Guilt Free Movie Watching

Carve out time for Hollywood self-indulgence

Dinner and a Movie is a guilt-free zone. There is no need to berate yourself if you can’t seem to get around to watching the monthly movie or cooking the dishes. Life is busy, I know.

A couple of people have asked if they can still watch the films if the month has already flown by - of course! Watch them at your leisure. Whenever suits you. With your own favourite snacky treats.

Remember, this is all purely FOR PLEASURE. I know it is hard to put time aside to do something lovely for yourself. But do it; we must!

I am moving to the seaside, so Dinner and a Movie, Silver Screen Suppers and Murder, She Cooked are all on pause for August as I have millions of boxes to unpack.

Silver Screen Suppers Club dues will be paused for this month, and those who have kindly opted to be a patron of the arts (!) for a whole year will get an extra month bunged on the end of their subscription. All sub-paying members of the club will be getting a postcard from the Post Office just up the road from my new abode - old skool or what?!

While I am gone, here are a few suggestions about making time for movie-watching and star-spangled cooking if you are finding it tricky to squeeze it into your busy life.

• I advise putting a date in your diary as soon as the film of the month is announced. Kick everybody out of your house for the evening if you have to, unless you have nice company to watch it with.

  

• It doesn’t have to be an evening - sometimes I watch films in bed with breakfast before work! Admittedly I am a very early riser.

  

• Rainy Sunday afternoons are good too.

  

• I don’t advise watching while you are actually IN the bath, but maybe have a bath and then watch the film in your pyjamas in bed?

  

• Keep a list of links to the films (or a pile of the DVDs) handy. Then one evening, when there is nothing of interest on the telebox, you’ll know just what to do.

• Do you have a chum coming over for dinner? Why not watch and cook together?

• Can’t be bothered to cook before watching the film? Get a takeaway!

  

• Or tell everyone you know that you are away for the weekend, then install yourself on the sofa and have a self-indulgent movie marathon!

However you do it, you’ll be pleased you have. A session of mindful movie-watching with suitable snacks and beverages on hand is one of the nicest things I know.

See you in September!

THE LINKY-LINKS

Eighteen years of movie star recipe experiments can be found on the Silver Screen Suppers website.

Here are links to my themed cookbooks featuring the favourite recipes of tonnes of movie stars. These links will take you to the UK Amazon site, so switch to your country for the correct postage costs.

If you prefer not to buy via Amazon, all are available to order from bookshops except Cooking with Joan Crawford. This is currently only available via Blurb, but a new, more affordable version, is coming soon. You will hear about it first here!