Glitz, glamour, and polenta.

Well…it’s really just another excuse to have a theme party.

{Have I told you how much I LOVE theme parties?}

To be honest, I don’t care much for the actual awards. I usually haven’t seen most of the movies who are up, so who am I to judge? I’m much more concerned with the red carpet. Who’s wearing what, best-dressed, worst-dressed, I love it all. This year, my best-dressed vote goes to SJP in Chanel Haute Couture. Yes, a lot of people are hating on it, but I think it’s absolutely stunning. As much as I love all the ruffles and architectural details going on right now – this dress was different, and I found it to be a refreshing change. Also loved Cameron Diaz (as always), and Sandra Bullock looked F-A-B as well. On another note – did anyone notice the strange hair trend going on Sunday night? Yes, messy can be sexy, but some of the looks last night were just plain nest-like. Not a fan!

Since all the fun is really before the awards even begin, we started the festivities at 6pm. This gave us plenty of time to *eat, drink, and be merry* before the pre-show began.

I wanted to create a menu of appetizers that struck a balance between fun and elegant. Some of them were just tried-and-true recipes that popped into my head (the pigs in a blanket, roasted shrimp cocktail), and for the others I was mostly inspired by Oscar party ideas I found on Food Network, Epicurious, etc. A specialty cocktail for the evening was clearly also in order, and after deliberation between “ava-tinis” and “oscar-tinis,” the latter won, as I decided it worked better with the champagne topper – a necessary component. What would the Oscars be without some bubby?

The Menu:

Oscar-tinis

Oscar-tinis = a happy crowd. I didn’t use a recipe here, I just came up with an idea and eyeballed it. I used a pitcher to make life easier (yes, a cocktail shaker makes better drinks, but when you’re serving a crowd it’s so much easier to make big batches).

• 3 parts vodka
• 1 part pomegranate juice
• Splash of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (or Cointreau if you have on hand)
• Champagne
• Sugar

Mix all the ingredients in a pitcher with plenty of ice. Pour some sugar onto a small plate. Take a cut lemon and rub it along the rim of the glass (this makes the sugar stick). Then flip the glass and press it into the sugar. Pour the mixture from the pitcher into your glass, leaving a bit of room to top with champagne.

Popcorn with Candied Bacon

This popcorn was the easiest thing I made, and it may have been the most popular. Earlier in the day, make the candied bacon. Set your oven to 400 degrees and place 12-16 slices of bacon (or however many fit) on a rack in a baking pan. Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar (you can also use maple syrup) and bake for 12-15 minutes. That way later you can just pop up a couple bags of popcorn and add the chopped up bacon to it, along with salt and smoked paprika.

Pigs in a Blanket with 3 Dipping Sauces

These are just a classic and I will find any excuse to make them. Do yourself a favor and buy them frozen. They are just as good that way, and will save you time. I made mine using Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Hebrew’s National Cocktail Wieners. These little dogs were pretty tiny, so they sort of made mini pigs in a blanket. The rolls come 8 in a package, so do your math accordingly. Since my dogs were so small, I was able to cut each piece into about  little triangles to roll them up into. I bought 2 packages of the dogs with 30 in each, so a total of 60, and I used a little over 2 packages of the rolls to have enough. They are simple to make; you just roll each little dog into a piece of the dough, wrap it up, and place it on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (directions come on the package for the Crescent Rolls).

The key here is the dipping sauces. I used honey mustard (if you don’t have you can make your own with honey and whole grain mustard), barbeque ranch (just bbq sauce mixed with ranch dressing), and I also made a cheese sauce. I made the cheese sauce similar to this recipe, and also added some beer in.

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail with Homemade Cocktail Sauce

Here is a classic with a different twist. Everyone loves shrimp cocktail, and this recipe from Ina just makes it even more special. I didn’t even end up making this on Sunday night; everyone who came brought something so we ended up with plenty of food. I just made it the following night and Daniel and I ate it for dinner, along with a green salad drizzled in lemon juice and olive oil, and a few leftover pieces of polenta.

Pan-Fried Rosemary Polenta Cakes

Another amazing recipe from Ina. I saw this as I was watching Barefoot Contessa the other day, and I thought it would be perfect for this party. It was. Everyone LOVED it, asked for seconds, and it’s also a great trick to have in your back pocket for vegetarians. (Note: I did have a heavy hand when adding the rosemary and the crushed red pepper, which kicked it up a notch.)

“Red Carpet” Cupcakes

I have made different variations of red velvet before (layer cake, whoopie pies), but I think this was my first time doing cupcakes. This recipe on Epicurious actually comes from Magnolia Bakery in NYC. The cupcakes were A-MAZING. A lot of people associate red velvet with cream cheese frosting, and that is what I have always done in the past. But traditionally, they say you use a white cooked icing with red velvet cake. Yes, you actually cook flour in milk for a while and then let it cool to room temperature before whipping it with the butter and sugar. The end result is a brighter, creamier, and fluffier frosting than I had ever dreamed of. A little messy to work with but worth it. The key is that you can’t refrigerate the cupcakes afterwards or the icing will harden. I then went on to add a little gold star (with a yellow icing pen, no time for the real thing) on each of the cupcakes to truly make them red-carpet worthy, just like they do every year at Sprinkles.

What do you think, lovelies? Will you give it a try next year?