Oscar dinner

an unexpectedly comfortable Oscars

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Caption: Watching the Oscars in The Movie Gourmet’s screening room

Oddly, watching the Oscars seemed so comfortable in such a bizarre year. Less was more. The no-host format, the Union Station set, the incorporation of the remote locations and subbing Questlove for the orchestra, each improved the show. Steven Soderbergh and the other producers finally off-loaded the Best Song category to the pre-show – a huge help. And I sure didn’t expect the most powerful moment to come from Tyler Perry and the funniest from Glenn Close.

The awards, for once, pretty much all went to deserving winners. My only quibble was the atrocious Documentary Feature win for the good but not great My Octopus Teacher, an opinion shared by critics such as Christy Lemire and Jason Gorber. (I did like the octopus in the movie, just not the human.)

In each of The Movie Gourmet’s ten years of blogging, The Wife and I watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man – you get the idea. The high point has been the Severed Hands Ice Sculpture (below) in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone. Here is the 2019 version.

The Movie Gourmet’s culinary tribute to 127 HOURS and WINTER’S BONE

The characters in Nomadland, Sound of Metal, The Father and Minari all spent time in kitchens, so we could have come up with an Oscar menu. But it didn’t seem right this year. I, for one, haven’t been inside a movie theater in 417 days. To honor the movie theater experience, we chose movie popcorn and movie candy (Hot Tamales for me, DOTS for The Wife) and settled in for the telecast.

The Wife and her father indulging in The Movie Gourmet’s 2021 Oscar dinner

The Movie Gourmet’s 2019 Oscar Dinner

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ROMA

Every year, we watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man – you get the idea. The high point has been the Severed Hands Ice Sculpture in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone (photo below). Here’s last year’s menu, centered on Reynolds Woodcock’s (Daniel Day-Lewis) comically elaborate breakfast order from Phantom Thread.

This year’s dinner will be built around Mexican cuisine as a tribute to Roma, the Oscar-nominated movie that we most admire.  We’ll have some shrimp (the family dines at the beach resort restaurant with the giant octopus sculpture outside) and The Movie Gourmet’s famous elote (street corn). The table will be adorned with references to the other Best Picture nominees.

So here is this year’s menu:

Gambas al ajillo, elote, frijoles y arroz from Roma.

Jack Daniels from A Star Is Born. A fifth of JD Black, just like the one drained by Jack (Bradley Cooper) in his limo.

Fried chicken from Green Book: Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) lights up with Kentucky Fried Chicken! In Kentucky! When’s that ever gonna happen!.

Cake with blue icing from The Favourite: In one of the least appetizing food scenes in recent cinema, Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), gout and all, battles this cake.

Almond croissant from Vice:  Offered some food at a meeting, Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) mumbles, “Nah, I’m eating healthy” – and then scarfs something from the pastry tray.

Coors from BlacKkKlansman: Something for all those Colorado Springs white supremacists.

Purple potion from Black Panther: Not having any real superhero potion, The Wife and I faked it with a sports drink.

Novelty false teeth for Bohemian Rhapsody. As a table decoration, we chose novelty false teeth to represent the horrible prosthetic teeth that Rami Malek had to wear as Freddie Mercury. The real Freddie was a very handsome guy with prominent teeth; the movie Freddie is downright horse-faced – and it’s a terrible distraction from Malek’s fine performance.  Speaking of which, on YouTube, you can find a side-by-side of the actual Queen performance at LiveAid and the Bohemian Rhapsody version – great stuff.  Still, why is this movie nominated for Best Picture?

My thanks to The Wife, who has been the real driving force behind this meal in the past few years.

The Movie Gourmet’s culinary tribute to 127 HOURS and WINTER’S BONE

The Movie Gourmet’s 2018 Oscar Dinner

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the breakfast order in PHANTOM THREAD

Every year, we watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man – you get the idea. The high point has been the Severed Hands Ice Sculpture in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone. Here’s last year’s menu, centered on the diner scene from Hell or High Water.

This year’s dinner is really breakfast because so many of the Oscar-nominated movies depict the morning meal. The most memorable, of course, is in Phantom Thread, where Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) gives a comically elaborate breakfast order to waitress Alma (Vicky Kneps): Welsh rarebit with a poached egg, bacon, scones, butter, cream, jam, a pot of Lapsang souchong tea. [Pause] And some sausages.

So here is this year’s menu:

Bacon, scones, butter, jam.  And some sausages from Phantom Thread.

Fried eggs from Darkest Hour:  Early in the film, Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) is shown breakfasting in bed.  Our eyes are drawn to the glass of whisky and the glass of champagne, but he’s got eggs on the tray, too.

Scrambled eggs from Lady Bird: In one of the many scenes around the McPherson kitchen table, Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) and her mom (Laurie Metcalf) bicker about who is fixing Lady Bird’s breakfast.

Hardboiled eggs from The Shape of Water: In an act of interspecies kindness, Elisa (Sally Hawkins) feeds that starkest of breakfast food to a grateful Amphibian Man.

