OCTOBER 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 13
AHEAD OF LI BOOK TOUR STOP
amount of time it takes to get there,
I can also get upstate. I won’t be there
enough and I feel bad about that. I’d
rather it be loved and have people
that are going to be there more often.
What do you have coming up for
Breast Cancer Awareness Month?
I just did a thing for the Pink Lotus
Foundation, which is my dear friend
Kristi Funk. She’s the most badass
breast cancer doctor. She has come
up with techniques for women to
save their nipples and by doing
double biopsies when they get mastectomies,
she’s saved lives of many
of my friends. Some of my closest
friends in their 30s, 40s, and beyond
have battled and won against breast
cancer. I hate pink, but I force myself
to love it in October.
You’ve been credited with coining
EVOO, short for extra-virgin olive
oil. Do you have any catch phrases
that you hope will make the dictionary
next? No, I never tried to
come up with a catchphrase. I was
just cooking alone, talking to myself,
and sometimes I abbreviate things.
When people are at home and you’re
in the kitchen, you don’t realize what
you’re saying, you’re just going
about life. So it wasn’t that I tried to
come up with a catchphrase, it just
happened. “Yum-o” was because I
used to say, “Yum! Oh my god, that’s
good,” and people used to write in
that they were offended that I said
“Oh my god.” So the network asked
me to stop saying God. So I would
stop myself and would say, “Yum-o!”
And then remember, stop talking
here.
What’s something readers would
be surprised to learn about you?
I love to jump out of airplanes
more than anything in the world.
It kind of organizes my thoughts.
I don’t know that people would be
surprised by too much. I try to be as
open as possible with our audience
and I think that’s what builds trust.
Who’s one chef you would never
want to face off against on a cooking
competition show? A million
of them. Jacques Pépin, because he’s
like family to me. And because he’s
the greatest, most amazing chef. I
have seen him debone a chicken with
basically a paring knife, the tiniest
little knife. Debone a chicken, stuff
it, and tie it in one segment. So, less
than seven minutes. I would never
ever, ever, ever want to cook against
in any way shape or form Jacques
Pépin.
Rachael Ray's new book comes after she turned 50 in August.
“Everybody talks about the Hamptons and the
beach and all that, I prefer going out to the
vineyards and the farm country,”
says Rachael Ray.
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