Our Day with Paula Deen

When I opened my birthday present from my sweet husband back in April, I was SO surprised at my gift! He knows that I {heart} Paula Deen so he gave me tickets to see Paula at the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertainment Show! What a treat!!

For those of you who have met my mother, you know that she resembles Paula Deen and often would get stopped by random people wanting to take a photo with her when she could be in a crowd. {Weird} When you see her in person, it is uncanny how much they favor. When I watch any of Paula’s shows on The Food Network, it really throws me for a loop sometimes when I least expect it. They are obviously not an exact clone of each other, but when you see my mom, you would automatically think she might be Paula. (I made a t-shirt for my mom last Christmas that said, “Paula Deen looks like ME!” Ha!!)

This was the first year that the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertainment Show came to Houston and was a HUGE hit! So you people in Washington, DC and Atlanta need to attend when it comes to your city. Houston was the “most successful launch they’ve ever had”, so they are definitely coming back next year. {yay, me!} We love our food in Texas.

When I received the two tickets, I planned on taking my mom with me. However, for the past two years, her perfume & cologne allergies have kept her from going in crowds. {sniff, sniff} SO, my sweet husband went with me. How cool is that?? Well, since my mom couldn’t be there, I decided to wear a button that said “My mom looks like Paula Deen!”

I even had some people tell me that I looked like I could be Paula’s daughter! LOL

Our morning started off with a wonderful luncheon. We were so excited!

Paula and her husband Michael came into the room and the crowd erupted! And in true Paula-style, she walked right up in front of us!

All of these women jumped up and began taking pictures and Paula was so gracious. I was so flustered and just tried to get any picture of them up close.

One lady gave her a pair of earrings to match a pendant that she wears all the time. So, seeing an opportunity, I turned and asked my husband if I should give her the photo of my Mom that I brought to show her. He said, “Sure”. That’s all I needed to hear. SO…..

I walked right up to Paula and said hello. She kept looking at my button trying to figure it out and I said, “Would you like to see a picture of your twin?” and held up the photo. I said, “This is my mother.” Her jaw dropped as she stared at it. She could not believe it! I told her that people always stop Mom and think she is her and she thought that was hilarious!. I said, “Well, my Mom couldn’t be here today so I wanted to bring this photo to you to show you that a sweet woman in Texas looks like you.” She took it and thanked me and then was wisked to the front of the room to pose for pictures with all of us. What a treat!!

OMGoodness…that was so exciting!!

After the photo session, we were served a delicious meal.

Can you see that basket of bread in this picture? It was filled with cornbread, rolls, and, of course, biscuits. And a HUGE slab of B.U.T.T.E.R. Nothing else will do!

The food was prepared using recipes from Paula’s new cookbook coming out next month called “Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking BIBLE”. You can pre-order now and get a signed copy sent to your home! Winner, winner, Fried Chicken Dinner!!

We enjoyed …….

delicious Black-eyed Pea Salad

The most absolutely DEE-VINE Fried Pork Chops with mashed taters & tomato gravy (just like my Mamaw used to make. Mm, Mm, MMMM!) And to quote Paula, she said, “Now if that don’t make your hair gray, then grits ain’t groceries!”). And for a little color on the plate, the most delicious green beans and red bell peppers you ever put in your mouth!

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, they served….

Peachy Upside-Down Cake

Wow! Now that was yummy!!

After our fantastic meal, we went on to the Food Theater where Paula and Michael (and Michael’s brother) entertained a crowd of about 750 or so. I’ll tell you more about that and what we did afterwards later this week.

Now, I’m off to do a little Turbo Jam after eating all of this Southern good stuff this weekend!

Keep smiling,