Anderson Township's budding Food Network star may not be ready to blossom.

        In April, we told you how Tammy Weiss was about to appear on Calling All Cooks, a show that profiles home cooks around the country. The network taped a dinner party at her house three days before Christmas, decorating it to look like a spring celebration. Everything went smoothly, but when we last talked to her, Ms. Weiss was so nervous she wasn't sure she wanted to watch the show, which first aired April 16.

        “I forced myself to watch with a glass of wine,” she says. “I was horrified, but it was OK.”

Tammy Weiss of Anderson Township in her home kitchen. (File photo) | ZOOM |

        Someone from the Food Network called the next day to see if she was interested in doing another show, but Ms. Weiss was noncommittal.

        “I guess I started thinking about how doing more shows would affect my personal life,” she says.

        A trained wine sommelier, Ms. Weiss worked in restaurants and hotels in New Jersey for 10 years, becoming general manager of a four-star restaurant by age 30. She left the business in 1994 to take care of her dying father and moved to Anderson Township in 1999 with her husband, David, and four sons. In her neighborhood, she quickly developed a reputation for hosting elaborate dinner parties.

        Last year, Ms. Weiss spotted a solicitation for Calling All Cooks on the Food Network's Web site (www.foodtv.com). On a lark, Ms. Weiss e-mailed her name and phone number. Six months later, a producer called to ask her to put together a five-minute videotape of herself talking about cooking and entertaining. After the producer saw the tape, she called Ms. Weiss to ask her to do the 30-minute show.

        Now, she's not sure it was a good idea. Although most of the viewer e-mail on the Food Network's message board was positive, a few were critical of her televised dinner party.

        “A couple of people criticized my food because they thought it was too rich because I used real oil and butter,” Ms. Weiss says. “I guess I found out I don't take criticism as well as I thought.”

        But this doesn't mean Ms. Weiss is giving up on home entertaining — without the cameras. She's looking forward to hosting more dinner parties beginning in October. And she is busy volunteering her cooking talents for Anderson High School's after-prom party and other events.

        The best thing about her appearance on the Food Network show, Ms. Weiss says, was getting e-mails and phone calls from friends around the country. An old boyfriend called after seeing the show on television in a Florida bar.

        “We talked for over an hour,” she says. “It was nice. No hard feelings.”

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