Jayne Meadows Allen is utterly fabulous as cosmetics entrepreneur Lila Lee. She dresses head to toe in lilac
and has a troupe of mauve uniformed Lila Lee Ladies to boss around, promising them cars (in a shade of lavender, no doubt)
as rewards for high sales figures. The firm is obviously based on Mary Kay, a direct-sales cosmetics business.
There is lots of humour in this episode, especially when Lila Lee mistakes our sleuth for one of her sales team. Perhaps she knows Jessica is partial to a pussy bow blouse?
She later offers Jessica the cosmetics franchise for the whole of “Cabbage Cove.” Genius!
Many ladies will know how annoying it is when their favourite lipstick is discontinued. The shade of a lippy called Tangerine Twist is an essential factor in this plot. For the Murder, She Cooked book I invented a Tangerine Twist cocktail called to have with Jayne’s Szechwan dish. It’s a rather festive looking number that just like the lippy is “a real nice shade, not too orangey, not too pink.”
Robert Culp also appears in this episode, and it was a big regret when I wrote the Cooking With Columbo book that I couldn’t find a recipe for him.
I’m still on the lookout so do get in touch if you know of one. Until then, here’s Jayne’s recipe for a spicy tofu and pork dish.
I do hope that you will wear shades of lavender as you cook this!
Jayne Meadows Allen’s Bean Curd Szechwan Style
4 tablespoons oil, divided use
½ pound minced pork
1 tablespoon sherry
4 tablespoons soya sauce, divided use
2 boxes bean curd, cubed
½ cup stock
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 scallions/spring onions
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in a little water
2 teaspoons chili sauce
Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a pan or wok. Sauté the pork until it changes colour. Remove the pork from the pan, place it into a bowl and add sherry and one tablespoon of the soya sauce to it. Heat the remaining oil and add the bean curd. Stir to crisp it up a little. Add the remaining soya sauce, stock, pork, garlic and scallions. Thicken with the dissolved cornstarch a little at a time around the edge. Lastly, add the chili sauce. Stir the dish constantly as it cooks.
Serves 2-3
Next month’s recipe will be from the kitchen of Alan Hale Jr.
I so enjoyed watching this episode again that I’m thinking of hosting a Cabot Cove Watch Party for this one sometime soon. What do you think? Would you join me dressed head to foot in lavender?
I can’t decide which illustration to colour in first, but I’m sorely tempted by this one…
When Sam got in touch about the book and asked if I would like to write an introduction I was honoured. When she asked if I would like to be in it as a colouring-in prospect, of course I said yes! Who wouldn’t want that?!
Beloved Tim Benzie is in there too…
How joyful this is! You can grab a copy here (this is the UK Amazon site so do change if you are elsewhere to see the correct currency).
I had lots of lovely feedback about my Murder, She Cooked book over the festive season and I am thrilled that fans are enjoying it.
You could have knocked me down with a feather when I heard it had been reviewed in esteemed magazine Sight and Sound.
If you already have your copy of the book and you are enjoying it, a nice review on Amazon means the world to us self-published writers. I will love you forever!
Here come all the linky-links! Firstly, 15 years of posts about movie star recipes can be found here
