Oscar Party Preparation

So the oscars are on this Sunday and we have decided to have an impromptu get-together to watch, eat, drink and all that. Firstly, how sad are the oscars this year? I've watched all 10 of the films up for Best Picture and although I really liked "An Education", "UP" and "Inglourious Basterds" nothing seems best picture-worthy this year. AVATAR??? Come on!

Anyway, now to my second and most important point. What am I going to make? I bought an insane amount of steak last weekend, because it was on sale... when I see that big yellow sign in the grocery store I just can't resist. We had huge steaks and then the next day still had more... so I decided to make steak and mushroom pie. Well, that idea went out the window when we got a call from one of my fave people to come and watch the Olympic hockey match. I don't watch Hockey, but it was a fantastic experience... the yelling, the patriotism, the beer and high-fat foods (yum). Then when we won there were hoards of people on the streets screaming, yelling, blocking traffic... Yonge and Eglinton was insane! People were jumping on cars... fortunately not mine because we were stuck in traffic so long we decided to get onto side streets. Needless to say, I did not make steak and mushroom pie. Just more steak and now I have leftover beef broth that I MUST use this weekend so it doesn't go to waste.

I want to make something easy, delicious and it must go with wine. I'll take any opportunity to do a good wine pairing. I'm thinking of making flatbread pizza type things. No, I'm not going to make the flatbread from scratch. I'll probably be hungover from a Saturday night birthday event and of course amazing Efterklang show! So I'll buy some of those delicious flatbreads and several types of cheese. I also have apples that need using, so I'll add those into the mix. Here's what I'm thinking:

Wine:
Pierre Sparr - Alcace
- I have yet to buy this so I'm not sure which one. I have tried the Gewurztraminer and it is phenomenal!
Chateau Des Charmes - Chardonnay
- never tried it but it is supposed to be a great Canadian winemaker

I also have a few reds so I'm not sure which I will open.

Flatbread Pizzas:

Apple, cheddar and carmalized onions - maybe a bit of bacon too

Potato, bacon, cheddar and onion

braised beef, gorgonzola (or maybe a fantastic blue haze or this other smokey blue I tried last weekend), caramalized onions, provalone and mushrooms - I'm going to make a gravy (with the beef broth) that we can dip this into. This will sort of be like a deconstructed roast beef dip sandwich.

I'll come back to you with the actual wines, actual recipes and how this all goes over. Wish me luck!

I really hope I win my Oscar pool... doubtful though. I do also hope Christoph Waltz wins, he was amazing in IB. Also, FANTASTIC MR. FOX deserves something, it was such a beautiful film and Roald Dahl is amazing. Anyway, all this for another post.

HAPPY OSCAR WEEKEND!