Oscar Party Bites and Booze

Sugar Rush
For the past few years on Oscar night, I’ve gone to a party at my friend Nadia’s house. She’s a film producer, and to me one of her greatest achievements has been providing her own futon for the hot Joshua Jackson bedroom scenes in One Week.

Sitting where he once romped and watching the Academy Awards on TV feels just one step down from being Ryan Gosling’s plus-one on the red carpet.

At Nadia’s bash we mute the speeches for a shouty trivia quiz; we take photos in a homemade booth wearing daft masks and hats; and we fill out ballots predicting the winners for a pot of cash.

I always vote with my heart.

I never win.

Nadia also lays out an amazing spread, which consists of a token platter of crudités and fruit, then an incredible array of movie candy that makes you want to write a long, descriptive letter full of exclamation marks and post it in a time-machine mailbox to your eight-year-old self.

To recreate this no-cook food theme, just stock up on all your favourite movie concessions. Nadia recommends: Junior Mints, Reese’s Pieces, Twizzlers, M&Ms, Swedish Berries, Glossette’s Chocolate Peanuts and Raisins, all kinds of little chocolate bars, and of course, popcorn. While she gets in a stash of booze, Nadia also keeps in theme with a cooler of mini cans of soda to wash all that movie junk food down.

Gold Rush
Most of us will never get to clutch a statuette for ourselves and thank our agent, third spouse and God. That doesn’t mean we can’t clutch a golden drumstick or a big, fat slab of golden-frosted cake as we watch Hollywood’s most beautiful do it.

Get your hands on a can of edible gold spray, to give anything from satay to fresh pears to Pop Tarts a glitzy sheen.

Bling up your iced cookies and cupcakes with tiny pieces of edible gold leaf . You can get the recipe for these shimmery gluten-free cookies from our February issue. Instead of cutting out hearts, try stars instead.

Make champagne chocolate truffles rolled in edible gold powder. Or serve up Nigella Lawson’s cupcakes with gold buttons and stars on top–heck, you could even bake them in golden paper cases.

Gold napkins and cutlery should be easy to source at party stores. Golda’s Kitchen has everything else you need.

Pop Culture
There are four recipes in the March issue of Reader’s Digest, for popcorn flavours such as Spicy Cajun and Sweet Cinnamon Crunch. Find them here.

Also in the mag: cocktails inspired by movies. Ryan MacDonald, bartender at Vancouver’s Black + Blue, shares classic recipes for everything from the French 75 in Casablanca to the Old Fashioned in Crazy, Stupid Love. Oh, hello again, Ryan!

 

Best Bites
While we’re taking inspiration from flicks, how about cooking up dishes from some of this year’s Best Film nominees?

In Beasts of the Southern Wild, little Hush Puppy eats all kinds of crazy things. I’d skip the cat food and go for the crab.

Pat’s mother in Silver Linings Playbook is forever trying to ease the tension at home by handing out crabby snacks (crab meat, cheese spread and seasonings on English muffins–mmmm) and homemades (egg noodles). Huffington Post offers recipes here, as well as this inspiring photo tweeted by SLP author Matthew Quick.

Les Miserables lovers may want to serve up crusty baguette and wine, but perhaps not in Anne Hathaway-as-Fantine-sized portions.

I’m sure nobody would complain if you threw in a wheel of Camembert.

So what will you be eating on Oscar Night?