Paula Deen had a bit of a freak out last week on the set of the "Today Show" after an NBC staffer accidentally walked into the shot and hid behind a kitchen island.

"Oh my goodness, can you all see? What is he doing in here? Does he work here?" Deen asked Al Roker as she prepared her Nutty Orange Coffee Cake to promote the New York City Wine & Food Festival. "He doesn't have a gun does he? Should we pull out our knives?"

Roker laughed along with Deen, although it became a bit awkward after he asked her what she was making.

"Nervous. That's what we're making -- nerves, nervous," she said. "Is he from this country?"

But all became hunky-dory once more when Deen learned the man did indeed work for NBC.

"Oh so you do work here, well here," Deen said as she handed him a slice of cake.



[Via Huffington Post]

Vibrant Swiss chard from the Torrance farmers' market. Photo: clayirving, Flickr.

In the "treacherous food landscape" of today's supermarkets, noted New York Times contributor and author Michael Pollan has culled a collection of "Rules to Eat By" to help readers navigate "through the minefields of the modern-food marketplace or restaurant menu."

He requested suggestions from New York Times readers in March as research for an upcoming book and received more than 2,500 in just a few days. With food policies ranging from the innate ("Don't eat egg salad from a vending machine"), to quirky ("Don't yuck someone's yum"), to moral ("Don't eat anything you aren't willing to kill yourself"), Pollan's 20 favorites provide a helpful guide to eating right.

As food takes a longer and longer path -- and transformation -- from its origins, and the food industry gains increasing influence over what is deemed "nutritious" according to federal standards, eating right has become more and more abstruse. With the constant rise of misguided or unsound food principles -- Paula Deen categorizing her strawberry cake as "fruit" on "The View," KFC's Double Down sandwich swapping its bun for two servings of fried chicken, a markedly "Supersized" culture -- Pollan stresses the importance of the elementary practice of trusting culture, and following our leaders -- mothers and fathers and friends -- rather than increasingly convoluted federal nutrition guidelines when making appropriate food choices.

Weary of the "era of dazzling food science, supersize portions and widespread dietary confusion," Pollan published "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," took the James Beard Award for best food writing and is currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.

Doughnuts. Photo: jwannie, flickr.

A few of the best stories spied elsewhere on the Web this week:

The world's largest candy store is set to open in Dubai, complete with mall-roaming mascot.

With more upscale restaurants open for breakfast, doughnuts are popping on many of their menus.

Celebrity chefs, including Guy Fieri, Paula Deen and Anthony Bourdain, hit the road like rock stars on tour.

A Sydney restaurant has been fined for topless food handlers, just one of many food safety infractions on New South Wales Government's Name and Shame Web site.

Slashfoodie Pervaiz Shallwani interviews Julia Child's editor Judith Jones about her new book "The Pleasures of Cooking for One."

"Top Chef" finalist and ladies' man Fabio Viviani gets his own Bravo reality show.

Mario Batali will not have to give up his precious orange Crocs -- the company has been saved from going out of business.

Cold spring rolls. Photo: YumSugar.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

Cold spring rolls might seem fancy, but they're actually a quick and easy treat.

Cat Cora's baked beans mixes chickpeas, kidney beans and pinto beans.

Coffee is good for a whole lot more than drinking -- java can perk up many a dish.

A look at Paula Deen's uncomfortable visit to "The View" and Barbara Walters' loaded health question.

Figs in a Blanket is a "killer appetizer."

Do you prefer the grocery store or farmers' market?

Photo: Rachel Been

It's a recall, y'all!

The New York Times reports that Paula Deen's QVC-exclusive line of cast iron cookware is being voluntarily recalled after consumer complaints of pans shattering and cracking during heating. Meyer Trading Corporation, the manufacturer of the pans, alerted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission of the issue in July, prompting QVC's recall letters to purchasers in August.

The CPSC will announce the recall on its Web site this coming Monday. Consumers may remain confident that Deen's "Butt Massage" flavoring rub is still safe for consumption.

[Via: Diner's Journal]

Watch AOL Food's video interview with the Lady and husband Michael Groover.

Paula Deen and her artery-clogging Southern home cooking aren't for everyone, but as we gathered from an actual look into her home cooking routine, without the crispness of network television, she might swing you over to her motherly foodie ways.

