And the Academy Award goes to...

open-faced ravioli

Andrew of Scaramouche,
inspecting soup vessels

...the amazing food Drew and I had the extreme pleasure of eating last night!  We were invited this year to an annual Oscar party, and this was our first time attending.  The party was catered by the chef of Toronto's very famous Scaramouche.  Guests were invited to dress like characters from their favourite movies, though this was not a requirement, and wine was poured liberally.  All in all, this was a great night.

root vegetable truffle soup

On the menu, we had ricotta-filled cheese puffs, followed by open-faced ravioli (whoa).  This was followed in turn by a foamy delicious root vegetable and truffle soup (ahmagah).  The main course was a melt-in-your-mouth piece of tenderloin in an incredible gravy reduction with creamy mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables.  The dessert was a layered fleur de sel caramel and chocolate pudding in a martini glass with whipped mascarpone and honeycomb on top.  Are you drooling yet?

Of the wines we were drinking, one was this little beauty.  A tasty and friendly little Rhone wine, this wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, and other grapes. I am a fan of Southern Rhone blends, and this is no exception; muscular enough to get along with most food dishes (including the succulent tenderloin we had), but accessible enough that you don't need to be a wine connoisseur to get into it.  I find this is true of most Rhone blends, but certainly not all.  This bottle also comes in under $20, which makes it a great party wine if you're hosting.

We couldn't stay to the very end of the show, and with all the people and food in the room we really only caught a fraction of it anyway, but I hear that Jennifer Lawrence was graceful and funny after she fell on her way to get her 40 lb statue (no, really. Oscars are apparently super heavy), and Daniel Day Lewis was the unsurprising winner of the Best Actor category.  I haven't seen Lincoln, but it is apparently good if you like long, talk-heavy, political films.  I might be more into it if they did a Lincoln musical, or if the leading actor looked like this:

Lincoln enjoys root-truffle soup, pre-award.