Froot Loops and milk from Get Out: As the terror builds, we see Rose (Allison Williams) eating dry Froot Loops, chased by a glass of milk.

Peach from Call Me by Your Name: Not having access to the apple pie in American Pie, Elio (Timothee Chalamet) makes the peach unforgettable.

Rice Krispies and Froot Loops from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Teenage son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) is splattered with soggy Rice Krispies by his Mom (Frances McDormand) and, at one point, he’s called Froot Loop Boy.

Tea from Dunkirk (and Darkest Hour): Essential to fortifying oneself against the threatened Nazi invasion.

Lemonade from The Post: Not your more common breakfast drink, but it was such an adorable moment when Ben and Toni Bradlee’s daughter earned a wad of cash by selling lemonade to a captive audience – the editors and reporters frantically studying the Pentagon Papers on the Bradlee’s living room rug.

The Movie Gourmet’s culinary tribute to 127 HOURS and WINTER’S BONE

The Movie Gourmet’s 2017 Oscar Dinner

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HELL OR HIGH WATER
HELL OR HIGH WATER

Every year, we watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man – you get the idea. You can see some of our past Oscar Dinners on this page (including our Severed Hands Ice Sculpture in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone).

Here’s the menu for tonight’s Oscar Dinner.  It’s centered around a scene in Hell or High Water which rates as one of the all-time great Diner Scenes in movie history (along with Jack Nicholson ordering the chicken sandwich in Five Easy Pieces and Meg Ryan’s faked orgasm in When Harry Met Sally).

Candles and flowers from La La Land: It’s not clear what food Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is serving Mia (Emma Stone) in his apartment, but he had gone to great lengths create a romantic setting. (That dinner doesn’t go well.)

T-bone Steak, baked potato and green beans from the ancient cafe waitress (Margaret Bowman) in Hell or High Water. She asks what the boys are NOT having because they ARE having T-bone steak and baked potato. We’re NOT having the corn.

Cornbread muffins from Hidden Figures: Those are on the family dinner table when Colonel Johnson (Mahershala Ali) proposes to Katherine (Taraji P. Henson).

Palak Paneer from Lion:  This is not actually consumed by any characters in the movie, but, hey, it’s Indian and we needed another veggie dish.

Rations from Hacksaw Ridge: Smitty Ryker (Luke Bracey) gobbles down a mid-battle meal while sharing foxhole with Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield).

Gin from Fences: Troy (Denzel Washington) is always pulling from a pint of rotgut gin.

Frozen chicken from Manchester by the Sea: Patrick (Lucas Hedges) is very upset that his father can’t be buried until the New England soil defrosts, and he has a melt down at the fridge when the frozen chicken reminds him of Dad on ice.

Ketchup and hot sauce from Moonlight: they are on the diner table where Black (Travante Rhodes) meets up again with Kevin (Andre Holland).

Edible alien art from Arrival (photo below):  The Wife worked in the medium of black beans to re-create one of the messages communicated by the aliens.

edible alien art from ARRIVAL
edible alien art from ARRIVAL

An Oscar Dinner after all, thanks to The Wife and Trader Joes

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oscar dinner

OK, so I just posted that we would skip our annual Oscar Dinner because we were returning from an away weekend, but The Wife insisted on meeting the challenge of catering it from Trader Joes. So here we are:

Water, rushing so extravagantly from Immortan Joe’s cliff-side fortress in Mad Max: Fury Road;

Pint of Ale from one of the Boston bars in Spotlight;

Bison Jerky from  The Revenant (no raw bison liver available at TJs);

Spaghetti, which Ellis mastered eating, after much practice, in Brooklyn;

Peas and carrots from the Donovan family dinner in Bridge of Spies (served in vintage Corning ware – also on the Donovans’ table);

Potatoes (but not cultivated in our own waste) from The Martian; and

Cake as an homage both to Jake’s birthday cake (sans candles) in Room and to the Las Vegas convention dessert that Mark Baum disgustedly consumes in The Big Short.

Oscar Dinner 2013

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Every year, we watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees.  For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man –  you get the idea.  You can see our past Oscar Dinners on this page (including our Severed Hands Ice Sculpture in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone).

This year The Wife did the heavy lifting in organizing our feast.

 

STARTERS

Hummus for Argo and Zero Dark Thirty – as you will see, it’s a big year for Middle Eastern food at the Oscar Diner.

Philly Cream Cheese Cocktail Sauce Dip for Silver Linings Playbook – a perfect accompaniment to an Eagles game.

Crackers from Life of Pi (not many food choices on that lifeboat).

Baguette from Amour and Les Miserables (I did NOT steal the bread, Javert).

The Wife vetoed the peach yogurt from Amour.

 

DINNER

Kabob Koubideh for Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.

Roast Chicken from Beasts of the Southern Wild (we could have done crab, too, but Quvenzhané Wallis won’t be here to rip them up for us).

Khoresh Ghormeh (a Persian veggie stew) for Argo.

 

DESSERT

Mary Todd Lincoln’s Almond Cake for Lincoln.  Understanding the political junkie that I am, my daughter gave me the Capitol Hill Cookbook and this is an authentic recipe from the Lincoln family.

