Every year, we prepare for the night known to the world as “Oscar Night.” I don’t mean just sitting in front of the television to watch the telecast. I mean, we plan for this days, if not weeks, leading up to the Oscars. It started for us in 2005 when we decided to put on a 5-course meal themed to each of the best picture nominations. We invited some friends over and the tradition started.

2010 was no exception; however, this year was slightly more low-key. It was just the two of us (Lucy was sleeping). Oh, and our oven wasn’t working, which put a twist into the meal planning. I’d say we did a stellar job of putting together a 5-course meal on a BBQ and side-burner alone. (Are you listening, Bobby Flay?)

Check out the photo gallery!

The courses went something like this:

• Course 1: Hurt Locker Sliders - in the first scene of Hurt Locker, one solider proclaims his hunger for a cheeseburger. We settled on Bobby Flay’s sliders with chipotle mayo. We enjoyed these with our second round of Avatar Blue Cosmos.
• Course 2: A Serious Man Matzo Ball Soup - A Serious Man takes place in the Midwest with a Jewish family. Not only were the Matzo Ball’s homemade, but the chicken stock for the soup was even made on the BBQs single-burner. Thank you Ina Garten for the recipes.
• Course 3: Inglorious Bastards Parisian Avocado and Grapefruit Salad - This nominee predominantly takes place in Paris. The female lead enjoys Bubbly (just as we did) with our salad. Ina’s recipe is inspired by one of her favorite bistros in Paris.
• Course 4: District 9 South African Seared Beef Tenderloin with Mango BBQ Sauce - District 9 takes place in South Africa. While food is not a predominate part of this story (besides cat food) we took food inspiration from South Africa, courtesy of the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. Quinn enjoyed this dish, so we recreated this as our main course and enjoyed it with a Southern Hemisphere Shiraz.
• Course 5: Up Sherbet Balloons - we made little shaped balloons from orange, pineapple and lime sherbet. Just as the house in Up was carried away, our desert was a perfect ending to a delicious night.

We normally create a course for each best picture, but with 10 best pictures this year we weren’t quite up to the task. We decided on the six best pictures we viewed prior to the ceremony. Maybe the Oscars will go back to five best pictures soon? It’d be better for the pocketbook and stomach!

Tags: Oscars, TV, Movies