Here’s another free reuseable bag offer–this one from Kraft Foods and “Every Day with Rachael Ray” magazine. To get yours, purchase a qualified Kraft food product (includes Kraft Mac and Cheese, Ritz crackers, Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh meats) between May 1 and May 31, 2009.

Send your grocery receipt with the Kraft item circled along with a 3″x5″ card with your name and address. Your bag will arrive in four to six weeks. For the mailing address and other details, visit the Kraft Foods Web site.
(photo courtesy of Kraft Foods)

You may know Buddy Valastro from his appearance on the Food Network Challenge (which he recently won) or from the pages of Brides Magazine. And now you will be seeing a lot more of him.
On April 19, TLC will premiere the new series Cake Boss, featuring Buddy and his NJ-based Carlo’s Bakery. The show will feature his amazing cakes and a whole lot more. It will also deal with the drama of Buddy working with mom and the rest of his big Italian family.
“I was born into this business and practically have icing in my blood. Though my big family …read more

For nearly two hours today, it seemed as if all of the news and blog outlets around the world could talk about was the possibility of The Donald making the decision to strip Tara Conner of her Miss USA crown.
In the end, Mr. Trump let her stay Miss (is it Ms.?) USA. But she has to perform her duties while in rehab.
Oh Boo Hoo! What did I just say about holiday partying and young women!
Keep your shirts on and your booze under control.
And by the way…if this were you or I who’d done this at work…damn straight …read more

I love, love, love well-known brands of cosmetics… Bobbi Brown is probably my favorite, but sometimes plopping down a wad-o-cash for some of her products is a bit much.
In the spirit of EVOO (Rachael Ray)…I find products around the house that can work wonders for everything, from dry cuticles to the occasional blemish…and these are products you’ve known and loved for years.
Here is my list, but if you have better suggestions, please feel free to let us know about them:

Vaseline — chapped hands, lip gloss, highlighter, and believe it or not fly-away winter hair (a scant amount).
Visine — blemishes, broken …read more

I know I’ve whined about this before…but when you are sick, do NOT go to work. I have been miserably sick with some kind of head flu all weekend and let me tell you, I haven’t gotten a thing done.
It took me a ridiculous amount of time to compose an e-mail and send it…only to find out moments later, that I’d sent it to an incorrect address which caused the note (and its giant image) to bounce back to me — typos and all. I’m cranky, delusional, paranoid and freezing.
So for tonight, I think I’m going to log off and …read more

Because we sometimes don’t have the patience to wait for, never mind read, an actual review…we foolishly rely on New York Magazine’s goofy Approval Matrix — self described as: Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies.
That line immediately tells you  how pompous we are and that you can either be intimidated–as in–gosh those New Yorkers sure know everything about EVERYTHING. Or, you can giggle–as in–New Yorkers need to seriously lighten up.
In this week’s chart, Rachael Ray’s new daytime talk show landed flat in the middle between “despicable” and “lowbrow”, and slightly below …read more

Seriously, whether you admire her or choose to make fun of her…there are times when one of Martha’s ideas truly “is a good thing.”
Recently, during my profoundly relaxing (or brain-cell-numbing) vacation, I caught some of Martha’s “Premier Week”! (I say that with all of the enthusiasm that peeling potatoes gives me.)
Doesn’t she sometimes look and sound like a 4th grade teacher from “back in the day” as Rachael Ray likes to say? (More on Rachael’s “Premier Week!” in a minute.)
Anyway, I love Hydrangeas — in fact, outside my office window is a gorgeous bush that has grown into a healthy …read more

Ok…I have just had a Rachael Ray moment. Tell me you’ve never pretended you were hosting your own Food Network show, while cooking. It turns out, I do much of my creative and Pet Set planning in my kitchen. I think I’m a frustrated chef.
As usual, I was thinking about the 8 billion things I have to get done, while preparing a light meal. One of the ingredients was sweet relish. The bottle was almost empty…so I went to the ‘fridge to see if there was another, but what did I find? Near-empty …read more

It will probably be a while (read, never) before my colleagues at b5media.com allow me to author a blog, entitled, “married without children”…but I thought I would share some insight here anyway.
If you are marooned out in the suburbs–and you don’t have children, it can sometimes be like living in Superman’s “Bizaar-O” world, where everything is the opposite of what it really is.
Once again, I take you to my local “gi-NOUR-mo” store…the supermarket: Have you seen the size of milk and juice containers? They’re huge–why is that? And 16 pork chops in one package? Why, is …read more

For the many years I worked in Manhattan, I can honestly say I was the late ’90’s version of Carrie Bradshaw and Co. (In a city the size of New York…)
Since I am a self-described chef/bar/restaurant groupie, I knew all the hot spots before they opened…I was an absolute ace at snaggiing a bar stool, no matter how packed the place was. I was familiar with most neighborhoods, and I knew the best places to hail a cab…I snickered at tourists who tried to get one in the pouring rain in front of Grand Central Terminal.
Work was great–New York was …read more