Today's Entertainment

Sweetening the pot as Christmas approaches Nothing says Christmas like a heaping helping of holiday sweets, which is the subject of a bevy of Food Network and Cooking Channel programming airing this week. Sunday, Dec. 18, on Food is the season fi nale of "Holiday Baking Cham- pionship," which fi nds the fi nal three bakers tasked with making snacks for North Pole characters other than Santa and a North Pole-inspired cake. The best creations, as determined by judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale, wins $50,000 and is crowned Holiday Baking Champion. Bobby Deen is the host. Also wrapping up its season is Food's "Cake Wars: Christmas" on Monday, Dec. 19. Here, the battle takes place on two fronts: the kitchen, where the fi nal two teams must create an edible Rudolph's Christmas card; and in the yard, where they must deck the halls with the ultimate Christmas front yard. Judges Charles Phoenix, Sherry Yard and Kristi Yamaguchi name the winner. Over on Cooking Channel on Tuesday, Dec. 20, is "Sugar Showdown," where the elimination round challenges the bakers to incorporate eggnog in a donut, pie or cupcake. A Christmas-themed cake showdown then reveals a Holiday Champion – at least in the opinion of judges Jeff Mahin, Laura Vitale and Pascale. It's not Christmas without Grandma, and the Sunday season fi nale of Food's "Clash of the Grandmas" tasks the contestants with several unusual chal- lenges, among them making pizza in a waffl e iron, turning a frozen daiquiri Nancy Fuller, Bobby Deen, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale (from left) BY GEORGE DICKIE into a dessert, and combining Hawaiian and Mexican cuisines. Also on Sunday is Cooking's "Unique Sweets," which heads to Dallas/Fort Worth to check out Texas-inspired confections including enormous deep-fried fritters, smoky toffee with bacon and sundaes with ingredients such as goat cheese, honey black pepper and roasted strawberries. And then, of course, there's the ice cream taco. On a different note, Cooking's Saturday, Dec. 24, episode of "UpRooted" fi nds France-transplanted American chef Sarah Sharratt reveling in local truffl e season, preparing a dinner of truffl ed brie, champagne risotto with truffl es, and beef tenderloin with perigord truffl e sauce, fi nishing off with a dessert of chocolate truffl es. Yum. Thursday, Dec. 22, on Cooking, "Cheap Eats" brings host Ali Khan to Boze- man, Mont., where he dines on elk burger, bison pepperoni and farm-to- table fresh benedict and summer sausage. He also discovers a huckleberry bar. The farm-fresh theme continues on the Sunday episode of Cooking's "Un- wrapped 2.0," in which host Alfonso Ribeiro showcases ingredients that go into famous foods such as Benton's bacon, Carolina Foods' Duchess Pecan Pies and Trinity Frozen Foods' Southern Sweet Potato Fries. And if you're looking ahead to the new year, the Tuesday episode of Food's "Chopped" holds its fi rst-ever New Year's party highlighted by ingredients baskets full of pricey items such as caviar. Page 8 December 19 - 25, 2016 FRIDAY 1:00 p.m. ESPN College Football Popeyes Ba- hamas Bowl — Eastern Michigan vs. Old Domin- ion. Eastern Michigan and Old Dominion es- cape to warmer weather for the Popeyes Baha- mas Bowl. (N) 4:30 p.m. ESPN College Football Lockheed Mar- tin Armed Forces Bowl — Louisiana Tech vs. Navy. Navy (9-3) clashes with Louisiana Tech (8-5) in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. (N) 8:00 p.m. ESPN College Football Dollar General Bowl — Ohio vs. Troy. The Sun Belt meets the MAC when the Troy Tro- jans face the Ohio Bob- cats in the Dollar General Bowl. (N) SATURDAY 1:00 p.m. WSBT 6 NFL Regional Cover- age. New York Jets at New England Patriots or Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars or San Diego Chargers at Cleveland Browns or Mi- ami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills. (N) SBT2 NFL Regional Coverage. Washington Redskins at Chicago Bears or Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Or- leans Saints or Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers or Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers. (N) 4:25 p.m. SBT2 NFL Re- gional Coverage. Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Sea- hawks or San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams. (N) 8:00 p.m. ESPN College Football Hawaii Bowl — Hawaii vs. Middle Tennessee State. Middle Tennessee's 8-4 season earned it a trip to Ho- nolulu for a bowl game against 6-7 Hawaii. (N) On or Off-Site Catering All Occasions Dine under the glow of gas lanterns Breakfast and Lunch Meals also available Open Tuesday through Saturday RETIRE WORK Take Control of Your Future 64825 County Road 31 Goshen, IN 46528 1-866-764-1601 www.QualityDriveAway.com See America and Supplement Your Income!! Get Paid to Deliver Vehicles Throughout the U.S. & Canada Retiring Doesn't have to be Scary We Have Vehicles for Every License Type! Call Us Today!

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