The annual Academy Awards, that favorite evening of mine, took place last Sunday (well, technically, last Sunday plus a few days), and I can think of no better way to hopefully end yet another blogging drought. You should know that I first typed "draught" and had to change it. Either I'm thinking too much about adult beverages or my "mommy" brain has struck again.
While the planning and execution of Academy Awards celebrations has become significantly more challenging since the birth of my little sweetheart, and the actual time I spend watching the awards is pitifully short, I still eagerly anticipate them. This year was no different than the four years preceding-I devised an Academy Awards menu and put together costumes for our little family. My extended family here is incredibly decent and supportive of my awards show love, and they all take part as well. Perhaps some day, long into the future, I might actually be on top of things enough to have a proper party, where friends are invited too, but for now I am content with our more intimate family gatherings.
Without further adieu, I am going to include a little list here of the things I enjoyed about this year's party and show. As I and many other bloggers before me have ruminated, a blog is something of a scrapbook-it will be fun to look back and remember the highlights.
best Oscar fashion: Guys, I can sum up the fashion of the year in two words: boring and safe. The red carpet was a bummer. These were my three favorite looks of the night, and while Lupita truly looked spectacular, the gowns on both Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett, while beautiful, were not what I wanted to see.
best Oscar moments:
Pharrell Williams' performance of "Happy"-Of course I watched this and had to download the song and play it approximately 1 million times.
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the acceptance speeches of both supporting actors, Lupita Nyong'o and Jared Leto-I was pleasantly surprised by Jared Leto's speech, because I had expected it to be either patronizing or weird. And of course Lupita was touching and charming all at once.
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and of course, the most popular selfie of all time (at the time of this posting):
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I was able to watch the full show during the week after it aired (my toddler, still recovering from an ear infection, wasn't too keen on the Oscars), so I can attest to it being a good one. Ellen is a great choice for a host, not too controversial or vain and definitely funny.
Oscar films-inspired party menu:
pizza (Her)
moon-shaped rosemary and gruyere crackers (Gravity)
Irish soda bread (Philomena)
Texas sheet cake (Dallas Buyers Club)
blackberry cobbler with drop cream biscuits (12 Years a Slave)
beer (Nebraska)
champagne (Wolf of Wall Street)
Sadly, we didn't get in a good representative dish for American Hustle or Captain Phillips. The crackers were a Smitten Kitchen recipe and were unsurprisingly delicious. Both desserts were wonderful, and I will be making them again (Homesick Texan and Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen, respectively). If I had had all the time in the world and perhaps a baby-sitter on the eve of the show, I would definitely have found out a way to incorporate lobster in the menu (inspired by Wolf of Wall Street).
costumes:
me: Philomena. Literally.
SH: Theodore (Her). Complete with a mustache.
A: outfitted in a long-sleeved t-shirt emblazoned with a Maersk logo (Captain Phillips).
mother and father-in-law: completely decked out in American Hustle-inspired costumes. As usual, they looked the best.
sister-in-law: Magdalene girl, inspired by Philomena. And so appropriate, since she will be giving birth any day now.
brother-in-law: Jordan Belfort (Wolf of Wall Street). Striped suit, striped shirt. He looked the part.
BFF Rose: Kate Grant (June Squibb's character in Nebraska).
personal favorite of all the movies this year: I should say Philomena, and I DID love it. But I'm embarrassed to admit that it was The Wolf of Wall Street. Don't judge me!
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