Paula Deen, Diabetes, and Deep-Fried Lasagna

Paula Deen is probably feeling a bit fried right now, and it's not because she's busy making deep-fried lasagna.

The Savannah, Georgia cooking show host just revealed she has Type 2 diabetes. Apparently, Ms. Dean has known this for three years while she continued to share such diabetes-unfriendly recipes as fried bacon mashed potatoes, fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, and fried tortellini with marina cream sauce.

Truthfully, I haven't paid much attention to Ms. Deen until now. Yes, she's a Southern TV personality, which you'd think would make her of interest to me; but then again, so is Nancy Grace. Also, I'm a bit tired of all these cooking celebrities. But I was sorry to hear about her diabetes, and now that she's in the news, I decided to read up a little on her. I discovered some fascinating facts in her bio.

* Paula got her start with a small catering company called The Bag Lady. She'd make sandwiches and other meals, which her sons delivered. Among the tasty sandwiches she offered were fried bologna, fried duck liver, and fried pig's feet. Each meal came with a free serving of fried iced tea.

* Paula was once held at gunpoint during a bank robbery and forced to act as an accomplice. In order to help the robber conceal the stolen cash, she made him a fried money sandwich.

* After the bank robbery, she became agoraphobic. Because she was afraid to go out, she could no longer make her daily trips to the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken. (She was such a regular at her local KFC that she had her own PO box in the kitchen. A mattress store once tried to deliver her new mattress there by mistake.)

* Paula self-published her first cookbook, which she sold in her Savannah restaurant. A literary agent, dashing into the restaurant to escape a thunderstorm, noticed the book and was impressed. After eating Paula's signature three-course meal--fried chicken pot pie, fried Caesar salad, and fried chocolate cake--the agent knew a new cookbook sensation was born. (Unfortunately, the agent died a day later.)

* Paula had a bit part in a movie, Elizabethtown, with Orlando Bloom. She played a fried egg sandwich.

* Paula is married to a tugboat captain. He's in charge of ensuring that the Crisco container ship makes its way safely to their home every day.

Okay, that's enough fun and games for now. I've got some deep-friend lasagna to make.