Paula has started a new cooking station on YouTube called Get Cookin' with Paula Deen, one that's a bit different than her Food Network show. Instead of the high-production quality of a hit series, this is a hand-held, casual affair more akin to a home movie. The fattening family delicacies, however, are still there. For this round, Deen makes Pimento Cheese with her son Jamie. It's a large slop of caloric extravagance, one that should be made using a whole lot of mayo because,"after it comes out of the refrigerator, it'll be as hard as my arteries," as Paula instructs her son.

If Paula's casual cooking leaves you hungry for more, check out sister site AOL Food's interview with Ms. Deen and hubbie Michael Groover right here.

[Via YouTube]

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

From the freezer to the jar to the mouths of lucky recipients: YumSugar marinates and jars artichoke hearts. Too bad they only keep for a week!

David Wondrich's book "Imbibe!" -- "part cocktail-making manual, part biography and part bartending history" -- outlines the beloved hooch of yesteryear.

A Derby Day-perfect Old Fashioned recipe.

Beets: Are they for loving or loathing?

... and maybe more importantly: Paula Deen: do you love her, or desperately want to leave her?

YumSugar melts tastebuds with pictures from Taste of the Nation in San Francisco, and provides a delicious look at Mission Beach Cafe.

And would you ever eat a sweet seven-layer dip?

What do you think would happen if Regis and Kelly put Gordon Ramsay, Paula Deen, Nigella Lawson, Mario Batali, and Emeril Lagasse in the same room? If you guessed a flurry of BAM!s, f-bombs, butter, and Crocs, you guessed right.

For Halloween this year, Live with Regis and Kelly got cooking with a little help from Guy Fieri (the real one), and you can check it out over at eatmedaily.com. Good ol' Regis is basically Philbin in chef's outfits, not bothering to try an accent to play Ramsay, and saying nothing but "BAM!" for Lagasse. But Kelly -- she steals the show getting accented to play Deen and Lawson, and revelling in butter kebabs on one end, and sultry, chocolate-covered spoons on the other.

Seeing that mess of craziness, methinks I want to throw a chef-themed costume party pot luck. Make a dish from one of their books, and come in costume and character. Anyone in?

Paula Deen really likes her political figures. She has chilled with Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, and now she's jumping on the campaign trail and itching to party with the potential first wives. The AP reports that Paula Deen is cooking with Michelle Obama in an upcoming episode of Paula's Party, which will air on the Food Network on September 20.

The pair chat about their familes' favorite meals and make super-tasty, super-healthy dishes like fried shimp and french fries. Deen recently said of Obama: "She was getting her hands dirty. I think they are like us -- they like real food, not a bunch of prissy food." But it looks like only the women are allowed to get their hands dirty. Deen says that's she also invited Cindy McCain to cook with her, as well as running mate Sarah Palin. No Barack, no John, no Joe. Hey Deen, Palin is the vice presidential running mate; she's not a potential first wife. I know, this is not the presidential campaign you're used to, but times they are a-changing.

Sometimes I could shake that woman, but instead, I think it'd be more fulfilling to grab that butter drinker and put her in a new reality show -- one where she has to eat all vegan fare and "prissy" foods. Think Survivor, but without the bugs. She spins the wheel, dying to get the Twix, but instead lands on the ... confit! Or the gelee! It'd be great.

In response to the unleashing of Rachael Ray's "Nutrish" line of dog cuisine, celeb-skewing artist 14 visually muses on what product line extensions might come about should other TV chefs join the pack. Paula Deen's Varmint Vittles or Gordon Ramsay's 100% F***ing Organic Hell Hound, anyone?

Yes, proceeds from the sales of Nutrish will indeed go toward funding no-kill shelters and awareness campaigns, and it's not as if she's the first media-centric chef to go to the dogs -- or cats (remember Rocco DiSpirito's Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys?). Still, I'm continually shocked by the branding stretches some of these folks are making.

Has anyone found celebrity-endorsed products more outre than dog food or signature garbage bowls? Mario Batali limited edition Ernst Benz watch, perhaps?

(Aaaannnd I've just run across Paula Deen's Butt Massage. I know it's likely a handy and delicious mix of herbs, spices and faerie dust, but still. Ew.)

