Oscar news: Menu and Ledger's family

Wolfgang Puck once again is creating the menu for the Governors Ball after the 81st Academy Awards on Feb. 22. 

The lineup will include these returning favorites: tuna tartare in sesame miso cones; chopped Chino farms vegetable salad with ginger soy vinaigrette, Maine lobster and caviar; and gold-dusted chocolate Oscars.

Wolfgang Puck Catering will serve 1,500 ball guests, some of whom will be over the moon at just having won Oscars and some who will have to settle for the old standby about how it was an honor just to be nominated.

In related news, the Associated Press reported on Friday that Heath Ledger's family members said they were proud and excited by his posthumous nomination for his supporting turn as The Joker in "The Dark Knight."

"To us ... it seems like merely yesterday, and we are all still nursing broken hearts," Kate Ledger, the actor's sister, said. The actor died Jan. 22, 2008, of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Kate and Ledger's two other sisters, Ashleigh Bell and Olivia Ledger, read from a prepared statement to reporters at one of the actor's favorite places, picturesque Cottesloe Beach near his hometown of Perth, the AP reported.

"In Heath's words, he had the time of his life portraying the Joker and said that it was the most fun he'd ever had working on a film," Bell said.

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