Sunny, Anne, & Claire In the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... sponsored by Food Network?

Thanksgiving is all about food, family, and facilitating lucrative advertising deals!

Sunny Anderson lets us know on her blog that she, Anne Burrell, and Claire Robinson will be riding on the famous Tom the Turkey float in tomorrow's annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... plastered up with the Food Network logo!


I don't know how I feel about this one. I get that things need to be sponsored and everyone's looking to get their brand out there in new ways (Macy's is obviously the big brand name that people probably just say unconsciously when mentioning the parade by name), but some things are sacred... can't the turkey float just be nice symbol of Thanksgiving and not another billboard?

What's next? The GoDaddy.com Turkey float? The official Butterball brand Turkey float? The Endorse Sandra Lee for First Lady of New York Campaign Turkey float?

Be on the lookout for the Food Network ladies... and the Food Network LOGO tomorrow when you watch the parade!

Paula Deen Hit in the Face with a Ham

I admit it. When I read the headline: "Paula Deen Hit in the Face With Ham" I figured it must have something to do with Smithfield and protesters.


But apparently it didn't.

Pauler was in Atlanta this morning, taking part in a "25,000 lbs of protein" donation to Hosea Feed The Hungry & Homeless when an errant ham hit her right in the nose.

In the video, Paula and others are playfully tossing the hams, so I assume this was just an unfortunate accident. Looked like it hurt, though! I hope Paula--and her nose-- are okay.

Those frozen hams and heavy. No tossing turkeys this Thanksgiving, mmmkay?

[Thanks for the tip, Jen!]

See Me with Ina--Again! Dear Food Network Thanksgiving Desserts

Oh wow! The episode of Dear Food Network that I appeared on last year is airing again--right now! It'll also be on several more times throughout the week leading up to Thanksgiving.

I can't believe an entire year has passed since my visit to East Hampton. Such an amazing experience, that was.

I gotta get cracking on my mixed berry cheesecake!

Review: Food Network's Cook Or Be Cooked for Nintendo Wii

I recently had the chance to test out Food Network's first ever Nintendo Wii game "Cook Or Be Cooked," which was released to stores on Nov. 3. Since I don't own a Wii (I'm afraid I'd get addicted... and I'd probably still just want to play old school Mario Bros), I sent it to my friend Daniel, a fellow Food Network addict, to review. Here are his thoughts:

So I was pretty excited to test Food Network's new game for Wii since I'm a big fan of Cafe World on Facebook, however I wasn't so impressed after playing it for 30 minutes. The basic premise of the game is to collect medals for performing cooking tasks at specific times using the Wii remote. Each medal opens a new recipe for you to cook. There appears to be about 20 recipes that you can cook, with each one getting progressively harder and harder. You have to time them correctly in order for the food to be hot when it's served. Food Network was nice enough to include the recipes in the game manual so you can actually cook them in real life.

After cooking in the solo mode, you are judged by Susie Fogelson and Mory Thomas. The Susie character is spot on. I don't ever remember seeing Mory on TV, so I can't say anything about him. After opening up the recipes in solo mode, you can then compete against a second player in dual mode.The downside of dual mode is that you just get scored and you don't see Susie or Mory.

All in all, it's an ok game as long as you know what you're playing. It could potentially improve cooking technique and timing, but since the goal is to cook all the recipes and get a gold medal for each one, when you're done... you're done. Don't really see the replay value in this one.


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Thanks Daniel! Hmmm... I guess if you're awesome from the start and get gold medals for every recipe you would get bored pretty quickly with this game. Anyone else out there test it out yet?

Guy Fieri On His Still-Not-Sold-Out Roadshow

Tickets for the Guy Fieri Road Show, a 21-stop, 30 day "concert-style cooking tour" featuring Fee-Eddie himself that kicks off tomorrow in Lowell, MA, went on sale in September. According to his website, none of the dates have sold out.

To use one of my hated, ever-present food puns... did Guy bite off more than he can chew?!?!


Onstage with Guy will be L.A.'s DJ Cobra and— alert Sandra Lee — a 6-foot-tall, 25-gallon margarita maker.

