It’s the first official step toward our annual Oscar Party and Food Contest … the nominations have been released. This is it, kids: a veritable menu from which to choose your edible, Oscar-themed creation and vie for the prizes and glory that come with a win.

Let’s take a peek at some of the contenders — for both the Academy Award and voting at our fiesta, via the uncomplicated ‘pen and piece of scrap paper’ system. PriceWaterhouseCoopers was unavailable.

The Academy nominated eight of a possible ten films for Best Picture this year, and it looks like Boyhood and The Theory of Everything are the front-runners. The Grand Budapest Hotel did surprisingly well at the Globes, though, so maybe that’s the Dark Horse.

Best Actor… Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne took the Globes home, but can we get a win for Steve Carell? He’s virtually unrecognizable in Foxcatcher and for my party purposes his nomination makes ‘Steve Carvel’ a potential reality.

Best Actress… Bummer that Jennifer Aniston was snubbed for her role in Cake.

Best Supporting Actor… Fun fact: in high school, my friends Patti, Heather and I went to a screening of a short film by nominee Ethan Hawke in Provincetown, then proceeded to tail him around the town in my 1978 two-tone Chevy Monte Carlo when he left with friends.

Best Supporting Actress… Oh hi, Meryl.

As for some of the lesser-followed categories, this is the bread and butter of the Oscar Party Food Contest. If a food-themed dish didn’t come to mind in the major categories, these always offer a ringer or two. For instance: 2015 documentary nominee Salt of the Earth and Foreign Language nom Tangerines.

To review, here are some of last year’s entries!