"And the Oscar Goes to"

So much excitement and anticipation in those five words! I LOVE it!! We paid tribute to our favorite hobby tonight and I thought I would provide you with pictures! To honor the 10 Best Picture Nominations:

1. Appletini's from The Social Network.
We started the afternoon watching the Before the Red Carpet on E! and then the Red Carpet Coverage on E! and then switched over to the Red Carpet on ABC. I love all the pretty gowns. My favorites: Anne Hathaway, Hailee Steinfeld, Reese Witherspoon, Hillary Swank, and Sandra Bullock. Some of my least favorites: Annette Benning, Cate Blanchet, Christian Bales (let's all hope that beard is for an upcoming role!), Marisa Tomei, and I hate to even think it but Nicole Kidman (I really did not like the dress).

2. Venison Stew from The Winter's Bone.

I grew up eating venison but I have not had it in years. I would really like to thank my friends, the Honeysuckles because they are the ones that provided us with the deer meat for this main dish. It was very yummy!

3. Cheesy Baked Grits from True Grit.
My father loved westerns and watched them all the time! So, it should shock everyone that I had never seen the original True Grit. But I loved the Cohen Brother's version of it.
These Cheesy Baked Grits were so yummy!

4. Salad from The Kids Are All Right.
Seems so simple. Yet the entire time I was watching the movie I wanted to eat the veggies they were showing in the movie.

5. Boston Baked Beans from The Fighter.
I was planning to make baked beans for this category although they really did not go well with my menu. Funny story, at breakfast this morning I asked my extended family if anyone knew the difference between Boston Baked Beans and my baked beans. My Mother In Law said, yeah Boston Baked Beans were candy coated. Funny enough that I had forgotten about these little candy coated peanuts of my childhood. Finding them was a completely different story. I had to go to 5 different stores before I found any Boston Baked Beans.

6. Cake from The Black Swan
Remember the pretty ballerina cake that got thrown away in the movie? Well, there shall be NO cake throwing away in this house! The Short Chic thought the cake was a birthday cake for her, she ran around all day singing "Happy Birthday To Me".

7. Rock Candy from 127 Hours.
Such pretty candy for a movie that made my bones hurt.

8 and 9. Tea from The King's Speech and Inception.
They sure drank a lot of tea in The King's Speech. And can I tell you how happy I am that it won best picture!!! The Academy really does LOVE movies about the Royal Family. But the tea also covered the small scene in the outside cafe in Inception. (by the way, I did re-watch Inception today and still am not sure if I am smart enough to understand it. Don't worry, I felt that way about the whole Matrix series as well.)

and FINALLY, 10. Cool paper products from Toy Story 3.
I honestly had no clue what food to pull from this one. So I opted for a tablecloth, plates, and cups. It added some humor to our night!

Overall impression of the 2011 Oscars....Normally the Best Picture Movie walks away with a lot of other awards, acting and technical. But this year, I felt the winners were all over the place. I think the Academy had a hard time between The Social Network and the King's Speech. I also think when Host James Franco said that picking the shorts was hard, he was absolutely CORRECT. I correctly guessed 16/24. Tracy correctly guessed 18/24. We ended this movie season, happy. We had good food, good drinks, and good friendship.

Tomorrow starts a new movie year. Happy Watching!

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i...

Tour of Missouri: Montauk State Park and The Ozark National Scenic Riverway

August has become our summer vacation month. Summer activities have usually wound down and we like to get one last hooray in before school starts. This summer we decided to travel our own state and visit a few places we have been dreaming of visiting but were a little too far for a weekend road trip. Despite last minute vacation glitches we managed to pull out of Kansas City around 9:00 in the morning headed to Montauk State Park just outside of Licking, Missouri. Montauk State Park is one of three state parks where you can trout fish in Missouri. We are frequent visitors of Bennett Springs State Park but not Montauk, just because of the travel distance from our house. (Bennett Springs is about 3 hours and Montauk is double that.) Setting up and settling in was relatively easy. We took a tour of the park and hiked around exploring the spring that feeds into the river. The Park stocks this river each night with trout. The fishermen like this river be...

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget. Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world. In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things. What is it? Well, it is a German food that is...

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