What are the Oscars without friends to shout at the screen with you when someone wears rosettes that look like they’re copping a feel? No fun at all, obviously. Lucky for me some friends got decked out in jeans and jewels (it was a casual gathering, yet with a nod to Oscar) and came to yell at Charlize Theron with me. I mean really? (with Seth and Amy). REALLY?

By Jason Merritt, Getty Images

So it was a fun time.

By the way, I love love love the Fug Girls for the red carpet rundown. Check them out, if you haven’t already.

Anyway, back to the shindig: I made two kinds of tea sandwiches, lemon cookies, my skinny margaritas and a grapefruit champagne cocktail that knocked me on the floor because it was SO tasty that I couldn’t stop myself. So tasty that I forgot to take a photo of it, even as I announced to everyone in earshot how good it was and how it was definitely going on BB&B in the morning. So tasty that I didn’t wake up in time to write this post before morning class and am now posting it well into the afternoon and frankly Ithinkwe’veallbeentheresothere. OKAY?

Raspberries on lemon cookies

The spread

Please continue for the recipes . . .

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

• white bread (I used wheat, but I think it would be better with white)
• seedless cucumber
• cream cheese/Tofutti
• salt

Cover bread with cream cheese (or Tofutti, which I used for a vegan friend and it actually tasted really good and was far fewer calories, so I am now a Tofutti fan). Peel a seedless cucumber, cut very thin slices, and place on the cream cheese-covered bread. Sprinkle salt over the cucumbers. Put the top piece of bread on and cut crusts off.

Apple and Boursin Open-Faced Tea Sandwiches

• oat bread
• Boursin cheese
• apples
• curry powder

Cover bread with Boursin cheese. Cut thin slices of apple, of whatever kind you like: I used Red Delicious, but green apples would be tasty also if you like a more tart flavor. Place on bread and sprinkle a tiny bit of curry powder over the apples.

It’s helpful for spreading to have the cheese at room temperature and the bread a little frozen. I popped it in the freezer for about half an hour before starting. I cut the open-faced apple sandwich into triangles, and the cucumber sandwiches into rectangles. It’s also fun to use cookie cutters to cut them into shapes.

Grapefruit Champagne Cocktail

• champagne/sparkling wine
• grapefruit juice
• Grand Marnier

Pour a glass of champagne or sparkling wine 3/4 full. Pour in grapefruit juice until the glass is almost full, and top with a splash of Grand Marnier. Enjoy attempting to exercise more self-control than I did.