Oscars 2011--menu ideas?

[jfreemanslade]

It's Oscars time again, and I'm making dishes to correspond to the Best Picture Nominees--help me fill in the gaps! (This is a party being held at a bar, so I don't need any cocktail ideas, and while the menu doesn't have to be vegetarian, we've got a handful of vegetarians coming...)

Inception--3-layer cake (of roasted vegetables and mozzarella cheese)
True Grit -- cheesy grits with LaBoeuf (that's "La Beef") jerky
The Fighter -- crack pie

The King's Speech -- ?
Toy Story 3 -- thinking Tater Tots, or possibly something with tortillas (for Mr. Potato Head's great iconic scene)
The Social Network -- ?
Winter's Bone -- ?
The Kids Are All Right -- ?
127 Hours -- ?
Black Swan -- thinking of something that plays with poultry or eggs, and includes a black ingredient (ideally no food coloring)

[HillJ]

http://littleivycakes.blogspot.com/20...
I love this cupcake idea.

[roxlet]

The Gawker website had some interesting ideas:

http://gawker.com/#!5767404/your-ulti...

[steelykal]

We've been doing this party for close to 10 years and we try our best to come up with food and drink that's actually IN the movie. All attendees have seen all 10 movies and we're stuck.

This is the plan so far:

Drinks:
Social Network - Heineken (? - some people thought it was Amstel Light Zuckerman imbibed)
Black Swan - Champagne
127 Hours - Gatorade (ceremoniously untouched)
Red Wine - The Kids Are Alright

Food:
Toy Story 3 - Cheese Quesadillas. OK, There's not a quesadilla in it, but the short scene with Mr. Potato Head as the tortilla cracked me up.
127 Hours - Cold Chicken, bean & cheese burrito
The Kids Are Alright - Organic strawberry salad. I don't remember this meal, but someone coming to the party remembers this. Any help? While heirloom tomato salad would rock, it's not practical right now.
True Grit - Campfire beans
Winter's Bone - Venison Stew
Cake - The Fighter AND Black Swan
King's Speech - Shepherd's Pie. I took liberty with this. I think the mush Logue's Family was eating in one scene was most likely this dish. Besides, I really like it and never get to eat this guilty pleasure.

So I have a food and/or drink for everything except for Inception. Help!

In years past, we've had theme food like you've all listed (the most politically incorrect was chili dogs for Brokeback Mountain, I'm embarrassed to say) and since I host every year I think we should go back to that. And since there was so much drink and drugs in the top 10 this year, we may need to rethink our plan. Thoughts?

[Jannae]

For Inception, if you think back to the cafe scene, they are sitting at an outdoor table with what appears to be coffe and some kind of a square cookie or biscuit. Or, you could have finger bowls with ice water in them for guests to use between courses.

[chef chicklet]

For some reason a rich cheese fondue comes to mind for the Social Network, mainly its a very interactive way to eat. But cheese fondue can be dressed up with beer and theres an oxymoron here. The basically good idea of the social network serving up food that pretty much is stabbed and dunked. Sort of how Mark Z handled his Brazillian bestfriend and the twins.

[snowcroft]

I appreciate having items that are actually IN the movie, and I do some of that, did more of it in the beginning. But the more we strayed from that and focused on cleverly named items, the more fun we seemed to have. I tend to keep the menu a bit hush-hush until the party, then everyone has great fun laughing at the table before watching the show. Just livens things up a bit, imho.

[steelykal]

Love that!

[snowcroft]

Here's my menu. We are vegetarian, so a little more challenging. I've been throwing this party ever year since 1996 I believe.

The King's Speech: f**king cucumber sandwiches, the Kings Peach Cobbler, bloody whiskey

Social Network: Open faced veg sandwiches, beer, appletinis, red vines

Toy story 3: tortilla chips/salsa

Black swan: Black(berry) flan

True grit: True Grits, cornbread

Winters bone: Deer (beer) stew

Inception: vegetarian turducken: (using mock meats from May Wah in NYC) citrus spare rib inside chicken leg inside tofu skin - with rice. 

Kids are all right: red wine, heirloom tomatoes in organic salad

127 hours: bone shaped cookies, trailmix, Mt dew

The Fighter: Punch

Colin Firth: Stammering Berties (nut cookie)

Hailey Stanton: balls
(key lime pie "cheese" ball formed into a pair)

Illusionist: disappearing snackage

Animal kingdom: nuts

Harry potter: cheesy wands (cheesesticks)

Salt: salt
 

[jfreemanslade]

Here's what we've come up with since you all started providing your ideas...

