The Oscars are a special time for us. For me, they mark a long tradition of watching the stars at the Academy Awards. For the two of us, it marks our first visit to Austin 4 years ago. I used to attend Oscar parties on occasion with friends at home, so now Mike and I have our own party with appetizers, cocktails, and the Oscar ballot. This year we saw the majority of the nominated films so we thought we might have a better chance at predicting winners. That ended up not being true, with Mike only getting 7/24 correct and me beating him by 1. Watching the show also gave us movie suggestions for other movies we may want to see.

Our first dish was The Theory of Everything veggie pizza. Its a classic recipe, but a favorite of ours. The ingredients are a package of crescent roll dough, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, cream cheese, 1/2 package of ranch mix, veggies, and cheddar cheese. First, I spread the dough on the pan and pressed the seams together and baked it according to the directions on the package. While it was baking, I mixed together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch dip and chopped up the veggies. I used broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Once the crust cooled, I spread on the ranch mixture and topped it with veggies and cheese. I let it cool further in the fridge while I prepped the rest of our feast.

My next dish was The Grand Budapest Hotel Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes. The bundt cake recipe was a new one for me. As is common for me, I made a few changes to the recipe to make it right for us. My first substitution was on the yogurt. I didn't want to buy a whole container of plain yogurt so I used Greek yogurt instead, which cut out some fat too. The recipe was pretty easy to follow and the consistency seemed fine. I listened to the directions and poured the batter into 5 mini bundt cake portions. They were very full and I probably could have done 6. I also skipped the glaze. Mike didn't care either way and I was running low on time before the red carpet show started. When we actually served them, we added a little bit of chocolate syrup. They were great! I ended up eating a 1/2 because they were so rich. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I highly recommend it.

Mike's contribution to the Oscar feast was Birdman turkey sausage and its a Gouda Boyhood cheese. Mike got a big selection of meats and cheeses for Valentine's Day so he was happy to share those for the feast. This was probably Cecil's favorite part of the feast, too, and he watched Mike cut everything up.

Its not a Texas event without queso, so I served Imitation Game imitation cheese queso. I went simple with this recipe, which is comprised of Velveeta and Rotel tomatoes. I cubed the Velveeta and drained the tomatoes. Then, I mixed them together and microwaved until I got the right consistency. This batch of queso had a little bit of a kick to it, which made us happy.

No Oscar party is complete without cocktails, so this year, I served Whiplash with a splash of orange juice mimosas. I used Cupcake moscato d'asti and Minute Maid kids orange juice. It was a perfect cocktail for a great evening. We enjoyed our feast and the show. I look forward to catching up on the rest of the Oscar movies I missed and can't wait to celebrate again next year!

The New Austonian