[via: Gallery of the Absurd]

Since Mother's Day is right around the corner, I've been searching for some recipe ideas and started wondering how Paula Deen, probably the best-known mother in the cooking world, would celebrate Mom's Day? The answer, of course, is by inviting her sons over to cook with her. After a quick search, I found out that the Food Network would be airing her Mother's Day special today. Paula, Jamie and Bobby will apparently be preparing a brunch feast which includes Nutty Orange Coffee Cake, Benedictine Sandwiches (pictured, above) and Eggs in a Nest, which essentially equates to a ham and cheese omelet served in phyllo pasty - nice twist on the original.

If you watch her often, you'll know that Paula isn't afraid to mix things up a little in the morning with some wine - and in this case she is preparing Wine Spritzers which I'm fairly certain would be light and refreshing after a heavy brunch.

(image: Food Network)

Paula Deen's newest book - a memoir - is set to come out this April. Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' takes the reader back to a time when things weren't quite as rosy as they are now for Deen, from when she dealt with depression and agoraphobia and struggled to make ends meet to when she sold her first cookbook and finally hit the road to the success she is now know for.

On the trunks of hazelnut trees in Tennessee, one of the most prized ingredients in the culinary world is growing: perigord truffles. And they're good ones, too. Despite the fact that they're not grown in France, chefs think that they're world class

Women tend to be underrepresented in kitchens to begin with, but molecular gastronomy sees even fewer women joining its movement. "It's not very nourishing emotionally," said Ann Cooper, author of " 'A Woman's Place Is in the Kitchen."

Is Whole Foods stretching itself too thin?

Frank Bruni gives Robert's Steakhouse, which happens to be inside the Penthouse Club (a strip club) one star.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, makes Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread

If you don't usually do a lot of cooking at home, you might still cook for holidays and the occasional family gathering, since the kitchen is often the focal point of family activity as people gather for coffee or snacks. While an all-purpose cookbook might serve the everyday chefs better, sometimes the ones that are specifically geared towards celebrations work out better for the very occasional chef. Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life is the newest cookbook from the ever-popular Food Network Star and, if you have any interest in homestyle cooking, you probably don't have to be reminded that Paula is a great source for those types of recipes.

The book is divided up into sections based on the holidays and special occasions - covering everything from New Year's Eve to Elvis' Birthday to a Movie Watching Pizza Party in Bed - that she and her family like to celebrate. The dishes are always themed and fit together well. They are easy to follow and a pleasure to read, which should be no surprise to anyone who has used one of her previous books. And even though I started this off by saying that those sometimes-chefs could find this to be a good resource, it would also, of course, be a great addition to anyone who enjoys Paula's recipes. And butter.

The Food Network loves Paula Deen and they are about to do what they always do with their favorite stars -Rachael Ray, Emeril, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown - and give her a new show. Paula's Cooking Party is an hour-long prime time show staring Paula, a kitchen and a live studio audience. The network describes it as a "non-stop rollercoaster of food, fun, stories, recipes and surprises" and it will have far less emphasis on straight cooking instruction, which her current show is based around. Well, that and butter, anyway.

Deen, 59, just recently became a grandmother, so it is something of a surprise that the network is opting to promote her when they have been trying to attract a younger audience. Granted, Paula's show and her specials have attracted the some of the largest tv audiences on the network, but is "Paula unplugged" going to attract viewers? And when one of the early episodes featured Paula "trying on a young audience member's stilettos, telling jokes and staging a live crab race," will it keep viewers accustomed to seeing her cook satisfied?

The show premiers September 29th, so we'll just have to wait until then to find out.

Oh my. As if watching Tyler Florence coach a bubble-headed blonde on Saturday mornings and Tony Bourdain jet around the globe eating cobra hearts wasn't enough for my heart, Paula Deen's sons, Jamie and Bobby, will have their own show on the Food Network later this year. It will be called "Good to Go."

In an interview with the two dreamy, charming, totally adorable brothers that's posted on the wesbite for their restaurant, The Lady and Sons, the boys reveal that the show will be a prime-time, travel-type show, like the current show "Food Finds," but obviously from their perspective.

I'll be looking out for their show, but let's just say that I never thought "Food Finds" was all that interesting.