[Updated] Paula Deen Named Grand Marshal of the 2011 Rose Parade: Get Out Your Pimiento Cheese

PR Newswire

Paula Deen with roses

Update: When the folks at Pasadena Star-News contacted The Weekly's Jonathan Gold, a longtime Pasadena resident, for a comment about the recent naming of Paula Deen as Grand Marshal of the 2011 Rose Parade, Gold was less than enthusiastic:

"Paula Deen? That's absolutely horrifying," Gold said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Julia Child grew up on Pasadena Avenue, just a few blocks from the start of the parade, and practically everything Ms. Deen has done both exploits and despoils the culinary movement Child did so much to prod into being. As a food person and as a Pasadenan, I should be proud that the committee is honoring somebody in my profession," Gold said, "but the news makes me cringe.

For our original post, published yesterday, turn the page.

For those of us lucky to live in Pasadena, this next Rose Parade will offer not just crappy traffic and miles of parade seat scaffolding, but the chance to whip up a vat of Paula Deen's pimiento cheese while we watch the Food Network star herself ride down Colorado Boulevard on January 1st.

Yes, Paula Deen has just been named Grand Marshal of the 2011 Rose Parade. Deen will ride in the next parade, the 122nd, which has the theme of "Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories," and will toss out the coin before the Rose Bowl Game. Last we checked, there were no Georgia college football teams even ranked -- the 63-year-old Deen was born in Albany, Georgia -- so maybe she can take a non-partisan approach. You know, like Pete Carroll did.

Oh, and if you're tailgating, either along the street or in the Rose Bowl parking lot, here's Deen's pimiento cheese recipe. Cheers. Or, perhaps more appropriately, Happy Dreams, Friendships & Memories. Depends on who wins the game, I guess. If you're a Boise State fan, you can always dye the stuff blue.