Dishing up great food in wake of Katrina

Dishing up great foodin wake of Katrina
NEW ORLEANS -- Paul Prudhomme knows all about comfort food.
The famous Cajun chef knows the comfort comes from both the cooking and the eating. So when Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed New Orleans, Prudhomme began doing what he does best -- dishing up great food.
Prudhomme and his staff from K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen have cooked about 8,000 meals for members of the National Guard, police, firefighters, government workers and volunteers over the past three weeks.
"We have a responsibility as citizens to do what we can for each other," Prudhomme said Thursday. "It makes people happy. They eat it and when they see me later they want to hug me, to touch me, because Louisiana food is emotional food. It has a lot of flavor to it. You put it in your mouth in bad times and it makes you feel good."
He and Shawn McBride, president and chief executive of Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends, evacuated to Pine Bluff, Ark. When they returned they found K-Paul's, Prudhomme's famous French Quarter restaurant, undamaged.
Unable to open amid the destruction and confusion after the storm, Prudhomme moved his kitchen, 10 burners, giant stock pots, pans, and equipment to his Magic Seasoning Blends warehouse in Harrahan.
Garbage singer: We'resticking together
SYDNEY, Australia -- Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson says the rock band isn't planning to split up.
"We have discussed this and I don't think anybody is interested in breaking up," Manson said.
"We feel that this has been a really great tour and we feel that we have really muscled through and produced a great record, and we just want to take some time off while things are really good between us," she said.
The band earlier announced that it was canceling dates in France, Belgium and Britain in October.
Manson said she was desperate for some time off.
"I just need to get my life into some sort of sense of control," she said.
She also slammed Australian band INXS for using a reality show to find a replacement for its former lead singer, Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in 1997.
Canadian J.D. Fortune was chosen as INXS' new lead singer for an upcoming tour as the climax to CBS' "Rock Star: INXS."
"It isn't INXS without Michael Hutchence," said Manson.
h'Hustle & amp; Flow' actress:Landing was 'surreal'
LOS ANGELES -- Taryn Manning says watching TV at her seat as a JetBlue airliner circled the region for three hours before making an emergency landing was the most "out-of-body experience I ever had."
The "Hustle & amp; Flow" actress was among 140 passengers as the plane, which had a crippled nose wheel, touched down safely Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport. No one was injured.
"When we saw our plane on TV as 'breaking news' ... it was the most surreal, out-of-body experience I ever had," Manning told talk-show host Craig Ferguson on Thursday during a taping of CBS' "The Late Late Show."
JetBlue airliners have satellite television monitors installed in the backs of seats. Passengers on the Burbank-to-New York flight watched their own drama unfolding on the news until just before landing.
While the plane circled Southern California to burn off excess fuel, Manning said that she, like other passengers, wrote a note to her family.
"I just composed a little something so that if anything happened they would know that our last goodbye wasn't on the phone," she said.
Today's birthdays
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Phil Rizzuto is 88. ABC News correspondent Barbara Walters is 74. Actor-producer Michael Douglas is 61. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 58. Actress Mimi Kennedy is 56. Actor Mark Hamill is 54. Actress Heather Locklear is 44. Actress Aida Turturro is 43. Basketball player Scottie Pippen is 40. Actor Will Smith is 37. Actor Hal Sparks is 36. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 36. Actress Bridgette Wilson is 32. Actor Chris Owen is 25.