A. Scattergood

Golden Road's canned beer

The Oscars are on Sunday, and if you plan on sitting through the entire show -- all 3+ hours of it, with Seth MacFarland as host -- well, you might need a little help. Which is why we put together a little drinking game: This, hopefully, will give you something to do while the awards are doled out, agents are thanked (or not) and Russell Crowe sings. For the rules of engagement, grab a carton of Hi-C, your drink of choice and turn the page.

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Robert Rose Publishing

Behold: The Top 100 Napkin Folds

Three star restaurants, cult wines, romantic vacation spots -- now you can add napkins to the Top 100 list fold. We mean that literally, as Denise Vivaldo's new Top 100 Step-by-Step Napkin Folds was recently released.

Sure, the spiral-bound book lays on plenty of country charm with those rosebud napkin rolling techniques. But that "exploding envelope" fold really does look remarkably similar to a wedding invitation stuffed with reply cards enclosures. And Vivaldo happens to be an L.A.-based food stylist and caterer whose napkin-folding resume includes the swanky Governors Ball and numerous television production credits, so you could look at the book as a handy indirect reminder to bring an iron, not just Mortician's wax, when you show up for that food styling apprenticeship.

Fine. Maybe you really don't need 100 folds in your back pocket, but considering the lackluster subject matter, this is a remarkably fun photo-driven book. Get more on the Viking helmet possibilities after the jump.

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phil_g/Flickr

Tamales

Depending on what kind of person you are, potlucks are a source of either great excitement or enormous dread. Excitement if you have your famous potato salad recipe to show off; dread if you don't have a famous anything at your ready. And yet you must bring something; after all, potlucks are like book swaps: They're only successful if everyone participates (no one likes a freeloader), and whatever you bring ideally should be appropriate for the party (i.e., you don't want to be the person who brings the culinary equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey to The Pale King-kind of celebration). To save you the stress of finding the perfect dish, here are six ideas on the level of The Phantom Tollbooth that should broadly appeal to most people at any party. And if someone doesn't like it? Well, you probably didn't have much in common with them anyway.

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We've never fully understood the need for cookbooks dedicated solely to miniature versions of foods, like Peter Callahan's soon-to-be-released Bite by Bite: 100 Stylish Little Plates You Can Make For Any Party.

Then again, we're not big city caterers (Callahan's namesake catering company is based in New York City), so we don't spend our days dreaming up tiny "chipwich lollipops" (vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two mini chocolate chip cookies on a stick) to please the pickiest tiara-wearing toddlers or petite "caviar spoons and vodka" bites (homemade Gruyère cracker "spoons" with caviar and a side of vodka shots) to satisfy their Real Housewives moms. Yeah, those shots are probably a wise move.

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Kinfolk Magazine

Martha Stewart will tell you how to make a frilly, cream-colored wedding bouquet and prepare shrimp salad tea sandwiches for twenty. Set to publish its first issue in July, the new Kinfolk Magazine takes a more relaxed approach to entertaining, offering articles and photographs that aim to naturally and subtly enhance small gatherings of family and friends, not put a host through the ringer. If there's an overarching principle, it's that a truly good time is defined by the people who share it and the way they're brought together, and often benefits from a lack of structure. In other words, a cold night + lasagne bolognese on paper plates + comfortable couches + a deep record collection > place-settings + perfectly folded napkins + a six-course meal + a string quartet.

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Flickr/burningkarma

holiday buffet

That glass of bubbly got you in an ebullient mood, so you invited 20 people to your place for a little holiday party. Don't panic, experts are here to help. Just think of your gathering like a theatrical production -- plus food -- and you'll have a better go at it.

That's how Lisa Field, a former theater major and founder of Catering by Field, approaches her catering gigs. Field, who created the "country food" menu for Britney Spears' wedding to Kevin Federline, offers other tips for holiday entertaining. 10 tips for party planning, after the jump:

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As celebrities and the Hollywood elite nibble on Wolfgang Puck's feast at the official Governors Ball after-party this Sunday, you can also partake in Oscar-worthy boozing and dining at a restaurant of your choice. Or you can stay home shouting off-the-cuff remarks at your television screen. If you're throwing your own Oscar bash, and were quick enough to enter Brooke Brook's Cupcake Caps contest, which ended earlier this afternoon, you'll have two dozen more Academy Award themed cupcakes than the rest of us. Watch Wolfgang Puck prepare for the upcoming Oscar meal and find a round up of viewing parties after the jump.

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Love is a wonderful thing, but when more than one-quarter of all Americans jockey for a dinner reservation on Valentine's Day, its reason enough to celebrate romance in the comfort of your home. Though we're the first to admit our affection for restaurants, Valentine's Day may be the one holiday we'd rather avoid our favorite eateries.

Turn the page for Squid Ink's Top Ten reasons why you should avoid booking a Valentine's Day dinner reservation. (With all apologies to our many favorite L.A. restaurants.)

Grant Palmer, from the LAW Flickr Pool

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New Orleans wasn't the only team that earned a hard fought victory on Sunday. While the Saints stomped the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, nearly 40 men and women faced off in a crueler and definitely more gut-busting competition: Guac Bowl X. (Or is that Guac Bowl IX? No one knows for sure.) Year after year, these gladiators put their bodies, their pride, on the line. Why? Because the only thing sweeter than watching Peyton Manning weep on national TV is watching him do it with your mouth full of guacamole.

Robert Takata

Co-creator Greg Steele dispenses guacamole from his Icarus Award winner, GWAR-camole, at Guac Bowl 2010

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courtesy of Guac Bowl

Rob Saccenti stands next to his creation, He's No Guac To Me Dead

How do you top a life-size facsimile of Han Solo frozen in guacamole? Or a homemade Ms. Pac Man arcade table blanketed in avocado, its maze dotted with habanero energizers, ghost-shaped tortilla chips and food prizes at the bottom? You don't.

Last year's Guac Bowl, reached spectacular, dizzying -- some would say ridiculous -- heights. After years of elaborate failed attempts, contest organizer Adam Pava finally won his first award for Best Presentation with his Ms. Guac Man entry. He bested his friend and chief rival, art director Rob Saccenti, who conceived and built He's No Guac To Me Dead a.k.a. Guac Solo.

Now in its ninth or perhaps tenth year (records are spotty on Guac Bowl's genesis), what started as a casual bet between friends has evolved into a fierce annual competition held every Super Bowl Sunday.

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