Pie in the sky: Cook on Deen's show

By Sloane Brown Around Town sloane@sloanebrown.com

October 26, 2008

Looks like another one of Baltimore's creative cooks is getting national face time. Dangerously Delicious Pies' Rodney Henry just returned from Atlanta, where he was a guest on Paula Deen's show.

"She's a super-nice lady. Fun," he says. The episode should air at the end of November, just about the time Rodney tapes another Food Network gig, this time an episode of Down Home with the Neely's. "It's awesome," he says. "I'm spreading pie style around the country. Around the world!"

And then there's another kind of "spreading." The nasty kind around one's middle. The kind one doesn't like to talk about over the hors d'oeuvres at one of B-more's swankiest shindigs of the season. Unless one overhears a couple other guests discussing the diet points involved, as they hungrily eyed the shrimp cocktail at the Walter's gala. That's when "one" discovers that she is not alone in joining a certain weight-loss program. The same program the two high-profile ladies had also joined. Unbeknownst to one another, all three had joined that same day ... and already had the important things memorized: one glass of champagne = 2 points.

A warm crowd The chill in the air at the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper's first "Trash Bash" last weekend had absolutely nothing to do with the party. In fact, lots of beer and good cheer helped keep the couple hundred folks who gathered on the outside deck at Nick's Fish House nice and toasty. The cheer could be attributed to executive Eliza Steinmeier, who had plenty of warm hugs to go around. Then, there was one hardy guest, retired stockbroker Tony Reid, who seemed just fine in shirtsleeves.