The countdown to the Academy Awards has begun at my house.
I’m frantically trying to fit in more viewings of Oscar nominated films before the big night. I have Turner Classic Movies on nonstop. I’m planning my menu.
Oscar and I go way back.
Oscar night is a holiday as far as I’m concerned. For years, my loved ones knew that I was unavailable on Oscar Sunday. Talk to me Monday.
My first movie memory was watching Dorothy and Toto find their way through Oz. I was mesmerized. I planted myself in front of the TV and was glued to the spot while I met Dorothy, Auntie Em, and Professor Marvel. Once Almira Gulch was introduced, I backed up a little from the TV. I thought Glinda the Good Witch was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Then, the Wicked Witch of the West appeared and I scooted back more. By the time, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion dressed up as guards, I was across the room and sitting underneath my mom’s rocking chair.
When Dorothy woke up back in Kansas, I was a goner. Movies became my life.
Forget Sesame Street, when I was a kid, I knew about PBS because Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert hosted their movie review show on that channel. I had a steady diet of their back and forth, thumbs up and down for years. That fed my movie geek heart and soul. Each year, I would anxiously await the hour-long special where they gussied themselves up and in black tie and stood behind podiums to announce their own Oscar picks.
I went to college in southeast Ohio. When I moved into my dorm, I had my 12” TV with me. When I plugged it in and discovered there was no reception, I wanted to pack up everything and head home. I kept it and my VCR and Mom and Dad would tape shows for me and send me care packages. It’s the only way I survived that first year.
We had a mini fridge. And a hot air popcorn popper. The dorms had one room that was a lounge with one television for the entire building. Someone was always watching that TV. Girls watched soap operas. Boys watched Star Trek. On Oscar night, I would camp out in the TV room around 4PM and "save" the TV for Oscar night.
In my thirties, I started to watch the televised red carpet with my fashionable and witty friend, Sarika. We still do that to this day via texts all night long, both admiring and snarky.
I took this red carpet photo myself when I was in Cannes!
One of my favorite Oscar memories is when G and I attended an Oscar Showcase Day at AMC Theaters where we watched the best picture nominees from 2009: Slumdog Millionaire; Frost/Nixon; The Reader; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Milk. I was in heaven. That was the last year the Academy chose only five nominees so we could watch all the films in one glorious day.
In Naples, Florida, the closest participating theater is an hour and a half away. I am bummed but I think G is secretly relieved.
We have a routine. G picks up the bubbly. I'm in charge of snacks.
Sometimes I try to tailor it to the best picture nominees. For instance, in 2012, I made gougères for The Artist, bacon wrapped pineapple for The Descendants, and a salty homemade peanut snack mix for Moneyball. However, I can tell you that last year I did not make licorice pizza.
Popcorn always makes the menu.
This year’s nominees for best picture are:
All Quiet on the Western Front
Everything Everywhere All At Once
I’ll be serving little potato pancakes, everything bagel chips with crab dip, and some Memphis barbecue. If I need some help to stay awake for the hours-long ceremony, I’ll ask G to make some Irish coffee.
Let me know if you’ve seen any of the films this year!
I care about you. Please don’t forget to eat your greens.
***Written to the movie music of Lalo Schifrin.
What a fun read, Kim! Thanks for sharing your love of movies, food, and ceremony with us! I absolutely love that you tailor the menu to the movies - so perfect. I maytake a page from your movie traditions and make "special" foods and drink. Movies are magical and I love to be swept away, but the most die-hard movie fan - and critic - in our house is my oldest son. Your list makes me realize I have some movies to watch before the big night!
I loved hearing about how you parents sent you care packages that included tapes! Now that's dedication...and so much fun! I always used to get excited around Oscar time...I LOVE movies. I was the one who would ask the movie theaters or video shops if I could have their cardboard displays, which is how I ended up with Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon propped up in my room for several years. ;)