I've been on a major biography kick lately, so I thought it was high time to read the reigning Queen of Butter, Paula Deen's life story. I am a major Food Network junkie, after all, so it just felt appropriate. And like any of her delicious, calorie-laden Southern-fried recipes, It Ain't All About The Cookin' definitely didn't disappoint.
Truth be told, like a good hoe cake, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure.
Not only are her myriad of accomplishments—and the long, winding road to getting there—fun to read about (and yeah, she started at forty-something, not twenty-something), but her accounts of dealing with agoraphobia and life after losing her precious parents at a young age couldn't help but tug at your heart.
And like that gossipy, chatterbox aunt that just about everyone has, Paula also isn't shy about admitting her shortcomings, whether it's smoking or a regrettable dalliance with a married man for the better part of ten years after the collapse of her first marriage. In her conversational tone sprinkled with plenty of y'alls, she highly recommends that readers don't follow in those particular footsteps. But when it comes to making the best fried chicken, she's happy for everyone to follow her cue.
Rating: 3 stars out of four.
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