Black Swan: deviled eggs (with black yolks--we're thinking we'll dye the yolks black, but spice them up so they're a very strong flavor contrast to the whites)

Toy Story 3: Pumpkin Tortilla Soup (for Mr. Potato Head's great

The Kids are All Right: heirloom tomato salad (Annette Bening's character says, "If I hear one more person say how much they love heirloom tomatoes, I'm going to punch them right in the face." So we'll call it "lesbian punch in the face tomato salad.")

127 Hours: GORP cookies (maybe with Ice Cream, aka "I Scream When I Cut My Own Arm Off")

Inception--3-layer vegetable terrine

True Grit -- cheesy grits fritters

The Fighter -- crack pie

The King's Speech -- Bubble & Squeak (aka "Babble and Can't Speak")

THE ONES WE'RE STILL STUCK ON:
Winter's Bone: I've got an adapted recipe for poke sallet (a salad made from wild, poisonous leaves in the Ozarks), but it's not my favorite option...what else can we do? I'd like to avoid bone marrow or heavy meat options if I can...

The Social Network: we're thinking skewered shrimp (for the way Zuckerberg skewers everyone he meets) with a mango-apple (for the appletinis) salsa

[sparkareno]

Since you don't want the heavy lamb shank for Winter's Bone--how about those little chicken drummettes? The bone is kind of a handle. Or baby lamb chops with the bones frenched.

[Emme]

for social network

salted red bull granita?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victori...

chocolate billionaire cookies

social pizzas? let everyone help decorate/top them...

for winter's bone...
ham bone split pea soup?

[SuhZee T]

Okay kids, I've been doing this sort of party since Daniel Day Lewis was in My Left Foot. We plan for weeks to connect a recipe to a movie. One of our best was Lord of the Onion Rings--The Two Towers. With 10 Best Picture Nominees it becomes a real challenge to get them all covered.

Heres our list for this year:

Black Swan--Black and white swan shaped sugar cookies
Social Network--Mark Zuckerburger Sliders
127 Hours--Arm Wrestle Bread
The Fighter--Irish Micky Stew (with Guinness and red wine)
Winter's Bone--Bones of the Dead Cookies (Ossi dei Morti)
The Kids are All Right--Papa's Egg Rolls
The King's Speech--The King's Peach Pie
Toy Story--Mr. Potato Head Tortilla and Salsa
True Grit--Cheese Grits
Inception--Kinda hard to explain but it's an almond inside some coconut inside some chocolate. Like an Almond Joy but homemade.

[lulou23]

Love the swan cookies ideas, how about these with swan cookie cutters -

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Su...

[mdo]

Those are great! Here's my menu for the top 10 Best picture nominees (so far):

Blackened Swan skewers
True (cheesy fried) Grits
Winter's Bones (ribs)
Toy Story 3-colored pasta salad
127 Hours trail mix

The King's Peach Cobbler
Ice Cream Social Network

Fighter Punch (although I do love the idea of crack pie!)

Inception - either some sort of cloudy cocktail, maybe with absinthe or dry ice? or I saw someone else had "Insouption". Cute.

Kids Are All right -??? somehow I may work eggs into it. Since I love devilled eggs!

And of course...Popcorn!

[twodales]

Peach cobbler?

[EM23]

How about the Halloween standby Frozen Hand Punch for the Winter's Bone?

[sparkareno]

for 127 hours--something with BLOOD oranges or something with a big bone like lamb shanks.
Black Swan--cornish hens with soy sauce or balsamic glaze

[greygarious]

Ice Cream Social Network

[LindaWhit]

Well played. :-D

[LindaWhit]

For Winter's Bone - Ribs
For 127 Hours - something slow cooked - meatballs in sauce?
For The Kids Are All Right - something with goat?
For The Social Network - Chex Mix (you always see it at social parties, right?)
For The King's Speech - Tea Sandwiches (they are rather British!) Or Scones with Clotted Cream

[PamelaD]

Winter's Bone -- venison stew
127 Hours -- trail mix
Black Swan -- deviled eggs with black caviar on top

[greygarious]

For Black Swan, chicken wings or turkey wings with a dark glaze, like hoisin-based, since the dancer's arms morph into wings by the end of the film.

For Winter's Bone, wings would also do, or lamb shanks, osso buco, or roast marrow bones.

For the Kids are All Right, goat curry?

For 127 Hours, one of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipes, since those proof for days in the fridge.

For The Social Network, do they still sell Social Tea cookies in the supermarket? They are/were a very plain, not-very-sweet rectangular cookie made, I think, by Nabisco. Tasted like Animal Crackers.