Oscar Party 2012

I know... I know... Long time no see right? Yes. It has been a while. Why you ask? Well.... this, that, the other thing... AKA... LIFE! LIFE is happening. Kids, work, school, housework, dishes, bills, divorce, cleaning, dinner, soccer, t-ball, homework... It takes TIME and leaves me little time or energy for this blog. But I miss it. I miss all of you. But the good news is I have cooked a few times, thrown a few parties and gone out with some good friends! Life is nice...

And so... I had my annual Oscar Party! I really didn't get the best photos. But here it is. The idea was to go all black and white including the food but that was NOT an easy task. The dessert table was pretty easy... Cheesecake with blackberries, Oreo "Cake", popcorn, black and white candy... with a little red too!

The other food was more difficult. I decided on a white bean dip with pita bread and black tortilla chips. But it wasn't that white. I also did my Cream of Leek Soup which you can find here! One of my sisters brought a cheese tray with black olives and purple grapes. The other brought a crisp and fresh cauliflower salad. A friend brought chicken cakes with horseradish dipping sauce. I made simple pomegranate martini's and there was of course plenty of wine!

The other dish I thought would be good was a sort of dirty black rice with creole shrimp! I looked at a few recipes here and there but pretty much just threw stuff together. It was closest to this recipe though. It ended up really pretty good and even better the day after! But hey, with that much butter.... how could it not?

The main ingredients are butter (a lot!), garlic, fresh lemon juice, Worcester sauce and Creole Seasoning. I then served it over the black rice I made! Do give this a try sometime. It really was easy and sooooo delicious! Have some French bread handy to soak up the seasoned butter sauce!

Set up took some time but I was lucky to get to borrow some linens, serving pieces and a few decorations from the Hilton! A friend of mine is an event manager there and was so kind as to help me out for the decor! Thanks Leah! I also found a red carpet at Home Depot and had real movie lights in the front of the house and a few inside to set the mood of the red carpet event!

It is a lot of work to host a part in style but it is so fun! I just love it! Stay tuned for an update on the gourmet group and a food and wine event I will be attending this weekend!

Happy cooking! Merry Entertaining! Cheers!