Oscar Night

Movies... My Mother loved movies. I think some of her happiest moments were in a dark theater with a big bag of popcorn and a Pepsi. She and I would often go to lunch and a movie when I was home from college and always had a great time. We joked until she passed about going to the Carebear movie together. She fell asleep after about 1 minute.

With this love of movies she was a big fan of the Oscars. We would all get together or call each other all night debating who should have won and who had a terrible dress. Then in 2000 we decided to start a family contest. We got serious about this and have this trophy.



It travels and reads that the winner must have seen and understood a majority of the movies. (This is for Bill but now he is the only one who sees all the movies) Mom however was too honest and would vote for what she thought was the best picture and not what she thought would win. Therefore, the family favorites trophy was created. You could vote your heart and there is a separate trophy. The last year that we played Mom won the family favorites and was so happy. The trophy now resides in AZ and hopefully that is where it will remain.

The contest was renewed for this year's Oscars and Canon won the family trophy after not having seen a single movie and Jorie won the favorites.

In honor of Oscar night I am giving the recipe for one of my favorite dishes of Mom's. She would make this all the time when I came home.

Chicken/Veal Scaloppini Beausejour (4)

Another one of Colin's favorites. Can also be done with chicken. Slice chicken breast in half horizontally and pound to about 1/4' thickness.



1 lb chicken or veal
2 tsp table salt
Ground pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 C. sliced mushrooms
1 lb pasta



Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet and when it starts to smoke add meat. Cook for 30 seconds per side. Place pieces on a plate and cover with foil.

Remove remaining oil from the pan and add butter, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and mushrooms. Add wine, scraping and stirring to dissolve any solids (fonde) on the bottom of the pan. Add water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add meat back to pan to warm and serve with buttered pasta.