Dining with Kermit, Gilligan, Darth Vader and a cast of many

I, like many other sandwich eating folk around the world, consider cooking to be a chore. And though I do it daily, I like to use my television as my inspiration for the food that I prepare. I am not talking about celebrity chefs here. Pffft! I can enter their restaurant and pay them to cook for me. I choose to cook the fictional character’s meal.

Eat like your favourite television character

If Mary Ann’s coconut pie from her Gilligan’s Island Cookbook is good enough for the other 6 castaways, it’s good enough for my family of four. My children have enjoyed Obi Wan Kebabs and Wookie Cookies from the Star Wars Cookbook. “Use the fork, Luke” is a commonly heard statement at our table. And how can I go past Gus, my butcher standing in for Sam the Butcher supplying the red meat for the House of Cards Hamburger in Alice’s Brady Bunch Cookbook.  We’ve had the Mini Eyeball Pizza from the Shrek Cookbook, I’ve saved the day with Bewitched‘s Cousin Serena’s I-don’t-cook quick-fixes, Phoebe’s Fabulous Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies from the Cooking with Friend’s Cookbook, and little do my children know that at Christmas time they are partaking in a little bit of DOOL Holiday Hot Chocolate (with an “optional” cup of brandy or bourbon which was needed by Roman Brady when he found out his wife Marlene was possessed by Satan) because I found the recipe in Cooking with Days of our Lives.

My children have enjoyed She Wore a Jello Ribbon from True Grits: Recipes inspired by the movies of John Wayne and they have eaten Liz Taylor’s Spicy Chicken from In the kitchen with Miss Piggy by Moi: Fabulous Recipes from my famous celebrity friends. Miss Piggy is a delight in this humour filled book, an adjective rarely used when describing cookbooks. In solidarity with her, I too won’t cook the pork and frog recipes that were contributed – for shame!

Sometimes my need to channel Hollywood on the dining table moves from the fictional movie or TV series and into larger than life stars. For I have cooked from the The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley (though I draw the line at barbequed pizza) and our Christmas Turkey is prepared with the recipe from the Last Dinner on the Titanic cookbook (Ok – not a hollywood star but certainly, it has inspired many movies).

I have yet to cook from The Soprano’s Family Cookbook, the Number 96 Cookbook or The Winnie the Pooh Teatime Cookbook but their time will come, I am sure. For my dining table will always pay homage to Hollywood.

Vassiliki