"The show is about, if you love food like I love food and you're into the world of food like I'm into the world of food, then why shouldn't there be a food-a-palooza? Why shouldn't there be a food thing? We get together, we bring some other chefs in. We make food, we tell stories about food, we talk about 'Diners Drive-ins and Dives,' we cook food, we make some drinks, we have some laughs, we pull some antics and we just have a food concert." Guy told Pop Eater.

"Besides seeing your favorite person on TV, when do you ever get to see them live, see them real? That's the point. See it live, see it real."

Paula Deen tried her hand at a food tour several years ago, albeit on a much smaller scale. And if I remember correctly, it did not sell as well as expected.

Could it be that food fans, even the most devout Guy-lovers (who are they?), still don't want to spend $250 for an "Off tha Hook" package including stage seating and the chance to sample the goods?

Giant food festivals like the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and other smaller, more regional fests in other cities make sense for celebrity chefs to appear at. They're a big draw, but not the only attraction. You have to REALLY like Guy to shell out this kind of money... and if you're only paying for nosebleeds, is it really worth it just to see him "live, see it real" in a giant stadium?

I guess I will never understand.

No Surprise: Martha Stewart Still Hates Rachael Ray

In what was billed a TELEVISION FIRST, Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray made appearances on each others daytime talkshows last week.

And despite promo clips urging us to "forget all the rumors" and all the headlines of any supposed rivalry between the two... after watching Rachael's appearance on Martha, I'm more than convinced that Martha still has cold feelings toward Rach.




Now, "bitch" is often an unfair and overly used term to describe a lot of people, but consider this scene from Rachael's appearance on Martha:

Martha hears Rachael call her pastry cutouts "those little dudes" and replies with:

"If I start calling my pastry 'dudes', sew up my mouth."

...sometimes bitch is the only appropriate word, you know?!



Perhaps Martha is still bitter over Rachael's show airing its Barry Manilow episode on the same day that Martha had him on live... or the fact that Rachael just had an 18% jump to a 1.9 rating, while Martha's show has been sitting at a 0.6... or the fact that Rachael Ray has won the Outstanding Talk Show (Entertainment) Emmy two years in a row... or the fact that a prisoner once sued Martha for $3.5 million, saying he'd donate it to Rachael Ray (not making that up)... I'm not sure.

Whatever it is, lighten it up Martha!

Did you catch the big appearances? Any thoughts?

UPDATE: Eat Me Daily has the full vids of Rachael's appearance on Martha. Yay!

Emeril Live Might Be Coming Back... But Not on Food Network

Despite fading away into the Food Network oblivion nearly two years ago, Emeril Lagasse recently hinted that his namesake "live" show Emeril Live may resurface soon... on a major network?!


"Somebody does not want 'Emeril Live' to go away. They just want it to be a little bit better," Lagasse said. "It is not the Food Network. It will be a major network and hopefully it will be a weekly prime time show."

Uhhh... remember how your last primetime show on a major network went, Emeril? (And WTF, Sherri Shepherd was in that?)

"It will be more variety I will have a lot of my celebrity friends on. Musicians and chefs and it will be a lot of fun. We will cook a little laugh a lot and we will keep it energized. I plan on making the big announcement this week but wanted to tell you."

We shall see about this, Emmie. I acknowledge that he's a good TV talent and great chef, but I just never got into Emeril Live... and I doubt a snazzier set or celebrity friends will do much to raise its blood pressure.

And just since it might be coming back, here are my original 4 reasons why I was fine with Emeril Live ending:

1. It wasn't live. True, Emeril was "alive" during the taping and in front of people, but it still--even after ten years--looked like an infomercial.

2. I hated that he came out from a bookcase in the beginning. Why enter through a bookcase? Did he have to jiggle the candlestick on the wall to get back through?

3. Even though it was live, it was incredibly old school with all the swap-outs used. Swap outs are done. This isn't a segment on morning television.

4. It really looked like an infomercial. I know, I know... there was many a cooking tip to learn during each episode, but I thought at any minute Mr. Lagasse might try to sell me something that could dehydrate meats and blend me a margarita at the same time.

