A (BELATED) OSCAR RECAP

Aside from the telecast being SUPER long and a little heavy on the music and bad jokes (okay, so that's every Oscars telecast), I was pretty pleased with the winners and fashion this year. I thought Jessica Chastain was flawless - perfect hair, perfect makeup, and that dress! The fit was incredible. Kristen Stewart's tailor could stand to take a few notes. I thought K-Stew looked like a complete train wreck - even more than usual, which is saying something. It must be nice to get paid millions of dollars and still be able to look like a hungover mess any time you show up to a fancy event. Also, what was she even doing there? As my friend Ailsa said, "Kristen Stewart has no business being at any event purportedly rewarding good acting. No business!" Amen, sista. Anywho, my other favorite looks of the night were Naomi Watts, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jennifer Garner.

As for our menu... this is the second year in a row I've made an Oscar themed feast, and while my names were pretty weak this year, the food - thankfully - was not. We had (brace yourselves) Seth MacncheeseFarlane (using our go-to Alton Brown recipe), BroccoLincorn (which was basically just broccoli and corn... we needed a veggie that Emma would eat), and Life of Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies.

Obviously, the hand pies were the best part of the menu. The recipe was surprisingly easy to follow, despite my perpetual fears about making pie crust from scratch. I definitely recommend eating these warm, though... they were still good cooled, but they were heaven when they were just shy of piping hot.

How did you spend your Oscar night? I'd love to hear what you thought of the fashion!

Thoughts on Oscar

It's Oscar weekend!!! I've mentioned before that the Oscars are one of my favorite nights of the year. I love it all... the dresses, the glamour, the cheesy jokes and heartfelt speeches. My husband has the Super Bowl, I have the Oscars. And I'm so excited that this year we were able to see all but one of the Best Picture nominees. It's so much more fun watching when you know what the heck everyone's talking about! I'll post a recap next week about all the Oscar themed food we make, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on each of the BP nominees...

Argo: This is my favorite kind of movie... smart, thought provoking, dramatic with just the right amount of humor. It was easily one of my favorite movies of the year, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it wins. I do think that Ben Affleck got robbed on the Director nod. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to both act in and direct a movie. The boy's come a long way since Voyage of the Mimi! (Anyone else have to watch that in elementary school??)

Beasts of the Southern Wild: Holy water works, batman. This movie was so beautiful, so heartbreaking. I really can't believe that an 8 year old was capable of that kind of performance, just incredible. I'm a mess just thinking about this movie.

Django Unchained: This was a flat out fantastic movie. Yes it was hard to watch at times, yes I had to cover both my eyes and ears during certain parts, no it wasn't supposed to be 100% factual... but it made me think about race and slavery in a way only Tarantino could. This is a must-see, in my opinion.

Les Miserables: I'll start by saying that I've never seen the stage performance of Les Mis, but I've been obsessed with the soundtrack since I was a little girl so the music is very close to my heart. I thought this film was so gorgeous, complete visual eye candy, and the performances by Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were flawless. The only thing I didn't like about this version was Russell Crowe - he was a strange casting choice, and his singing left a lot to be desired. Otherwise, I really loved this film.

Life of Pi: I had no idea what to expect of this movie as I hadn't read the book and wasn't familiar with the story, so I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Ang Lee can do no wrong, and this movie was no exception. His visual execution really captured the emotion and intensity and magic of the story. Another favorite of movie of the year for me.

Lincoln: If Daniel Day Lewis doesn't win the Oscar for his performance in the movie it will be an outrage. It was a master class in acting, and I truly can't imagine anyone else having even come close to the caliber of his performance. As far as historical biopics, this was about what you'd expect from Spielberg, and I don't mean that in a bad way - just that it's great but predictable. I don't know if it should win Best Picture, but it's definitely worth seeing.

Silver Linings Playbook: I'll be honest, I don't know why this movie was nominated. It's a good movie, don't get me wrong, but I watched it after the nominations were announced and my expectations were pretty high. I actually think I would have liked this movie a lot more if it hadn't been nominated, if that makes sense. I applaud the academy for trying to acknowledge a less traditional film, but I'm just not sure what all the hype is about with this one. Sorry.

Zero Dark Thirty: I loved this movie right up until they brought in the Navy Seals. I have no idea what the actual Seal team was like that carried out this mission, but I have a hard time buying that they were all a bunch of stereotypical meatheads ready to shoot 'em up fer America. Other than that, I thought this was a very well told and important movie, and I think Jessica Chastain's performance was fantastic. She's quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses.

Amore: Didn't see this one. Sorry!

So that's that! I'm pulling for Argo to take home the big one. Who do you think will be the big winners?

PS... I'm a big fan of these Oscar bingo cards. They help you stay interested during the more boring award categories. Seriously, though, why do those guys always have the longest speeches?

And the Oscar goes to...

As I mentioned on Friday, I looove Oscar Sunday. It's like my Super Bowl. And this year I pulled out all the stops. (Well, all the stops I had the energy to pull.) My friend Ailsa came by, and she and Jared did their best to get on board with my enthusiasm. We had Oscar inspired food, and we even played Oscar Bingo (courtesy of How About Orange), which I highly recommend if you're trying to get people to sit through all 18 hours and 37 minutes of the Oscar telecast.

Ailsa started out our afternoon with some delicious elderflower champagne cocktails, which we figured covered the whole French contingent: Midnight in Paris, The Artist, and Hugo. I loved the combination of the St. Germain and mint in these cocktails. If you have a bottle of champagne leftover from a party, this would be a great way to jazz it up.

Then it was time to scarf down delicately eat a few traditional Southern Deviled Eggs, inspired by The Help. I don't know why deviled eggs get relegated to holidays and showers. They are entirely too delicious to only be eaten a few times a year.

For dinner we made Pioneer Woman's BBQ Comfort Meatballs (or Moneyballs... hey-o!) and they were everything PW promised they would be. Like little meatloaf balls of heaven. Make these for anything - Oscars, a potluck, Saturday snacktime. They'll be a hit. Unless you're a vegetarian.

For dessert... well, for dessert I really pulled out all the stops. I made Coconut Ice Cream with Caramel and Fudge Ribbons. I wanted to call it "Descending into Decadence" for the Descendants, but Jared rolled his eyes so many times at that name I figured I'd better drop it and let the coconut be homage enough. This was my own little concoction, so I was crossing everything I had that it would be good... and it was. Oh, holy hannah, it was good. Homemade caramel sauce, homemade hot fudge sauce, it was all worth it. The whole thing was dairy free, but it doesn't have to be. I'll be posting the recipe tomorrow so be sure to check back.

I hope you all enjoyed Oscar Sunday as much as I did! :-)