Foodbuzz 24x24: A Tribute to the Best Picture Oscar Nominees of 2012!

I was so excited when I received the email from Foodbuzz that my 24x24 proposal had been accepted this month!  Planning a menu and party around a theme is always fun, and I had a blast with this concept.

For those of you not familiar with 24x24, it's a virtual party sponsored by Foodbuzz each month, where 24 bloggers' proposals are chosen to be executed in the same day.  Since the assigned party date was the day before the Academy Awards, I thought it would be fun to come up with an event based on it.  Then I thought, why not devote one dish to each movie nominated for Best Picture?  Awesome.  Except, I hadn't seen any of the movies...

Frank and I have never been big movie goers...and now our trips to the theater are to see whatever Disney film is playing.  But, we love watching movies at home, and I LOVE watching the Oscars...especially the Red Carpet portion :)  So, I did a little research on each film and came up with rough ideas for each of them, finalized the menu, went shopping, and got to work.

My family got together and enjoyed the feast (like we do most weekends anyway!) while listening to tunes from our favorite movie soundtracks.  The dishes were mostly of the picky/finger food variety, which was what I wanted, since there were 9 of them.  I wanted everyone to enjoy a little portion of each.

All of the recipes will be featured in the next few weeks, but the dishes were as follows (alphabetized by movie title):

For "The Artist" - Crostini with Goat Cheese and Olive Tapenade.  I went with something black and white since, well, that's what the movie is :)

For "The Descendants" - Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream.  It brought us right back to Hawaii.

For "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" - Juice Box Wings, based on the juice boxes that Thomas Horn's character is seen drinking throughout the movie.

For "The Help" - Chocolate Pie.  If you read the book or saw the movie, you definitely know why this dish was a no-brainer.

For "Hugo" - Herb Mushroom Quiche with Puff Pastry, shaped as hearts to match the key ring that is significant in the film.

For "Midnight in Paris" - Mini Croques Monsieur.  When in Paris...

For "Moneyball" - Salty Sweet Candied Peanuts.  A fun spin on ballpark food!

For "The Tree of Life" - Death By Chili.  I thought a comfort food dish was fitting based on the movie, and made an extra batch of my chili that won FOUR awards at a competition I was in the week before the party!  Much more to come on this...

And finally, for "War Horse" - Raw Kale Salad with Walnuts, Pecorino & Lemon, a farm to table dish which is appropriate for this movie's theme.

We had a great time - it really was a lot of fun!  I can't wait to share all of the recipes with you.  Enjoy the Oscars!