little. yellow. different. A weblog by Ernie Hsiung

my guilty pleasure

Rachael Ray.

It’s okay, laugh all you want - while it’s easy to make fun of everything about her, from her laugh to the way she says “YUMM-MO” to the way she rolls her eyes back in culinary ecstasy as she eats a Denver Omelet at some diner in Cleveland, she makes a decent meal, I’m just saying. Not to mention that she’s been in FHM magazine. I like this not because she’s in FHM per se, but because she’s batshit crazy, and if you know me, it’s a good thing. (Sorry, Martha.)

The list of television shows that she hosts is impressive, and are as follows:

• 30 Minute Meals: Okay, this is the show that won me over, and actually got me to start cooking at home. I mean sure, I would wince whenever she used the phrase “EVOO” instead of “extra virgin olive oil,” but the recipes didn’t seem too hard, and it was probably a lot better for me than going to Jack In The Box. Three books later and it also got me to entertain for friends more; my friends would come over and ask what smelled so good in the kitchen. To which I would reply, “Oh, I’m making Rachael Ray’s Why-the-Chicken-Crossed-the-Road Santa-Fe-Tastic Torilla Soup.” I would then spend the rest of the night promising myself I would never say the words “Santa-Fe-Tastic” EVER AGAIN.
• $40 A Day: Aaah, a show that plays to my cheap, Asian-American sensibilities. Every episode, Rachael Ray tours a completely mediocre metropolitan area, like Houston or Sacramento or Denver and tries to eat at places that aren’t The Olive Garden or Applebees. The best part of the show, however, are the tips she gives out before each segment starts: “Wanting a cheap adventure? TRY ETHNIC CUISINE!” “FIND COUPONS AND USE THEM!” I mean, Jesus. I can think of better advice than that. “HERE’S A TIP: DON’T! YOU CAN SAVE AT LEAST 17%!” “WHO NEEDS A BEVERAGE? NOT YOU!” “SERIOUSLY, HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT DINING & DASHING?”
• The Rachael Ray Show: Eh. I’m not so much a fan of her syndicated daytime talk show - maybe because her interactions with other people aren’t as comfortable with, say, a garbage bowl. That being said, with her daytime talk show and magazine and her appearances in tabloids, she’s up for a head-to-head battle with Martha Stewart, and I for one wouldn’t mind seeing those two in a cage match, fighting to the death wielding only microplanes.

i’ve been checking in on your blog for a while now, ever since seeing it linked on margaret cho’s website. saw this article and thought i’d share:

http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/63710

how come your new posts don’t show up in my rss feed thingy in my my.yahoo page? hope you can fix it, thanks.

I must agree with you. I love Rachel Ray too!

Have you ever heard her say Chorizo?

CHOOOOREEEEEZZZOOOOOO.

Love the garbage bowl, but I gotta say, that she’s dropped from my Tivo. I’ve been watching Alton Brown more and more, and I’m trying to limit my cooking shows…

You left out Tasty Travels and Inside Dish (which, to be fair, turned into The Rachael Ray Show).

For my money, I wish she’d just shut up and write cookbooks. When she first started 30 Minute Meals, I thought it was great, but then someone decided she needed to be manic and now I can’t even watch it without the mute button. But watch I do, because she has original meal ideas I’d have never entertained otherwise.

hey! houston is not mediocre. you take it back!

Meh. She’s too loud. She’s always screaming at the top her lungs.

And that mouth. The way it’s shaped when she smiles reminds me of the Joker, Batman’s deadliest foe. Hell she might have been put on this earth to continue the Joker’s evil legacy.

There is no shame in appreciating my girlfriend Rachael Ray.

Oh, come on! No one finds her the slightest bit annoying? You don’t want to punch the TV everytime you hear “EVOO”? Maybe it’s just me.

Ah, yes, the garbage bowl, or as I call it, “the empty Safeway bag on the counter.” When I was growing up, it was the “empty milk carton, with the top opened all the way, on the counter.”

I really expected her to look hotter in FHM.

Rachel Ray: Culinary Sex Icon… Oddly, it makes perfect sense…

That, and her recipes are DEEEEEE-LISH!

I have a love/hate relationship with her too, but the few recipes of hers I’ve tried were not that difficult and tasted good. O.K. I only made one, Israeli spiced relish, and it was Yummo’s. Enough of that damn EVVO though.

PS. Thanks, Ernie. Now that you mentioned her laugh I can’t NOT hear it.

She’s like a screeching banshee; I can’t stand it!

What makes her better than Alton Brown, the Billy Nye of the cooking world?

http://orlandoweekly.com/columns/story.asp?id=11182