Oscar party: Celebrate each Best Picture nominee with a dish
Oscar viewing parties are a fun time to let your imagination run wild in the boredom of winter. You can throw a black-tie event with the requirement that all threads must come from Goodwill (those bridesmaid dresses stuffed in the back of your closest are perfect for this), hand out score cards to see who comes the closest to calling the most awards, pop some popcorn, and serve up tasty treats inspired by Oscar nominees.
Here to you help you throw the best party on the block are 10 Stir It Up! recipes closely tied (or as close as we could get) to the 10 Best Picture nominees.
The envelope, please!
The King's Speech
A marvelous story about the true friendship that painstakingly evolved between Prince Albert, Duke of York and Lionel Logue, a frustrated Austalian actor turned highly unorthodox speech therapist.
Recipe: Toad in the Hole. We think Bertie would have appreciated the comfort found in this classic English sausage dish on a difficult day. His persistence and triumph proved once and for all that King George VI of England was no toad.
Black Swan
Monitor film critic Peter Rainer described this ballerina gone-wrong film as a "willfully deranged quasi-horrorfest." We'll just leave it at that.
Recipe: New Zealand pavlova cake. Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova was the first ballerina to tour the world and was most famous for her role as "The Dying Swan" (ballerinas and swans go hand in hand, apparently). New Zealand was so taken with her they whipped up some meringue and gave it her name.
True Grit
Young Mattie Ross hires the screwy Deputy Marshal Rooster Cogburn to track down her father’s killer. Accompanying them is a straight-shooter Texas ranger named LaBoeuf.
Recipe: Mexican corn and bean soup. Let's head to the Mexican border for this one. It's fast, good, and has all the sugar and spice of the "True Grit" cast of characters.
The Social Network
The story of Harvard graduate Mark Zuckerberg and the knockabout beginnings of his creation, Facebook.
Recipe: Apple bacon cheddar sandwich. nestMeg is our still-in-college blogger who studies, cooks, eats, and blogs about it. This is one of her survival sandwiches. One bite and you'll be transported to your college days.
The Kids Are All Right
Another take on the ever-evolving American family, this time in the heart of Los Angeles as a brother and a sister track down their biological father in order to weave him into their complicated family fabric.
Recipe: Asian pulled pork. Southern California is infused with Asian flavors and this sandwich illustrates that a little pulling and tugging can end up bringing out the best flavors in each of us.
127 Hours
The harrowing, true story of Aron Ralston, a hiker who literally got stuck between a rock and hard place and had to sever his arm to save his life.
Recipe: Cranberry pistachio granola. OK, aside from the fact that the premise of this movie is literally appetite-loss inducing, we think a good old-fashioned granola mix should be in every hiker's survival backpack.
The Fighter
"Irish" Mickey Ward, a junior welterweight from Lowell, Mass., leads (in critic Rainer's words), "a screeching caricature of working-class discombobulation." Basically, an in-your-face movie about working class family that really, really likes to fight.
Recipe: Irish lamb stew. A traditional Irish classic with stick-to-the-ribs flavor. Keep it simple and strong.
Inception
An espionage expert with a truly remarkable skill: the ability to tap into people's dreams and steal their secrets.
Recipe: The best fudgy brownies. If you can't tap into people's dreams, try offering them these fudgy, chocolate-y, delicious brownies. They will spill all even before you get the pan out of the oven.
Toy Story 3
A series of mishaps and mistaken identity sends our favorite Pixar toys inside the suspiciously cheery Sunnyside Day-care Center.
Recipe: White garlic shrimp pizza. Food blogger and mom Amy Deline as The Gourmand Mom regularly puts her kids' hands to work in the kitchen. They love it, and you'll love her recipe for white pizza.
Winter's Bone
Ree, a teenager growing up in the hardscrabble Missouri Ozarks, sets out to find her crystal-meth-dealer father who has jumped bail.
Recipe: Roast chicken. OK, this recipe bears no themes relating to the movie. But really, a name like "Winter's Bone" conjures up the best remedy for warding off the season's chill: the smell of a roast chicken filling your kitchen. But if you really want a theme, go for the classic Southern pecan pie.
If this star-studded round-up still isn't enough, check out our list of appetizer recipes for more Oscar party ideas.
Cue the music!
