It's the first time Paula Deen will make a cooking demonstration/public appearance since early this summer, when those nasty racism allegations surfaced, but it's not the first time she has appeared in The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Houston Show. This weekend at Reliant Stadium, Deen will be joined by her two sons, Jamie and Bobby, as well as a multitude of celebrity chefs, like Food Network's Sunny Anderson, Cooking Channel's Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos, as well as Next Food Network Star runner-up Martie Duncan along with good friend and American Idol winner Taylor Hicks.

Saturday and Sunday are both jam-packed with celebrity chef demonstrations, exhibits, workshops and a photo opportunity with Deen. Unfortunately, most VIP tickets and special off-site event tickets are sold out or close to being sold out, but general admission and one-day theater passes are still available. Jill Collins, MetroCooking Show spokesperson, says the marketplace general admission tickets will expose guests to a large range of specialty foods on the exhibitor floor.

"You can buy a general admission ticket and see more than 200 specialty food exhibitors, and these are typically small production food manufacturers with products you are not going to see at the grocery store," Collins says. "Then there are tastings and entertaining events -- watch knife skills, [see] cookbook authors and find all of the workshops on the schedule. It's a real foodie's dream come true."