Chocolat - Juliette Brioche
*winner of best appetizer!
3 3/4 cup flour
1 cup warm milk
1 tbs. yeast
1 cup sugar
6 tbs. softened butter
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
any kind of fudge
melting chocolate
Beat sugar and eggs together. Dissolve yeast in milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Beat butter flour and salt into egg mixture. Add milk and yeast. Beat until smooth. Let sit for 1 hour. Spoon batter into bottom of mini muffin pans. Place small chunk of fudge in center of batter. Cover fudge with more batter. Bake at 450 for 6 minutes. Remove and let cool. Melt chocolate in double boiler. Dip top of brioche in chocolate and allow to cool.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -
Kung Pow! Spring Rolls
2 small chicken breasts
1/3 C coarsely chopped cashews
1 dried ancho chili removed of all seeds and broken into threads
1-2 tbs. finely minced ginger
2-3 cloves of garlic crushed and minced
2-3 tbs. scallions green part only - chopped
1 tbs. sherry
1 tbs. sesame oil
1 egg yolk
Garlic powder, Onion powder, and White pepper - just a pinch
Boil the chickens in a broth with garlic, and ginger until done - about 10 minutes. Shred the chicken in a food processor and transfer to a medium bowl. First add the scallions and garlic and mix well. Then add Ginger, mix well. Add Chilis - mix, then the cashews - mix again. Add in sesame oil, egg yolk and sherry and mix well, making sure everything looks evenly distributed. Season with the spices and mix. It would be best to let the mixture sit for at least an hour to let the ingredients marry to each other.
Take one eggroll sheet and place it on your workspace. Brush the
wrapper with a water and cornstarch mixture. Place a couple
tablespoons of the chicken mixture on the wrapper as indicated by the directions on the package of the wrappers. Follow the directions on wrapping the rolls, be sure to that your roll is tight and slender, not fat. When done brush the outside of the rolls with the cornstarch wash.
Heat up oil, (preferably peanut oil, but corn oil is also fine.) in wok
until it reaches about 300 degrees. Place 3-4 rolls in at a time
turning them over so that they fry evenly and do not stick to each
other. It should take about a minute or two. Let rolls cools on paper towels to drain off excess oil. Makes 12-14 rolls.
Serve with sweet garlic sauce:
1/2 C rice wine vinegar
2-3 minced cloves Garlic
1 C water
1/2 C dark brown sugar (packed)
3 tablespoons chinese chili paste
1/2 tsp. salt
place all ingredients in a small heavy saucepan. Simmer uncovered over medium heat until the sauce has reduced and thickened to a creamy consistency, 30-35 minutes. Cool to room temp before serving. Will keep up to 2 weeks if refrigerated.
Erin Brokovich - Well Water Punch
1 2 ltr bottle 7 up
1 ltr Ginger Ale
1 container Lime Sherbet
1 lemon sliced.
Vodka to taste.
Gladiator - Speared Swordfish
Swordfish, cut into chunks
carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and other dipping vegetables
Newman's own salad dressing
Sour Cream
Broil swordfish marinated in Caesar dressing. Serve with cold vegetables and Caesar dip: Equal parts Caesar dressing and sour cream.
Traffic - Border Chex
Melt:
1 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp. Tabasco Sauce
2 tsp. Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup butter
Mix until evenly coated:
7 Cups Chex
1 cup Cashews
1/2 bag Goldfish Crackers
3 Cups pretzels
Bake at 250 for 1 hour.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Soggy Bottom Punch
1 bottle of apple juice
Spiced Cider Mix
1 ltr. ginger ale
cinnamon sticks
bay leaves
Combine ingredients in a sauce pot. Heat until warm.
Cast Away - Island Crab Dip
1 8 oz cream cheese 2 tsp. Nance's sharp and creamy mustard
1 can crab meat 1 tsp. powdered sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise a dash seasoned salt
1 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. white wine
garlic & onion powder 1/3 cup havarti cheese
2/3 cup velveeta parsley
Mix together and heat until cheeses are melted.
Serve warm with Pitta Wedges:
Pitta Bread
Parmesan Cheese
1 stick butter
2 tbs. heavy cream
1/2 package McCormick Pasta Rosa sauce mix
Cut the pitta bread around the edges so you have two discs. In a bowl combine butter, cream and the sauce mix and beat well. Spread the mix evenly over each disc and then top with parmesan. Cut the discs into wedges and then arrange on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for twelve minutes or until wedges look crisp. Repeat process until you use up spread or you have enough wedges to suit you.
Almost Famous - Fever Dogs
2 pkgs. crescent rolls
Pepper jack cheese
Little Smokies Sausages
Cut crescent triangles in half. Place a slice of cheese, one smokie, and some tabasco sauce on top. Fold up dough, sealing all cracks. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Notables:
The Golden Destiny: Crouching Tiger gets most nominations ever for a foreign film.
Double your pleasure: Soderbergh is the first director to get two nominations in one year in over 60 years - and he actually wins for Traffic!
Running gag: Luck! Sean- in his fondness for a name with the words "Gay" and "Hard" manages to be the only person to pick Marcia Gay Harden as Best Supporting Actress. Jami picks ALL the small categories right (Live Action Short, Animated Short, Documentary Short, and Feature Documentary) - although she still loses. Unfortunately, Bill O'Connor's luck is still not with him. Despite overwhelming odds, "Long Night's journey into Day proved not to be about a blind man who regains his sight. Who would've thought?
Best Acceptance Speech: With out a doubt, even if you can't stand Julia Roberts, you had to be smiling through her goofy, endearing acceptance speech.
Best Moment: Especially after seeing how pissy Russell Crowe took jokes made at his expense, it was adorable to see Tom Hanks' well-timed and underplayed reaction to Steve Martin's suggestion that he was behind the Crowe kidnapping attempt.
Since when? Gladiator manages to "win" best picture despite its failure to win either a director or screenplay award. Traffic, which won 4 out of it's 5 nominations - including Director and Screenplay - goes home without Picture.
And we on the East Coast Thank you: Thanks possibly to the promise of a new HDTV (ooh!) and Steve Martin's quick and classy hosting, the awards end in just under 3 1/2 hours - 45 minutes shorter than last year!
The Pool:
Stacey - 16!!!!!
Gianna - 15
Jami - 14
John, Erik & Adrianne - 12
Sean, Tracy, Marc - 11
Ed, Jason - 10
Susan, Clara, Dave, Bill, Andrew - 9
Scott & Yon Hui, Anne, Carol - 8
Vauna, Barbara, Gabe - 7
Jason - 6
Bruce, Dorman - 5
Claudette - 3
