T and I were talking about our southern Junior League cookbooks (whose superiority was affirmed by Julia Reed in the NYT, making us appreciate Julia Reed a bit more). She said she'd always wanted to have a cocktail party with nothing but foods from River Road Recipes, and I said I felt the same way about the Charleston Junior League's Party Receipts.

As it turns out, we're having people over to watch the Academy Awards, so now's the time. Having learned from our Jazz Singer night, I'm skipping most of the hot foods and just putting some marinated olives and a brick of cream cheese with pickapeppa and maybe some sort of dip on the coffee table. And then maybe chicken wings for something more substantive (slightly, anyway) and pralines for something sweet.

Although I'm torn between literal interpretation of their marinated olive recipe (canned olives? Vegetable oil? I suppose olive oil is a vegetable oil, right? Or are olives fruits?) and updating it slightly. I will not, however, substitute goat cheese for the brick of cream cheese. I've done it before, but not on a Party Receipts night.