A welcome from Marilyn!
Marilyn Monroe greeted guests as we arrived Sunday evening at Dawn and Richard Ford’s house for the Academy Awards party. When the door opened, “Ryan Sequins” appeared with a microphone to interview everyone on the red carpet that had been rolled out. That pretty much set the stage for the evening.
The folks gathered were members of a loosely formed movie group — and their significant others, who are deemed to be “associate” members of the group. They can go to the movies with us and join us afterward at a restaurant to “process” the movie. But they have to let us do all the talking first! Seems fair, doesn’t it?
Dawn invited to the party those members of the group who had seen most of the pictures nominated for Oscars. She did this for a reason: we all were given ballots to predict who would take home the statues. The people with the most correct predictions would get prizes. As usual, I let my heart overrule my head and I cast votes for those candidates I thought SHOULD win rather than those I thought WOULD win. So I made myself a loser in the process.
"Ryan Sequins"
Jeannie Dulaney, our group’s president, arrived wearing Vera Wang – a Vera Wang sheet, that is. “It’s 600-thread count,” Jeannie confided to Mr. Sequins as she posed on the red carpet.
Jeannie Dulaney wearing Vera Wang.
Appropriately, Helen Hewitt arrived in fur.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Kathy Hamilton was shaking up some of her trademark flirtinis. (Will provide a recipe for those at the end of this post.)
Kathy plays bartender.
A flirtini for the hostess!
Dan Hamilton proves that real men aren't afraid to drink pink drinks!
Dawn was putting the finishing touches on a glamorous spread of food suitable to the occasion: raw oysters, deviled eggs topped with caviar, beef tenderloin sandwiches, white crudite with ranch dip, Wolfgang Puck salmon pizza, popcorn with truffle butter, tuna tapenade, macaroni and cheese with truffles, and chocolate mousse.
Dawn adds caviar to the deviled eggs.
Oysters were delicious!
Rosa Mar enjoys the very special popcorn.
Andrea White samples the buffet.
So does Alan Carmichael.
The truffled macaroni and cheese is smoking on Richard's plate!
Jack Rose enjoys dinner prior to the hard work of filling out ballots.
Richard Ford considers himself an expert in the art of opening champagne, so we asked him to pop one open so we could enjoy some bubbly while we cast our votes.
Things started out routinely.
But the cork proved stubborn.
Very stubborn!
Thankfully, Dawn came to the rescue with a special champagne opening tool and the crisis was averted. Then it was time to make our choices, which is where I went terribly wrong!
Gary Bentley marks his choices.
So does Andrea.
Sara Rose, right, discusses her choices with Julia and Gary Bentley.
Then it was time to settle down and watch the show.
We liked some of the results!
Helen took charge of the remote to keep the men from getting it and switching to sports!
About halfway through the broadcast, the guys retreated to Richard’s man cave to play pool.
Richard takes a shot.
Meanwhile, when all the votes were tallied upstairs we had two winners: Kathy Hamilton and Rosa Mar. A tie-breaker gave the top prize to Kathy, who got to choose among several movie-related prizes.
She went for the big candy!
Dawn Ford, right, poses with winners Kathy Hamilton, left, and Rosa Mar.
All-in-all, a wonderful night with fun folks! Even if I was a big ole loser. The only thing more fun than watching the Academy Awards is watching Joan Rivers on The Fashion Police the night after. That show airs at 10 p.m. tonight on E! network.
Here is Kathy’s great flirtini recipe:
Mix in a cocktail shaker with ice:
1-1/2 oz. Absolut grapefruit vodka
1/2 oz. triple sec
1/2 oz. cranberry juice
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 oz. simple syrup (depending on how sweet you want)
Shake with the ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Top with 1 oz. champagne.
Enjoy!
Photo credit: Jack Rose took the picture of Richard playing pool.
I thought Shaefer Morgan did a great job as “Ryan Sequins.” He may be considered an “older” actor, but his star is on the rise. Bet he has a good agent.