LITTLE ROCK — Cooking show host extraordinaire Paula Deen spiced up a VIP luncheon Saturday at the Arkansas Women’s Show, telling jokes and autographing books.
Deen was the highlight of the two-day event at Verizon Arena. For the VIP luncheon, guests dined on a meal chosen by Deen of fresh fruit with French cream cheese, mini phyllo cups filled with shrimp salad and mini lemon pork sandwiches. Dessert was called Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding.
In each chair, VIPs found recipe cards for all of the lunch dishes as well as a copy of Paula Deen’s Savannah Style, a new book written with her personal assistant, Brandon Branch, which explores her style of home decorating.
The tables also featured floral arrangements created by Tanarah Haynie of Distinctive Designs by Tanarah. Deen raved over Haynie’s arrangements of pies made of roses and ribbons and cakes made of carnations and topped with peaches.
“We’ve never seen this done,” Deen said of the floral arrangements. “I could eat this, it looks that good. This is ingenious. We are all limited only by our imagination and this just blows me away.”
The event was attended by mostly women - and a few brave men, as observed by Deen.
“You all are mighty pretty to my eyes, ladies and one gentleman,” she said.
Metro Appliances and More sponsored Deen’s visit to Little Rock. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette presented the two-day event.
High Profile, Pages 38 on 06/20/2010