A big hooray for Rachael Ray

OK, I'm going to tell this story backwards (with the stuff that happened at the end first, followed by what preceded it), so bear with me...

We met Rachael Ray yesterday!!!

So, my GF and I went down to the East 44th Street studio where they tape her daily TV show on Wednesday, and we had a great time. The taping was really cool (again, I'll get to that later) and on the way out the door, we stopped in the lobby to take each other's picture in front of the bright orange Rachael Ray sign.

As we're collecting all our goodies (including our TWO Snacks of the Day!), we hear a voice behind us saying, "OK, have a great night!" and we turned around ... it was Rachael!!!
This was like 6:30 at night, and having spent the entire day at the studio taping more than two full episodes, she looked like she was ready to go to the gym, but she was kind enough to stop and sign an autograph for my favorite autograph collector.

See, this is what your average, normal, run-of-the-mill ticket to the Rachael's show looks like...
This beauty, however, is a ticket to Rachael's show with the cutie's autograph, complete with a happy smiley face...
Even as exhausted as I'm sure she was, Rachael was a real sweetie at the end of her hectic day, just as she was the entire time we were in the studio...

After waiting in line outside the studio for about 90 minutes, about 120 of us were corralled into the green room (which, ironically, had blue walls!) where we noshed on snacks while being surrounded by huge pics of Rachael — there was Rachael on a motorcycle, Rachael playing with her dog, Rachael posing with firemen ... you get the idea. They had munchables like bagels and muffins and Sara Lee bite-size frozen cheesecake pieces. (I ate 6 of them ... yum-o!) OH! And there was also all the Dunkin' Donuts you can eat, 'cause you know she does those commercials for them.

We then marched into the studio and got seated. We got seats right in the third row (there are only 10 rows) and we could see everything! Just like on TV, we rotated around the set when Rachael moved.

So I can't say much about the first show Rach taped 'cause they made us sign confidentiality agreements. They had a cooking contest ... that's about all I can say. OH! And also that our "Snack of the Day" for that show was New York Style "Everything" Bagel Chips and they are soooo good! (A week later, I'm still munching on mine.)

After a quick costume change, Rach taped about 3/4 of another show, and this one I can tell ya about: A vet came on with guests who brought their pets who do wacky things. There's a dog that twirls around in circle on the carpet and a cat that curls up in the sink and toilet among others. The "Snack of the Day" for that taping was a collectible tin of milk chocolate drops from The San Francisco Chocolate Factory. (Again, YUM-O! Look ... I'm even talking like her! Next I'll be saying "Oh my gravy!" like Rach said during the first taping.)

That second taping featured a cooking segment, where Rachael made Turkey Meatball Cacciatore Stoup. (A "stoup," kids, is thicker than a soup, but not as thick as a stew... I learned that at the taping, too!) Here's the recipe!

In all, it was a cool day and Rachael was very nice, unlike a certain red-eyeglass-wearing talk show host I'd seen back in the day.

The first show we saw taped should air on the first or second Monday of November, and the other one (the one with the wacky pets and the stoup) should be on before that. Look for us in the third row!