If The Frame Fits

Murder, She Wrote - S2:E22

Before our regular programme, an advert…

I have no idea if this is an actual real product or just something crazy dreamed up by AI, but I want some, don’t you?

Plus a little update on the Jessica Fletcher Knitalong.

Sleeve number one is done!

I love my little shoulder fishy! It’s not too late to join in with the knitting of Jessica’s iconic cardigan - all the details about yarn and pattern can be found here.

A wealthy playboy called Binky is mucking around in a golf cart early on in this episode.

Getting off, he announces to the world that he needs “a tall cold Gin Fizz”, so this could be a good thing to serve for pre-dinner cocktails. Binky likes the finer things of life, and although we don't know what savoury delights his staff serve up when Jessica comes to dinner, we do know that there is crème caramel for dessert.

Binky is a buffoon, but he's also quite funny. When he's implicated in some criminal activity, he tells Jessica that he's “delighted to be finally undone by someone of your calibre.” When an essential clue to the identity of a murderer turns out to be a pizza cutter, he protests, “I don't think I've ever even had a pizza,” and it's easy to believe that, too.

It would be so fabulous if I had a pizza or crème caramel recipe for John de Lancie who plays Binkie, but alas, I don't. The only co-star in this episode I have a recipe for is Audrey Meadows. She plays Mildred Tilley, the acerbic wife of the local mayor,

and she's a fabulous minor character who speaks her mind in a gorgeously catty way.

If you fancy a pre-dinner drink to have with her ratatouille, you could follow Mildred's lead and have a “Hi-Pro-Low-Sodium-Low-Cal,” which I am guessing is some kind of health drink. It is green and has a stick of celery in it. Me? I'll have a tall cold Gin Fizz, thanks!

Audrey doesn't specify how to chop or slice up the veggies, so basically, you can freestyle it!

Audrey Meadows’ Ratatouille Niçoise

Olive oil

2 pounds eggplant/aubergine

1 pound zucchini/courgettes

2 green peppers

2 large onions

Garlic

2 pounds tomatoes

Put some oil in a pan and add the eggplant, zucchini, and peppers. Brown the vegetables then add salt and pepper, and garlic to taste. Add the tomatoes and let the mixture simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. The ratatouille can be served hot or cold.

Serves 6

Next time on Murder, She Cooked we have a DOUBLE EPISODE so you will get a recipe from the kitchen of Jackie Cooper AND a recipe courtesy of Courtney Cox - yippee!

Do you like classic movies?

On my other Substack, I propose a classic film to watch each month with an accompanying recipe.

This month it is The Graduate

with an Anne Bancroft tamale pie recipe - skip over here to check it out.

In-Person Events

I’m going to be at the Hippfest Silent Cinema Festival in Bo’ness, Scotland in March. I’ll be introducing a screening of some silent cinemagazine material and hosting a Joan Crawford cocktails and canapés workshop. It would be so lovely to meet some of you, the Hippodrome is my favourite cinema in the whole world. Skip over here for details

Me on a podcast!

The fun interview I did with Christina Webber for the Hippcast podcast is out now. If you’d like to hear me chatting about why Joan Crawford never sat on a bar stool with her back to the room,

and which was my most disastrous movie star recipe experiment, skip over here!

Curious about what film stars liked to eat and drink?

Books are available worldwide via Amazon. Here’s a link to my UK author page where you will find them all.

switch to your own country for the correct prices if you are elsewhere in the world.

Cheerio, for now, tune in for another fabulous episode next month.