"foodnetwork" news and stories

A few of the best links on the Web this week:

• Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain got themselves a radio show on Martha's Sirius channel, and it sizzles.
• Are you anxious about how much to tip the pizza guy when he rings your bell? Check out this guide.
• From the people that bring you the Food Network, another 24-hour food TV channel is on its way.
• The many wonderful uses for humble coffee filters.
• The James Beard Award semifinalists were announced. Is your favorite chef or restaurant among them?

February has an abundance of wine-this and wine-that festivals. As we look toward spring and summer, we also look forward to fruit and vegetable fairs. Cin cin, wine enthusiasts.

Portland Seafood and Wine Festival, Feb. 5-6, Portland, Ore.: Splitting open Dungeness crabs while quaffing wine isn't a combination that comes to mind. But that won't stop us! The first 500 daily attendants will receive a commemorative wine glass. Check out the crab cracking or the oyster schucking and swallowing competitions. A percentage of the ticket price will be donated to the Oregon Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The Kingdom of Navarra Gastronomic Week, Feb. 6-14, New York and Washington, DC: Spain is a land of cutting-edge chefs. Spain's Navarra province, the Kingdom of Flavors, will occupy two culinary capitals this month, armed with its pork cheeks, rosado wine and myriad treasured comidas.

We'll be the first to admit it: We don't get to watch as much food TV as we'd like. When you're hunched over a humming stand mixer and covered in buttercream, it simply isn't practical to keep an eye on the LCD in the next room for the latest casting call of fourth-string regional chefs, freakish "ordinary Joes" and pseudo-celebrity kitchen dabblers (Brian Boitano? Really?) trying their hand at the reality cooking circuit.

But sometimes, in the winter lulls between the endless variants of Chefs "Top" and "Iron," we can't help but leave the sifter in the drawer, crack open a box of Cheez-Its and veg out for a little while on the sofa. Here's what we dropped in on this past week.

"Worst Cooks in America": We're not quite sure what purpose, exactly, the Food Network's latest amateur-abomination is supposed to serve. It certainly doesn't have the would-be sexy, aspirational-lifestyle qualities of Bravo's cooking shows ("Chef Academy," we're looking at you) -- unless, of course, you consider befuddled soccer moms and socially awkward copy editors fumbling with pasta makers "sexy."

Sunday night means so much to us Americans. It's a time for family feasts -- a time for reflection. A last chance for calm before the work week. Meanwhile, over on the Food Network, it's just another opportunity for shrieking, back-flipping, strobe-lit, fog-machined insanity.

Yes, another Sunday means another Iron Chef defending his or her honor in the futuristic appliance showroom that is the "Kitchen Stadium." In this season, at least, we've about given up on there being any shocking upsets, any major ripples in the order of the Iron Chef universe as we know it.

Even this week's defender, Chef Morimoto -- who, if you believe Wikipedia, has one of the lowest win percentages of any of the current Iron Chefs -- has seemed fairly invincible as of late. So we were hopeful when yet another random chef was plucked from semi-obscurity -- or rather, Minneapolis -- to attempt to ascend to the throne.

Southern belle celebrity cook Paula Deen has teamed up with a gift wrap and stationery manufacturer to create a line of paper products.

International Greetings PLC and the Food Network star will bring to market a collection of stationary, recipe cards, organizers, boxes and food containers, the company announced in press release.

"I am looking forward to working with International Greetings in designing my signature paper products," Deen said in a statement. "I am confident that their reputation for quality and creative goods will result in great products at a good value."

The Paula Deen paper products will be available in May 2010 at more than 1,000 Michaels craft stores, and the manufacturer is in negotiations with other retailers.