1 Hour in Line for 365 Recipes and 30 Minute Meals

Rachael Ray!!
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

Here's Grace and I (I'm in there, though you can hardly see me) getting our books signed by none other than Grace's favorite celebrity chef, Rachael Ray. We got the heads up thanks to our friend Amy (big ups to Ms. Lau) and were able to assure our place in line would be secure by picking up tickets the previous day in Beverly Hills. The wait wasn't too long, but our meeting with Ms. Ray was a bit short. Such are book signings I imagine, and someone as popular as Rachael is definitely on a tight schedule (even if she did show up about 15 minutes late).

One thing I noticed about her is she's so friendly, as ebulliant as you'd expect, and much cuter in person. She whizzed through her signing with her trademark "Yum-o!" and we were satisfied with having had a brush with fame for the morning.

I admit, I enjoy her recipes for how accessible, how simple, and how little time it takes to put them all together. Although the show itself can fall victim to her bon mots from time to time, it's enjoyable for the fact that she's never pretentious and always about having a good time while you're cooking. Grace loves to pick a couple of her meals from time to time and I do admit, they're quite tasty. Her pasta salad got many compliments at a workplace potluck recently, so she's doing something right.

As celebrity encounters go, I'm glad we got to see her. Rather, I probably would have liked to have seen Giada De Laurentiis or even Nigella Lawson, but maybe next time.

On a side note, it's almost as fun to people watch in Beverly Hills as it is anywhere else. I spent my time trying to pick out designer jeans and poking fun at the all too "I'm so fabulous" consciousness of many a young person wandering down Beverly Dr. A few Ferraris, many Porsches, and even more BMWs passed by for me to peruse as well. Don't you just love Los Angeles?

Need more pictures? Look no further, I've posted more at the home website.