PA Farm Show Guide: Free Samples, Celebrity Chefs, Tasty Demos

Planning to visit the 2015 PA Farm Show when it kicks off Saturday?

Here’s a quick guide to where you can see the celebrity chefs, snag a free sample and catch a cooking demo.

The PA Farm Show runs Saturday through Jan. 17 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg. If you’re looking for food, you’ll want to head to the PA Preferred Culinary Connection stage in the complex’s Main Hall.

According to a news release, samples of each dish will be offered to audience members and Pennsylvania wines may be recommended for pairings.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/food/index.ssf/2015/01/your_guide_pa_farm_shows_free.html

Gordon Ramsay To Visit Forks Township Restaurant For ‘Kitchen Nightmares’

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Feisty celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay will be at Bella Luna Ristorante & Bar in Forks Township this week to film an episode of Fox’s “Kitchen Nightmares.”

According to the network, Ramsay and his team will visit the restaurant at 3417 Sullivan Trail Wednesday through Saturday for a sixth season episode.

The show helps struggling restaurants stay in business by having the fiery Scottish chef scrutinize their inner workings and suggest methods of improvement.  Ramsay diagnoses problems such as bad food, unsanitary practices, mismanagement and lazy or rude wait staff.  It’s up to the restaurant owners to accept his guidance, or face closure.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/restaurants/blog/mc-gordon-ramsay-to-visit-forks-restaurant-for-kitchen-nightmares-20130715,0,7037297.story#ixzz2ZDtple26
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Target Cuts Ties With Deen; Drugmaker Distances

English: Logo of Target, US-based retail chain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NEW YORK — Paula Deen’s merchandise and media empire is fast unraveling.

Retailers Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc. and diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk became the latest companies to sever ties or distance themselves from celebrity cook Paula Deen as fallout builds from revelations that the Southern celebrity chef used racial slurs in the past.

Target, based in Minneapolis, said Thursday that it will phase out its Paula Deen-branded cookware and other items, which were sold on its website and in its stores.

“Once the merchandise is sold out, we will not be replenishing inventory,” said Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130628/ENTERTAINMENT01/130629313/target-cuts-ties-with-deen-drugmaker-distances#full_story

Paula Deen’s ‘Today’ Show Appearance Ends In Tears

Despite her teary mea culpa on NBC’s “Today” show, two additional companies decided to part ways with Paula Deen Wednesday afternoon.

Caesars announced its decision to strip Deen’s name from four of its buffet restaurants, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc. disclosed shortly after its plans to sever ties with the culinary figure.  The world’s largest retailer said it will not be placing “any new orders beyond what’s already committed.”  The Bentonville, Ark.-based company has carried a range of products under the Paula Deen moniker since 2011.

Smithfield Foods dropped Deen on Monday, while the Food Network announced Friday that it was not renewing Deen’s contract after she had skipped her initial “Today’ show appearance that morning and released a series of apology videos via YouTube that afternoon.

The celebrity chef dissolved into tears during Wednesday’s interview with Matt Lauer as she attempted to explain how she wasn’t a racist- although a deposition filed and leaked last week revealed her use of racial slurs in the past.  It was an odd disparity between the Paula Deen known for her cheery, comforting disposition, and the Paula Deen who appeared on the “Today” show, defeated, exhausted and “heartbroken.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/entertainment/television/Paula-Deen-dissolves-into-tears-during-Today-show-interview.html#xzsWkWCDIPGfUZ1l.99