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BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

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“Life’s what’s important. Walking, houses, family. Birth and pain and joy…” Katharine Hepburn

November 23, 2017 by Vickie Lester

I think, as it did for a big portion of Americans, this year raised my blood pressure. In my case the doctor scared me into doing something reasonable and healthy, so every morning I walk as soon as the sun rises and I keep going until I’ve shed a few layers and found four miles have passed as I watch… The kids being chivvied along with, “We’re going to be late for school,” the joggers, the long-legged striders, the grandparents, […]

Categories: Architecture, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized • Tags: anniversary, autumn, Happy Thanksgiving, Holidays, I have plenty to be thankful for, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn quote, neighborhood, thankful, Thanksgiving

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Ready to bake some pies? This one has nothing to do with Mildred Pierce, but it’s perfect for the holidays

November 19, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Mama Gabriella’s Sicilian Christmas Pie (Lemon Ricotta Torte) Lighter than a cannoli, kind of like a Southern Chess Pie but more delicious… You can use your favorite flaky pie dough recipe, or make a sweet dough that’s more like a cookie under a custard ricotta filling (sweet dough recipe will follow). Filling 1 1/2 pounds of dry ricotta cheese (place ricotta in a sieve over a bowl and set in fridge overnight to drain, or tie ricotta into a bundle […]

Categories: Architecture, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, DIY, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Recipes, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: Butterfly McQueen, holiday baking, holiday dessert, Jack Carson, Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce, Lemon Ricotta Torte recipe, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving in Los Angeles

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Over the L.A. river and through the wood to Grandmother’s house we go…

November 18, 2017 by Vickie Lester

I look at images like this and I remember my grandmother’s house. The teenagers in my life get the same glazed look they exhibit whenever I turn the channel to TCM. “It’s old-timey!” Which, of course, is why we (the Royal We) love it. And then they wander off to do homework (I have my suspicions). Now, as to the title of this post, I must remind you the L.A. river is paved concrete so old that islands have formed […]

Categories: Architecture, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Thanksgiving, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: Apple Strudel recipe, grandmother, how to roll a strudel, Melanie Griffith, Michael Douglas, Shining Through (1992), Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, The Beekman Boys

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

November 16, 2017 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

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I am thankful for you…

November 26, 2015 by Vickie Lester

For editors, for digital savants, for connoisseurs of scent, for kind hearts around the world, for book clubs, and for this thing we call the Internet. The places we go, the people we meet, the perfectly wonderful communities we build…online. My editor sent me this: An excerpt from: Faulks on Fiction: Great British Characters and the Secret Life of the Novel The paragraph made me laugh aloud, because there is an expectation from readers of a kind of personal knowledge […]

Categories: Advertising, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Thanksgiving, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, Edith Head and Gloria Swanson had great respect for each other, I am thankful for book clubs, I am thankful for editors, It's in His Kiss by Vickie Lester, Sebastian Faulks quote, Thanksgiving

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Bogey and Bacall married at Malabar Farms in Ohio – Happy Thanksgiving

November 26, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Architecture, Blogging, Choreography, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Thanksgiving, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Wedding • Tags: Bacall, Bogart, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Thanksgiving, turkey, wedding Malabar Farms

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Reprise: Thanksgiving at our house…

November 25, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Hello dear readers, This in no way resembles what the house looks like in real time. By this point I have become the person who the child refers to as “Boss” and who the sainted man that married me is kind enough to endure. They are probably setting the table, laying the fire, or trying to ignore the string of invective coming from the kitchen. I am cooking. I am cooking pretty much what my mother cooked and her […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Cooking, Culture, Design, Film, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Marriage, Photography, Relationships, Thanksgiving, Writing • Tags: cooking, family, family traditions, feast, grandmother, Happy Thanksgiving, humor, husband, kitchen, Mother, Thanksgiving

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Dining with Dietrich

November 22, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Marlene Dietrich’s Zabaglione “Mix three yolks of eggs with three tablespoons of sugar until the mixture is creamy and whitish. Then add a bit more than half a cup of Marsala wine. Mix. In a double boiler beat the mixture with an eggbeater till it rises. Do not boil the mixture. Use a large enough pot so that it can rise almost to double the amount. If you are courageous you can forget about the double boiler and do […]

Categories: Architecture, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertaining, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Recipes, Thanksgiving, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: 'tis the season, Christmas, holiday dessert, holiday season, Marlene Dietrich, Marlene Dietrich in Angel directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Marlene Dietrich recipe, sabayon recipe, Thanksgiving, zabaglione recipe

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‘‘You felt all through her writing that she was giving thanks for something precious.’’ Editor Judith Jones on Edna Lewis

November 1, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Home from Boston (which I loved) but I felt a little like a guest in a good friend’s home so I didn’t spread out in the kitchen and cook like I usually do. Every day I would walk through the South End neighborhood where I stayed, visit the local shops and restaurants, and bring home something nice for the Mister after he had finished a long day of work on “Ghostbusters.” Now that I’m home in L.A. I’ve scheduled three […]

Categories: Art, Books, Choreography, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, New York, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: Edna Lewis, Gore Vidal, holiday dessert, legendary editor Judith Jones, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Robeson, Thanksgiving, the black roots of American cooking, The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis, Truman Capote