Date Night In: Best 2012 Oscar-Nominated Films

When you have little ones at home, it's often impossible...if not too expensive (after paying for the babysitter, tickets, overpriced soda & popcorn) to get to the movies with your hubby, partner or paramour. So, most parents opt for renting movies OnDemand or via Netflix instead. I take this as a wonderful opportunity for a romantic date night in! So, put the kiddies to bed, get a bottle of red wine, order in some Thai food or pizza (or make a fabulous meal), get some popcorn, Junior Mints and Twizzlers, and snuggle up to your sweetie! Here are my picks for best 2012 Oscar-nominted films to rent for your next "Date Night In!"

"My Week with Marilyn"
Michelle Williams was absolutely effervescent in her portrayal as the vulnerable and gorgeous icon Marilyn Monroe and was nominated for an Oscar for her performance. I really loved this film, an intimate look at Marilyn behind the scenes while she was filming the "The Prince and The Showgirl" in England with Sir Lawrence Olivier. Her friendship with the young production assistant shows how Marilyn craved having innocent fun and needed to escape her often troubled personal life. It's a good date movie that both men and women would enjoy...it has history, romance...and of course, Marilyn!

"Bridesmaids"
Saturday Night Live actress Kristen Wiig was nominated for an Academy Award for writing the comedy hit "Bridesmaids," and Melissa McCarthy for her role as the sassy and hilarious sister-in-law, and I say, Bravo! If your main squeeze loved "The Hangover: I or II" (or any comedies starring Paul Rudd/Jason Segel/Leslie Mann, et al), this is the perfect comedy to rent on date night! I laughed Out Loud at the theater when I saw it with my girlfriends, and when it came out on cable, my husband (and my in-laws who were in town) rented it one night and we all died laughing. The airplane scene is one of the funniest I've seen in years, not to mention the "bridal salon bathroom debacle" and the Parisisan bridal shower destruction scene. A must-see for a funny date night in!

"Midnight in Paris"
If you love Paris and everything Parisian (like i do!), you'll enjoy Woody Allen's film, nominated for Best Picture and winner of Best Screenplay. It's not a full-out comedy, but more of a dream-like drama, as Owen Wilson, a struggling writer engaged to a rather uptight woman, somehow goes back in time every midnight (suspension of disbelief, folks) to Paris in the Golden Age to rub elbows (and more) with his literary heroes and realizes what he really wants to do with his life. The film takes you back to the Cafe Society of the 1920s to meet those creative geniuses alive during that time, including Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Rent this movie on your next date night. I wouldn't say it's Allen's best film by any stretch, but it's worth renting with your paramour one night while enjoying some wine & cheese, steak frites and creme brûlée.

"The Descendents" - George Clooney & his on-screen daughters play a believable dysfunctional family in this deep, yet depressing film about a mother in a coma who has had an affair and a big decision his character, Matt King, has to make about some historic land his family owns on the island of Kaui. All set against the beautiful backdrop of Hawaii, it's a story of a struggling Dad trying to keep his family together while coming to terms with some seriously heavy issues. Luckily, there is some well-placed comic relief, delivered mostly by his independent and precocious daughters and a funny, stoner-type teenager named Sid. This is wonderful film I enjoyed for the heavier material, realistic humor and good plot twists.

"The Help" - I loved the strength and tenacity of the characters in this "story-within-a-story"about a young  well-to-do writer aiming to expose the truth behind the difficult life on both sides of "The Help" in Jackson, Mississippi's Deep South. It's a very heartfelt and honest film with some perfectly timed comic relief. All of the ladies nominated for Oscars in this inspiring film are excellent...Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer (Oscar Winner for Best Supporting Actress) and Jessica Chastain. This is more of a "chic flick" than a date night film (think, Ladies Book Club), although you might be able to persuade your guy to watch for the infamous Chocolate Pie scene.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
If you read the books, then you know how intensely good Stieg Larsson's "Dragon Tattoo Trilogy" really is. We rented the Swedish-produced trilogy of these thrilling yet terribly disturbing films last year in one weekend (which I highly recommend renting BEFORE seeing the American version). We were drawn in by the intricately-crafted plot lines, intensely troubled and twisted characters, historical references to Nazi Germany and modern day computer-hacking technology. In the American version, newcomer Rooney Mara was nominated for her role as Lisbeth Salander...and her transformation into the film's cyber-punk heroine was remarkable, and she played this tortured role with grace and intensity as she gets revenge against her vicious attacker and helps to solve a decades-old murder mystery alongside Daniel Craig's character, controversial journalist Mikael Bloomkvist. Definitely not a "feel good" movie (to put it lightly!), but a film so good, you have to just gather up the courage to get through the brutal scenes committed against Lisbeth to see it.

