Watching Rachael Ray

It’s a new year, and the first show of 2009! Rachael looks cute in black with her hair flipped up - an altogether good look to start off the year. She even looks like she has cleavage!

We start off with the Etiquette Expert from Chow.com, Helena Echlin. She joins Rachael at the kitchen table to chat about some audience questions. Ramona wants to know if it’s rude to use the BlackBerry during dinner in a restaurant. Helena says that she gets a lot of similar questions and her advise is if you’re having dinner with a friend, unless you’re expecting an urgent phone call, turn the phone off. Let your friends see that you turned it off, so they feel special in that you’re giving them your full attention.

A video question has a woman who said she loved her sister-in-law’s banana cream pie, but she doesn’t and now her SIL makes it for her all the time! Everyone gets into this fix, but Helena says the bad news is she’ll have to keep eating the pie. It makes her SIL feel good. Though you could redirect her attention to another dish and declare a new favorite!

The last audience question - she hates it when her friends clean and prepare for visits, so is it ok to drop by unannounced? Helena says that surprise visits are great, because they aren’t any hassle, and the focus is on quality time together! Rachael says she loves it when folks drop by and…

…the crowd goes wild as Diddy walks onto the set! They leave Helena, and head to the sofa, and Diddy is looking FINE! Diddy says he needs notice when folks drop in on him because he’s usually walking around in his underwear. Again - the crowd goes wild! He does say if it’s someone close to him, he doesn’t mind at all. Rachael says “Someone who knows how to cook?” And he says oh yeah…she can come by anytime. Rachael embarrasses herself a little bit, laughing.

His new fragrance has outsold all the big names, and he says as a man he understands what a woman should smell like. Rachael agrees, she loves it. His are more subtle, for up close, and he leans close to sniff on Rachael’s neck and she’s all giddy again. She jokes about hoping her hubby isn’t watching, but she don’t care! Then says she does, shh, just give her a couple minutes. Ha!

His newest fragrance is The King, a man’s fragrance. It’s about upoir father, husband, boyfriend nd what they mean, and even the “women in your life” and he quickly corrects it to “Woman!” and everyone laughs as he gets flustered. He meant all the women in his life including his one and only! But it’s the women in the life, the perfect women - the most beautiful creation, that make the men their kings - dysfunctional thought they may be. He lets rachael sniff, then an audience member, and agiain, the crowd goes wild!

The ad campaign was inspired by James Bond, and he jokes it’s the way he auditions to be the first black Bond. He laughs that he’s not trying to take Daniel Craig’s job. “I have a concept that he has to go and solve a problem in New York and I’m one of the agents he meets, he gets kidnapped, so I save him. He realizes he’s a little rusty and passes it to me, 008!”

He’s got a movie out, releasing Notorious on January 19 that tells the sotry based on the life of slain rapper Biggie Smalls from his mother’s perspective. He also has a new years resolution - beat the battle of the apple pie and cheeseburgers. He wants his 6-pack back..

After a quick trip to the prep kitchen for fondue gravy, we meet the Unhandiest couple in America! KC is on hand though, to tour the home of Amy and Brian, then spends a day with them to put them through a DIY boot camp. They hang towel bars, and a jewelery armoire, and Rachael surprises them with a $500 gift card to help them continue the good work.

Then, KC walks Rachael through how to fix a leaky toilet, a very common DIY project. Then it’s time for dinner - Spicy Buttermilk Chicken Tenders with Molasses Dipping Gravy with Sweet Potato Oven Fries.