Inspired by the Academy Awards

Over the weekend I was inspired to throw a small Oscar's party. I wanted to cook food items that were thematically tied to the nominees. Surprisingly, I found enough energy to pull it off. I made a palette cleansing blueberry-lime granita in honor of the blue slushies in JUNO. The main course consisted of a One-Pan Ratatouille in honor of the Academy Award Winning animated film bearing the same name and warm french bread in honor of the loaves of bread in Michael Clayton. Dessert was a shout out to There Will Be Blood with a banana-caramel milkshake. The centerpiece in the middle of the dining room table was scattered with past Academy Award Winning films and several boxes of orange tic-tacs ~ again with a shout out to JUNO.


This year, I felt pretty prepared for the Academy Awards ~ I had seen all nominated films with the exception of No Country for Old Men ~ which I have no interest or intention of watching. Just this past weekend I finally watched Eastern Promises and Michael Clayton. After the results of the Golden Globes were revealed it was pretty obvious who the favorites were going to be at the Oscars. I had already accepted the fact the No Country For Old Men was going to win best picture and probably scoop up a handful of the coveted gold statues, but I had my favorites for other categories.

After seeing Viggo Mortensen's incredible performance as a Russian mobster in Eastern Promises he became my favorite for Best Actor. I was hoping that there would be a big upset with the Best Actress going to Ellen Page (JUNO). A girl can dream, right? I would have loved to see Cate Blanchett win in the supporting actress category ~ I felt very strongly against the fact that Tilda Swinton was nominated also. So ~ I was disappointed with several of the winners that were chosen and I was elated with a few wins ~ like Best Musical Score (Atonement) ~ Song (Slowly Falling from ONCE), Writing for Original Screenplay (JUNO) ~ Best Animated Film (Ratatouille) Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) ~ and kudos to the Bourne Ultimatum for picking up three Oscars!


There are still some Oscar nominated films for actor/actress performances that I still want to watch ~ I am hoping for more up lifting/thought provoking films for next year and less blood and violence.