 

BEVERAGES

Whiskey from Django Unchained (from the bar scene with Jamie Foxx and Franco Nero).

Vodka (Jennifer Lawrence ordered it at the bar) from Silver Linings Playbook.

Water from Life of Pi (again – not many choices in that lifeboat).

Enjoy!

 

this year’s Oscar Dinner

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Every year, The Movie Gourmet watches the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. You can read more at Oscar Dinner.

Here is my menu for Oscar Dinner 2012.

COCKTAILS AND STARTERS

First,  The Artist inspired both strawberries (George Valentin was breakfasting on strawberries while avoiding his wife’s glare) and whiskey (George later downs more than his share).

From Moneyball, we have a ballpark hot dog.

DINNER

Fried chicken from The Help and turnips (remember the ruined crop?) from War Horse.  This also kinda fits with the 50s meat-and-potatoes fare that Jessica Chastain was serving up to Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life.

When George Clooney and Shailene Woodley show up at the beach bungalow in The Descendants, wine is offered.  And we have selected a French wine, a Bordeaux that Michael Sheen in Midnight in Paris can continue to prattle on about.

DESSERT

From Hugo, we have one of the stolen croissants he subsisted upon (although we bought our croissant) served with some of the jam made by the Niels Arestrup character in War Horse.

We are bypassing the most obvious choice on the movie menu – Minnie’s chocolate pie from The Help.  Instead, The Wife is making a Big Apple pie for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.


Looking foward to this year’s Oscar Dinner

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The Movie Gourmet's culinary tribute to 127 HOURS and WINTER'S BONE

Every year, The Movie Gourmet watches the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, last year’s highlight was the ice sculpture of severed hands for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone. We also had Appletinis for The Social Network, cowboy beans for True Grit, and steak and organic roast vegetable salad with a Petite Syrah from The Kids Are All Right. (I decided not to skin my own squirrel for Winter’s Bone and not to recycle my urine for 127 Hours.)  You get the idea and you can read more at Oscar Dinner.

The pickins are slimmer this year, but fortunately I have found food and/or beverages referenced in or inspired by the Best Picture nominees.

You may remember George Valentin’s uneasy breakfast with his wife in The Artist, or the ruined crop in War Horse, or Jessica Chastain serving up some 50s  fare to Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life.  One thing for sure:  Minnie’s chocolate pie from The Help will make an appearance!

 

Great suggestions by you for my Oscar Dinner

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You’ve sent me some great suggestions for my Oscar Dinner.   Every year, The Movie Gourmet watches the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, last year’s highlight was Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man. We also had airplane bottles of liquor for Up in the Air, fastfood chicken for Precious and Middle Eastern fare for The Hurt Locker. I particularly relished having prawns for District 9; (“prawn” is the South African slur for the aliens). You get the idea and you can read more at Oscar Dinner.

But this year, I was stumped on 127 Hours The King’s Speech and The Fighter and asked for your help.

127 Hours:  imagemoved said, “all he had was freeze dried food and granola bars. He also left that bottle of Gatorade in his car. Maybe do something with that?”  The Wife suggested a water bottle with the exact number of milliliters of water that he had when he got stuck.  The Wife has so far vetoed my idea of a water bottle with faux urine (the protagonist recycles his own urine while trapped).  But Ana may have a winning idea:  “Ginger ale, pineapple, white grape, and cranberry juice punch with an ice hand floating inside (pour water in a latex glove and freeze, remove glove and place in punch) — A bit gruesome but funny too, right? …right..? lol”.

The King’s Speech:  I think Ana also has a winner here: “English toffees. 1) They’re English 2) Their stickiness renders you temporarily incapable of speech. Get it? Eh, eh? :D“.  They also made a big deal of serving tea in The King’s Speech, but I really like the idea of gumming up my jaw with the toffee.

The Fighter:  Ana suggests “Boneless Buffalo Wings — They’re manly and something you’d eat while watching a boxing match…and their flavor is a real ‘knockout’.”  But something tells me that Amy Adams would be serving the buffalo wings WITH bones in that bar.  Maybe I’ll just pick up some MGD or PBR.

Any more ideas?

I need some help with this year's Oscar Dinner

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Every year, The Movie Gourmet watches the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees.  For example, last year’s highlight was Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man. We also had airplane bottles of liquor for Up in the Air, fastfood chicken for Precious and Middle Eastern fare for The Hurt Locker.  I particularly relished having prawns for District 9; (“prawn” is the South African slur for the aliens).  You get the idea and you can read more at Oscar Dinner.

But this year, the elements of my Oscar Dinner are not so obvious (despite being a great year for movie Food Porn). Now, I do know what I’m going to serve for True Grit, Black Swan, Toy Story 3, Inception, The Social Network and The Kids Are All Right.

But I’m stumped on 127 Hours The King’s Speech and The Fighter.  I need to find food and/or beverages found in these movies or inspired by the movies (typical of the movie’s setting, a pun on the movie, etc.)  Any ideas?  I welcome your suggestions.