Watching Rachael Ray

Rachael joins us from the elevator today, and she’s in another of the gathered shirts that fit her so well - she should totally wear these every day. (…is it just me or is she doing just that this week? *L*) They’re really flattering. Anyway! She welcomes Elizabeth Hasslebeck to the show, who’s got a shirt/dress thing that’s… awful. Over leggings. Or something. Sure, she’s a stick, but ugh, ugly. ANYWAY! She declares that the ladies of the View watch her every day, and there is mutual butt kissing and congrats for awards and shows, etc.

They talk about the View, of course, and Elizabeth says it’s like being a relaxed family, and it’s a special thing to be able to sit and talk to your friends about everything. She says that they do talk about the Hot Topics before hand, but if the energy is really there, they stop and save it for the show. It’s never as good unless they save it for the table. Rachael says sometimes she’s scared of them when they get heated, and Elizabeth says yeah, it makes her nervous sometimes because everyone looks at her like she’s crazy, but she never gives up. She admits that she can’t remember any time when the ladies changed her mind about something.

She’s been on the view for Five years now - she says “Long enough to get knocked up twice!” She is thinking of having more kids, but right now she’s got to learn to handle the two she has. She doesn’t want to be outnumbered yet, because right now she fears her three year old daughter who runs the house. She’s thrilled when Rachael explains how to make the perfect hard boiled egg.

And Elizabeth’s favorite things? Her running shoes, and baby wipes - the latter of which I TOTALLY agree with. Baby wipes are good for EVERYTHING - even cleaning glass! Love them! The third is her paint chip wheel. Oookay… She also gives some parenting advice behind the scenes, if you’re of a mind to care. Heh.

I’m kind of disappointed that there was no mention of Rosie, since she was just on the show last week and talked about the View as well. Sigh. Way to softball the interview, Rach. (For the record - I didn’t even like Elisabeth when she was on Survivor. But that’s just me. Heh.)

Next up, further proof that today’s show is just not for me. I own two pairs of shoes - three if you count the winter boots my daughter wears more then I do. I don’t get the shoe fixation of women, but whatever, I’m no fashion diva on a good day. Heh. Susan Discorfano-Caiafa, however, has so many shoes that they live in every single closet in her house - even in her teenage son’s room. So Gretta, of course, takes her to Zappos.com Warehouse, and send her on a shopping spree. She just had to pay for her new shoes by giving 10 or more pairs per new pair to charity. Susan got some fantastic new shoes (I can appreciate a sassy shoe - on other gals!) and thinned her collection from over 350 pairs down to 180 or so. Still a lot. But whatever.

You can also go and pledge to donate a pair of your shoes to Soles 4 Souls, and enter to win a chance for a qvc gift card to get a pair of shoes from Gretta’s new collection.

Then Jennifer, a librarian at Eagle’s Landing High School in GA, says that she’s the Deen Brothers’ biggest fan. She’d love to have a signed cookbook for her school’s library - so Rachael brings he to New York to get said cookbook, from Jamie and Bobby Deen themselves! They donate all of their cookbooks to Jennifer’s library. The Deen boys then join Rachael in the kitchen to make Pimiento Cheese & Celery Sticks which is one of the first recipes they did when starting the business out of the house with Mama Deen. Click here to win a copy of their new cookbook. The boys also brought Rachael a fluffy robe with matching slippers. Awwww.

And hey - what’s for dinner? Thai-licious Turkey Sliders.