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Hope everyone is enjoying their Wednesday. It's a rainy day here in the Northeast. If you're in the US and getting the day off for Veterans' Day, have a great one.

It's Official: Scripps Buying Majority Interest In Travel Channel

It's official! Somebody bring a bottle of champagne to Anthony Bourdain's boudoir!

Scripps Networks Interactive, parent company of Food Network, HGTV, and more, will take a 65% stake in the Cox Communications' Travel Channel by January as part of a venture between the two companies, reports the Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Scripps will now control the joint venture and run it along with its other cable properties.

I'm thinking a little Rachael Ray executive producer action might be coming to Bourdain's No Reservations? Yes???


"Under the deal announced on Thursday, Scripps will own 65 percent of the Travel Channel and Cox Communications will hold on to the other 35 percent. The deal is expected to be completed by January. In creating a joint venture, Cox will contributing the Travel Channel, which the two sides valued at $975 million, and Scripps will put in $181 million in cash. The partnership will take on $878 million in third-party debt."

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Hmm... first Scripps announces it's changing Fine Living to "The Cooking Network" and now it's taking on the Travel Channel. They will soon have two other networks devoted to cooking and travel... so what's left for Food Network?! More Paula Deen comedy half-hours? A love advice show with the Neelys? Only time will tell.

What do you think about Scripps' acquisition of Travel Channel?

Mario, Emeril, & Bobby Get 2 hr White House Special - A Sign of Importance or a Consolation Prize For Dwindling Network Time?

When you get an invite from the White House you send in the big guns. And at Food Network, to many people, those would be Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and Emeril Lagasse... or they would have used to think that. Apart from Bobby and his ever-presence on the channel, Mario and Bobby have all but disappeared into rerunville.

So when I read that the three big boys would be appearing in a two-hour Super Chef Battle episode of Iron Chef America, featuring Michelle Obama and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, I wondered... is this a sign of who's really important at Food Network, or just a consolation prize to Mario and Emeril?


Food Network stars Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse travel to the White House to take part in an unprecedented culinary competition in Super Chef Battle, a special two-hour episode of Iron Chef America. Greeted by First Lady Michelle Obama, the chefs are joined by White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and receive their challenge: create a meal for America using The White House Kitchen Garden’s produce as their secret ingredients.

For one, Emeril isn't even an Iron Chef. Why was he asked to come along and not, say, Cat Cora, the only female Iron Chef?

Alton Brown is coming along for his commentary, and Ted Allen will serve as a guest floor reporter.

Even Food Network kind-of star Nigella Lawson (she's huge in the UK; hasn't entirely caught on here for whatever reason) will serve as one of the judges, which would normally be a bit of a no-no. Ted Allen had inferred in recent interviews that he wouldn't serve as a judge anymore due to his more established relationship with Food Network as host of two series, Chopped and Food Detectives.

It makes sense that Food Network stars shouldn't serve as judges, actually. Alex Guarnaschelli used to judge Iron Chef America battles, and now her new show Alex's Day Off is produced by Bobby Flay. Who knows how her vote might get swayed if she had to choose between Bobby and the challenger.

Soooo... I'm not really sure what to think of the addition of Mario and Emeril in this special. I mean, it makes sense they didn't ask Sandra Lee or, uhhh, Mary Nolan (that one worked out well, FN) to the White House. But is it a real sign their presence is valued on the network? We shall seeeeeee....

The special episode premieres Sunday, January 3rd at 8pm ET/PT.

Does Somebody Smell Matching Window Treatments? Sandra Lee to Bring Garnishes to Governor's Mansion

While appearing on the Wendy Williams show, maybe-someday First Lady of New York Sandra Lee said she'd still cook when she gets to the governor's mansion... and bring garnishes!


With that, she reached into her apron and pulled out a giant Slim Jim and pink lighter for Wendy -- a reference to a bit of a disgusting inside joke on the show.

And who knows what's next for Aunt Sandy if First Lady pans out for her. Maybe pull a Hillary and become Secretary of State a few years later?!?