Sisters woman gets taste of Food Network

Christmas came early for Carol Stotts when she and her husband Larry met Food Network host, Guy Fieri, in Portland earlier this month.

"It was a Christmas present from my husband," Carol said of the tickets Larry purchased for the two Sisters residents to be on stage with 18 other guests on Fieri's road show, "Off The Hook."

The traveling show took place December 12 at the Newmark Theatre, where the on-stage guests and an audience were entertained for more than three-and-a-half hours.

The fans on stage were treated with food created by Fieri and drinks mixed by Australian bartender Hayden "Woody" Wood.

"He (Woody) got me up there shaking martinis, and before you know it he had my husband up there pouring drinks behind his back," Stotts said with a laugh.

The road show also featured a Thai chef from Portland's Pok Pok Restaurant, while four students from a Portland culinary institute helped serve the guests.

Stotts said the Food Network channel chose Portland to film a documentary about Fieri and his event. It will be shown sometime in the spring, but she doesn't have an exact date.

Fieri is the same in person as he is on his Food Network show, Stotts said - fun, but also with a serious side, and wanting to see families cooking and sitting down to eat together.

"We have never been so entertained," Stotts said. "We were so full by the end of this we could barely finish the last dish that they served us."

While in Portland for their weekend of fun, the Stottses also enjoyed their stay at the 100-year-old Governor Hotel and meals at Jake's Grill, located in the hotel.

Fieri hosts four shows on the Food Network channel, including one of Carol Stotts's favorite shows, "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."

"I watch it regularly. I grew up a diner girl," Stotts said.

She and her husband keep Fieri's book about American diners in their motor coach and hope to visit some of the featured diners during their travels next year.

"These are the kinds of restaurants people like to go to," she said of those featured in Fieri's book. "That's why they stay open so long."