recipe | BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

“Unless you were raised by ferrets in the Catskills, you’re going to know this is a problem.” Josh Marshall

September 10, 2017 by Vickie Lester

What has this to do with baking? Let me back up a little bit and we’ll get to that. Josh Marshall is a journalist who writes about the political scene. He is astute, insightful, and sometimes he cracks me the-hell-up. So in the midst of one of his essays on nefarious insider doings with foreign powers he’ll get me to remember a point by cracking wise. At times a little levity goes a long way. Click here to read the […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Friendship, Gastronomy, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Photography, Recipes, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: almond lemon cake recipe, baking, baking raises my spirits, cake, comfort baking, grandmother, holiday baking, Mother, recipe

Being of a certain age, the Rolling Stones are my equivalent to Baby Mozart, so sometimes I listen to their music and cook to calm down…dinner for six with Vickie Lester

November 21, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Braised Chicken with Olives, Carrots, and Preserved Lemon: 1 chicken cut into pieces and 4 thighs 8 carrots 1 large onion 2 handfuls of Castlevetrano olives with pits 8 sundried tomatoes in olive oil Enough chicken stock to cover the chicken (2 cups-ish) Enough olive oil to barely coat the bottom of a braising pan (just a smidge or your chicken won’t brown) 1 quarter of a preserved lemon A couple of fresh thyme sprigs 1 tsp. minced rosemary […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Music, Photography, Recipes, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #MickJagger, apple berry cinnamon crumble recipe, braised chicken with olives carrots lemons, Hollywood behind the scenes, Hollywood facts fictionalized, John Pasche design, recipe, rolling stones lips and tongue, sticky fingers tour, therapeutic cooking

Séduisante (that’s French for Seductive)…Devil’s Food Cake with Coconut Frosting…Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston…Recipe from my Lady Ancestors

November 21, 2015 by Vickie Lester

For the Devil’s Food Cake: 1/2 stick of butter, or 2 oz. (unsalted) 1 cup sugar 2 eggs, beaten until frothy and pale 1 and 1/2 cups cake flour 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour cream (or mix some milk with sour cream—that’s what I usually do) 2 to 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (depends on how rich you want it, 2 oz tastes like normal chocolate cake, 4 oz will knock your […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Cooking, Culture, Design, DIY, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, New York, Photography, Recipes, Uncategorized • Tags: cake photograph, cake photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston, chocolate, chocolate decadence, coconut frosting, Devil's Food Cake, good cooks, my lady ancestors, recipe, recipes handed from one generation to the next, seductive, seduisante, Seven Minute Frosting, treat

Thanksgiving pumpkin pie – from the kitchen of Fred MacMurray and June Haver

November 20, 2015 by Vickie Lester

After his beloved Lillian died Mr. MacMurray was fortunate to find June Haver, with whom he had a wonderful marriage and adopted two more children. I don’t know who did the cooking at home, but this pie is a traditional favorite with my family because it is a pumpkin chiffon, the perfect finale to kind of a gut busting meal – you know what I mean…

Categories: Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Entertaining, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Recipes, Relationships, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: actor, actress, behind the scenes, coconut, cooking, Fred MacMurray, gingersnap crust, history, Hollywood, Hollywood Recipe, June Haver, Los Angeles, Movie Star, Old Hollywood, pumpkin chiffon pie, pumpkin pie, recipe, rum, Thanksgiving

The wisdom of Elizabeth Taylor and a Chocolate Cabernet Cake

July 3, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Chocolate and Cabernet Sauvignon Italian Cake recipe on Food52.com. “The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.”

Categories: Art, Blogging, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Recipes, Uncategorized • Tags: cabernet, chocolate, decadent, delicious, dessert, ElizabethTaylor, Italian Chocolate Cake, recipe, spicy

Marilyn Monroe in Palm Springs and a cool salad for a hot day

July 3, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Sliced avocado, arugula, slivers of red onion, segments of orange, luscious green olives, sea salt, black pepper, fennel seeds, lemon juice, olive oil… Salad. “I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.”

Categories: Art, Blogging, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertaining, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Palm Springs, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized • Tags: Avocado Orange and Onion salad, cool recipe for a hot day, MarilynMonroe, Palm Springs, recipe, summer recipe

My mom always told me this was Sophia Loren’s pasta recipe…

July 3, 2015 by Vickie Lester

I can neither confirm or deny, but it’s easy and perfect for hot weather cooking. Pasta Puttanesca 4-6 minced cloves of garlic 4 anchovy fillets A good handful of fresh basil, like five sprigs or a cup — chopped A dash of red pepper flakes (I don’t like things so hot I can’t taste anything else and my upper lip breaks out into a sweat, but if you do add a half a teaspoon.) 2 Tablespoons minced capers 1/2 cup […]

Categories: Blogging, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertaining, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Recipes, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #SophiaLoren, Hollywood, hot weather cooking, Pasta Puttanesca, pasta recipe, quick and easy, recipe, Sophia Loren, spicy tomato sauce, summer recipe

MID-CENTURY ROMANCE – THE HOME OF LUCILLE BALL AND DESI ARNAZ

April 9, 2015 by Vickie Lester

In 1954, Ball and Arnaz moved their family into the informal ranch home Williams designed for them. The house, on a lot Desi reputedly won in a poker game, was located near the 17th fairway of the Thunderbird Country Club and was the first residence completed in the club’s development. The 4,400 square foot house had six bedrooms, a swimming pool (images 4 and 5) and a lanai- type signature Williams’ space (images 6, 7, 8) that combined and expanded […]

Categories: Advertising, Architecture, Art, Books, Culture, Design, Early Television, Entertaining, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Marriage, Movies, Music, Palm Springs, Parenting, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Weather • Tags: actor, actress, alcohol, Architect, architecture, art deco, behind the scenes, celebrities, Classic Movies, contract player, cooking, Desi Arnaz, Desilu, fashion, fashion model, Goulash, history, Hollywood, humor, I LOVE LUCY, Julius Shulman, Lucile Ball, Married 1940 to Desi Arnaz, mid-century, Movie stars, Old Hollywood, Palm Springs, Paul Revere Williams, photographer, Queen of the "B's", recipe, RKO, Stage Door, Thunderbird, TV pioneer

Vickie Lester makes fruitcake in November so it can get tipsy by Christmas

November 15, 2014 by Vickie Lester

Hello, poppets! First of all a glorious memory, and a perfect defense of a much maligned but celestially delicious treat… In defense of a fruitcake | All intelligent thoughts have already been thought. This weekend I will be stirring up a much smaller batch of cakes than the intrepid G. who pens the fascinating blog mentioned above. My recipe will make two loaves of fruitcake. The longer you age it the more mellow and scrumptious it becomes. Some people place […]

Categories: Blogging, Children, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertaining, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Recipes, Relationships, Story, Thanksgiving, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Writing • Tags: baking, Christmas, comedienne, cooking, Favorite Recipes of the Movie Stars, fragrant, fruitcake, fruitcake recipe, good cook, Grandmother's fruitcake, Hal B. Wallis, heirloom fruitcake recipe, Hollywood, Louis Fazenda, no disgusting green cherries, Old Hollywood, philanthropist, producer, recipe, silent movies, Vickie Lester makes fruitcake