Other 2012 Oscar-winning films which I have yet to see, but looking forward to renting once they are available are  "The Artist"- Best Actor, Best Film  and "A Separation" - Best Foreign Language Film.

If you missed any of last year's 2011 Oscar nominees (which had some of the best film made in a long time)...I highly recommend renting all of these ASAP!

2011 Best Picture Nominees:

"Black Swan" 

"The Fighter" 

"Inception"

"The Kids Are All Right"

"The King's Speech" 

"127 Hours" 

"The Social Network" 

"Toy Story 3"

"True Grit" 

"Winter's Bone" 

Recipes: Wolfgang Puck's Oscars Governor's Ball Party Menu!

Oscar Dish: Wolfgang Puck's Truffled Chicken Pot Pie

A Classic Dish With Even More Flavor

Courtesy Wolfgang Puck Catering

Servings:6

Difficulty: Easy

Cook Time: 30-60 min

This recipe uses a classic French chicken veloute scented deliciously with winter black truffles. You may substitute or add to the vegetables we've used below according to your taste, however, please do make sure anything added to the veloute mixture is as dry as possible. A vegetarian version of this can be made by substituting a vegetable or mushroom stock for chicken stock in the veloute recipe and by adding more vegetables in place of the chicken. This recipe is part of Wolfgang Puck's menu for the 2010 Governor's Ball on Oscar night.

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1 quart enriched chicken stock 

1 cup creme fraiche

2 tablespoons black truffle oil

1/4 cup chopped black truffle

1 lemon

Salt (or truffle salt) to taste

White pepper to taste

2 cups cooked pearl onions (red and white)

2 cups cooked baby carrots (yellow and orange, cut into 1/2 " pieces)

2 cups cooked (or defrosted if frozen) green peas

18 slices black truffle

Meat from chicken cooked from enriched chicken stock (not fine shredded)

6 each approximately 10oz. ramekins or 4" wide soup vessel

Puff Pastry, cut into circles that overlap your ramekin or vessel by 1.5"

2 whole eggs +1 egg yolk for egg wash

Cooking Directions

Make a roux by melting the butter in a pot. Once completely melted, whisk in flour. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes while continually whisking. Slowly add enriched stock to roux. Bring veloute up to a boil and then turn heat down to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Veloute should be slightly thick. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Add truffle oil, creme fraiche, and chopped truffle. Whisk thoroughly, season to taste with salt and pepper and juice from lemon. Check for consistency. Make sure its not too thick, loosen with more stock if necessary.

Preheat a "still" or low fan oven to 350 degrees. Make sure veloute and all ingredients are completely cool before you begin. In a wide bowl or a wide pot, combine veloute, vegetables, and chicken and mix well with a rubber spatula. Spoon mixture into ramekins, leaving about 1/2" room from the top. Place 3 slices of shaved truffle on top of mixture in each ramekin. Prepare an egg wash by whisking whole eggs and egg yolks together in a separate bowl. Make sure puff pastry is cool enough to work with. (Leave in the freezer and take out 5 minutes before using). Brush outside edge of ramekins with egg wash about 1" from the top of the rim, all the way around. Cover each ramekin with puff pastry and secure the puff pastry by pressing around the outside of the ramekin. Brush puff pastry with egg wash and bake in the oven until golden brown (usually 20-23 minutes). Glaze again with egg wash halfway through cooking. 

(Source: Good Morning America)


ARTICLE reposted from ABCNews.Go.com

1,450 Pounds of Lobster?: Wolfgang Puck’s Governor’s Ball Menu and Shopping List
ABC News’ Sarah Kunin reports:

Wolfgang Puck, celebrity chef and owner of over 70 restaurants across the country, will be creating the Governor’s Ball Menu for this year’s Oscars  for his 18th consecutive year. Instead of the traditional seated dinner Puck was used to doing, he will prepare over fifty small dishes that will be passed throughout the evening to 1500 guests.  This undertaking required a culinary staff of 350 people along with 950 other staff members.

The Ultimate Movie-Themed Oscar Party Menu
At the event, guests will dine on some of Puck’s old classics like smoked salmon, as well as new dishes like Shanghai lobster with coconut curry.  The wait staff, decked out in four different uniforms, will pour 12,000 glasses and 1,000 bottles of Moët & Chandon Champagne, roughly 200 bottles less than last year’s event.

