Famous Food Friday -- Audrey Hepburn

For most people, this is the image they think of when they think of Audrey Hepburn in a kitchen. Holly Golightly in full tiara examining the contents of her refrigerator: milk and ballet slippers.

Really, to look at Audrey Hepburn one might never think she ate a bite. Such a supposition has a rather sinister truth. As a child in war ravaged Holland, she suffered from acute malnutrition and came very close to starving. Some twenty-two thousand people died of hunger in Holland during World War II.

We also think of Audrey Hepburn as a movie star. Her son, Luca Dotti, says he never knew Audrey Hepburn, and vehemently denied that his mother was an actress telling those who inquired that his mother was, "Mrs. Dotti."

Recently, Luca Dotti shared the Audrey Hepburn he knew as Mum, in a lovely book entitled, Audrey at Home.  It began when a friend pulled a binder off a shelf and Dotti discovered it was a collection of recipes many that, "never made their way to our dining table."  He goes on to say,

"For in the kitchen, as in life, my mother gradually freed herself from everything that was superfluous to keep only that which mattered to her. Those are the recipes you will find  in the pages that follow  -- and the stories that go with them."

As one might suspect, the vast majority of the recipes are Italian. One might not suspect that Audrey Hepburn was a fan of junk food. Here is a recipe that combines the two.  She often ate this sitting in front of the television.

Penne with Ketchup

1/2 pound (250 g) penne or pennette
1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Splash of Heinz ketchup or more to taste
Emmentaler cheese, grated for serving

Cook the penne in a pot with abundant slightly salted boiling water; strain when it is "al dente." In the same pot over medium heat, toss the pasta with the butter and oil, mixing for a minute or two. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and wait a few minutes more; this is called "mantecare" and leaves your pasta as smooth as silk. Pour the penne into a serving bowl and toss with a splash of ketchup, just enough to give the pasta a pinkish color. Dot the top here and there with a little more ketchup. Serve with grated Emmentaler cheese.

If you are a fan of Audrey Hepburn, this is a magical book to add to your collection. 


Here a few "extra" photos we have of Audrey in and out of kitchens real and imaginary.

Audrey Hepburn with Mel Ferrer in the rustic kitchen at their home, Villa Bethania.

Audrey in Sabrina.

Audrey in a California apartment.

Gary Cooper and Audrey on the set of Love in the Afternoon.

Happy Birthday -- Breakfast at Tiffany's

Today is the 50th Anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's. And I must say, it doesn't look a day over 49.

Earlier this year, I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's during a lazy Monday holiday and I found it held up quite well.
I had also read Sam Wasson's Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audry Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. A bitch and thoroughly witty look at the making of this iconic film. Read his article Why They Couldn't Make Breakfast at Tiffany's Today.

Over at ABC, they are offering up 5 Things you didn't know about Breakfast at Tiffany's. My guess is you know them all! (They also have a list of the 5 most memorable movie cats and while you might think that I digress...one of the top is -- Cat from...Breakfast at Tiffany's)

In any language... Happy Birthday.

I Hate Monday Holidays

The rest of the week I am never sure what day of the week it is. Mostly I hate not getting mail. I still do a lot of business by mail and and a day without mail sucks.

This Monday, there was no mail, it was cold and rainy and I am sure that I have seen every NCIS ever filmed.

Then, in a bit of lovely kismet, I saw that AMC in their salute to Oscar was showing Breakfast at Tiffany's in the very middle of an otherwise dreary (no, especially dreary and mailless) Monday.

I felt a certain kismet because just the day before I had finally gotten a copy of Sam Wasson's Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M. While this book sold many copies, it got quite a bit of criticism. Why? Well my theory is the subtitle: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast At Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. Well if you put it like that! The rather scholarly subtitle made many a reader think it was a pedantic film criticism. Many a feminist reader thought it was a treatise on well, the ""Modern Woman" and it isn't.


What is it? A slightly bitchy look at the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's including not only Hepburn but Mel Ferrer, Truman Capote, Babe Paley, Carol Marcus, Edith Head, Givenchy, Patricia Neal, Roald Dahl, Marilyn Monroe, and a cat, to name a few. No one loves a big old scholarly tome more than I, but despite the lofty subtitle, this is just a sweetly bitchy little behind-the-scenes look at making of the movie.



So I was especially inspired to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's on Monday with a whole new criteria of bitchy fun. But I still have no idea what day it is.