A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, one of the highlights of each spring here in Hawley was my annual Academy Award soiree. I would invite a crowd to join me here in Hawleywood to watch Tinseltown’s big night and try to guess the winners.
The winner, the runner-up, and the last-place guesser at the party all received prizes: a book about the movies, perhaps, or a film poster donated by our local video-rental store. (Yes, a video rental store. I repeat: it was a long time ago.)
I had studied film in graduate school, and I prided myself on my cinematic expertise. Sadly, although I tried to view as many nominated films as I could, I was never very good at guessing whom the Academy would end up honoring. Ironically, the most frequent winner at my parties was the late Charlotte Thwing of East Hawley. Charlotte had seldom viewed many — or indeed any — of the year’s nominated pictures.
She was, however, a faithful reader of “People” magazine. Apparently, its writers had knowledge that I lacked despite my Ph.D.
In advance of the party, I tried to dream up dishes that honored one or more of the nominated films. In fact, at one time I wanted to write a book titled “My Dinner with Oscar” that would feature recipes based on films from every year of the awards’ history, beginning in 1929.
I never got around to it. With a few notable exceptions like “The Big Night” and “Babette’s Feast,” most films don’t feature a huge amount of food and eating.
With only a couple of hours of running time in general, directors tend to focus on action. Eating might slow things down.
Still, I had fun imagining what I might serve. My favorite idea was for the 1997 film “Titanic”: North Atlantic salmon on a bed of iceberg lettuce.
I will watch the Awards this Sunday, March 27. I won’t have a huge crowd; my television is less mobile than it was in the old days, and I can fit only a few people into the room in which we will watch.
Still, I will be joined by a few friends. And I do plan to make something appropriate to at least one of the best-picture nominees.
It took me a little while to figure out what to make. I haven’t actually viewed all of the nominated films. I limited my list of possibilities to the pictures I had seen.
Some featured food scenes that didn’t inspire me. The deaf family around whom “CODA” is centered eats a lot of meals together. Unfortunately, I was so busy watching them sign to each other and reading the subtitles that I didn’t pay much attention to the food.
The meal at the end of “Don’t Look Up” looks delicious. It’s a classic feast of ham and fresh vegetables, accompanied by a lot of red wine. Dessert is the destruction of the world, however, which renders this dinner unappetizing.
Some dry-looking fried chicken is served in a key scene in “The Power of the Dog,” and I’m sure the loving family in “Belfast” ate something, but nothing impressed me. In “Dune” there was no eating other than an opening breakfast scene in which the young hero sips something that resembles gruel.
I wish I had seen “King Richard”; surely the father of Serena and Venus Williams fed the tennis greats. I am not seeing that film until after this article runs, however. And although I haven’t seen “Licorice Pizza,” I know that there is no pizza in the film, despite the title.
I gather that there is a key dinner scene in the much lauded Japanese film “Drive My Car.” Unfortunately, when I sat down to stream it last weekend, the subtitles on my television set weren’t working. I couldn’t bring myself to watch a three-hour film I couldn’t understand.
I finally settled on inspiration and a doable recipe when I watched “West Side Story.”
I’m a sucker for a musical. Stephen Spielberg’s camerawork, Tony Kushner’s script, and Leonard Bernstein’s score lured me into the Romeo-and-Juliet story of Tony and Maria. I was particularly touched by the casting of Rita Moreno as Valentina.
The role was written specifically for the veteran actress, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Anita in the 1961 film of this musical and who served as an executive producer for the new film at the age of 89.
The young people in “West Side Story” don’t spend a lot of time eating or drinking. Perhaps the story would have a less tragic ending if the Jets and the Sharks could break bread together.
Valentina doesn’t eat on camera. She does drink, however. In a sad moment, as she ponders the troubles of her young friend Tony and her neighborhood, she pours herself a tumbler of rum. And she sings one of the film’s most moving numbers.
In honor of Valentina and “West Side Story,” then, I am making a Bacardi Rum Cake. The original recipe for this cake was published by Bacardi in the 1970s so it’s a vintage recipe. The rum makes the cake delectably moist so if it isn’t entirely consumed at my party, leftovers can be kept for days.
I’m following Bacardi’s recipe here (more or less). Warning: it uses two processed ingredients, cake mix and pudding mix. I could make up a cake mix, but I’m not sure how to fake pudding mix. And I’m busy getting ready for the soiree. I gave in to the lure of packaged food. Happy viewing!
Ingredients:
for the cake:
1/4 cup dark rum
1 box (about 15 ounces) yellow cake mix
1 box (about 3.4 ounces) vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup coconut flakes
for the glaze:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark rum
for assembly:
5 rings of pineapple, fresh or canned
Instructions:
Begin by baking the cake. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. Mix all the cake ingredients except the coconut together until you have a smooth batter. Stir in the coconut; then pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the cake passes the toothpick test. Let the cake cool for 20 minutes in its pan. Invert it onto a serving plate, and prick lots of holes in the top and sides with a fork or a toothpick.
To make the glaze, melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the water and the sugar, and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the rum. Bring the mixture to a boil once more, and remove it from the heat again.
Spoon the glaze evenly over the top and sides of the cake. Getting the cake to absorb the glaze can be a little tricky. If you try to pour on the glaze too quickly, it will spill off the sides. Be patient, and spoon it on in stages.
When you have used about three quarters of the glaze, place the pineapple slices around the top if the cake, and brush them and the cake with the remaining glaze. Serves 12.
Tinky Weisblat is the award-winning author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.