The design of this year’s ball is more modern than in the past.  750 LED lighting fixtures will catch the light of 1,400 strands of Swarovski crystals and the ceiling will be covered in 21,000 square feet of fabric.  More than 2,000 yards of fabric were used to create 476 pieces of custom-made furniture.
Jonathan Jacobs, aka the “Vintage DJ,” will add to the event’s ambiance by spinning original 78′s, 45′s and 33′s on two Audiotronics Classroom record players.
Click here for full Oscars 2012 coverage.

Governor’s Ball Grocery List
How much food goes into planning such a large event?  Take a sneak peak at the some of the outrageous amounts of food required for such a grand event.
1300 Farmed Oysters
5 kilos of American Farm Raised Caviar
1450 pounds Maine Lobster
7500 Individual US Shrimp
30 gallons Cocktail Sauce
1250 Stone Crab Claws
10 pounds of Black Winter Truffles
20,000 pieces of California Grown Micro Greens
6000 pieces of Mini Brioche Buns
5000 Cage-Free Eggs
200 quarts Heavy Cream and 200 quarts Milk
800 pounds L’Etoile du Nord Bittersweet Chocolate
25 pounds Edible Gold Dust

84th Annual Academy Awards® Governors Ball Menu
Tray-Passed
Smoked Salmon on Oscar® Flatbread with Caviar and Crème Fraiche
Spicy Tuna Tartare in Sesame Miso Cones with Masago
Mini Kobe Cheeseburger with Remoulade and Aged Cheddar
Pork Belly Dumplings with Soy and Ginger
Crab Cakes with Remoulade
Arrancini with Tomato, Basil and Parmesan
Tempura Shrimp with Wasabi Glaze
Vegetable Spring Roll with Sweet Chili Sauce
Assorted Pizzas

Cold Appetizer Platter
Lobster Taco with Tomato and Pickled Shallots
Caprese Skewer with Bufala Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil
Potato Latke with Smoked Sturgeon and Horseradish
House Made Pretzel Bread with Beer Cheddar Fondue and Mustard Aioli
Prosciutto Grissini

Small Plates
Chicken Pot Pie with Shaved Black Truffles and Roasted Vegetables (RECIPE above!)
Fuji Apple Salad with Crumbled Blue Cheese, Arugula, Shaved Red Onion and Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Beet Tortelloni with Goat Cheese and Toasted Hazelnuts
Gold Wrapped Baked Potato with Caviar and Crème Fraiche
Slow Braised Short Rib with Polenta and Romesco
Crab and Lobster Louie with Horseradish Panna Cotta and Marinated Tomatoes
Macaroni & Cheese with Aged Cheddar
Shanghai Lobster with Coconut Curry, Jasmine Rice and Pickled Ginger
Chinois Lamb with Cilantro Mint Vinaigrette
Beet Salad with Pistachio Butter, Burrata and Citrus Balsamic

Seafood and Sushi Buffets
Sushi with Wasabi, Soy and Ginger: Rolls, Nigiri and Sashimi
Shellfish with Mustard and Cocktail Sauce: Prawns, Lobster, Stone Crab and Oysters

Passed Dessert
Almond, Orange-Brown Butter Cake with Blood Orange
Date Cake with Sticky Toffee Pudding and Toffee Orange Sauce
Chocolate in 3D
Golden Candy Apple
Banana Cream Pie with Candied Popcorn
Tart Tatin with Pretzel Pastry and Caramel Gelato
Chocolate Mousse in Golden Egg Cups

Dessert Buffet
Raspberry Rose Eclairs
Strawberry Shortcake Push-Up Pops
Red Hot Macaroons
Star Shortbread with Silver Sugar
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops
Brown Sugar Lemon Meringue Cones
Chocolate Pudding Push-up Pops
Long Stem Strawberries
Chocolate Buffet
Chocolate Fountains with Farmers Market Long Stem Strawberries
Chocolate Paninis
Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Warm Coulent Souffle Cakes
Chocolate Dobos Torte
Earl Grey Tea Truffles
White Chocolate Coconut Rum Truffles
Milk Chocolate Caramel Truffles
Chocolate Dipped Pop Rock Cakes
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Triple Chocolate Toffee Crunch Cookies
Chocolate Coffee Cups
Chocolate Toffee Cups
24 Karat Chocolate Oscars