Meals for Students, HarperCollins, 1997
• Mother, Baby & Toddler Book, London: Harper Collins, 1997
• Vegetarian Express, Phoenix, 2001
• New Vegetarian Cooking: 120 Fast, Fresh, and Fabulous Recipes, Simon & Schuster, 2004

• Book Of Pasta ISBN 0-00-636703-8
• The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook
• Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Cookery
• Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Christmas
• Best Of Rose Elliot, Mitchell Beazley, 2014

All in all she is a bloody good egg

Three cheers for Rose Elliot I say !.

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