Rachael Ray

Talk about a recipe for success. Food Network personality Rachael Ray has just signed a deal with Oprah Winfrey's production company to host a daytime syndicated talk show targeted to start in fall 2006. And we all know what happens to television Cinderellas when the Big O waves her magic wand. Just ask that pumpkin head called Dr. Phil. Not that Ray is a nobody. She's already got a hungry following as the overbooked host of 30 Minute Meals, $40 a Day, Inside Dish and Tasty Travels.

Wilma Stephenson, whose dedication, tough love, and success with Frankford High School culinary students was immortalized in the 2009 documentary Pressure Cooker , was flabbergasted yesterday to learn that her kitchen classroom would get an extreme makeover, courtesy of the celebrity chef Rachael Ray. "We're going to do one giant kitchen renovation," Ray said in a video played in the high school gym, where students had gathered for a...

Stan Kourakos was lured into the pizzelle factory at the edge of Norristown one day in 2003, enticed not by the aromas of anise and vanilla that floated from the squat brick building, but by the prospect of new business. Kourakos was a salesman for a packaging distributor, and he hoped to persuade the owner of Little Pepi's to buy all the boxes needed for those crispy, wafflelike cookies from the company he represented. As it turned out, it was Kourakos who wound up buying - Little Pepi's, that is. Six years and a move to Hatfield Township later, the cookie company is getting the best opportunity of its 45-year-history to go big-time.

EVERYTHING RACHAEL RAY Everything Rachael Ray is devoted to the Food Network chef, talk-show host and cookbook. It has news, upcoming shows, ratings, clips, appearances and recipes. There's an RR timeline and an RR forum. There's even an RR "store. " You would think that anyone who devoted so much time to Everything Rachael Ray would be in need of a life - if not a diet or professional help. But Madeline Miller, 29, is delightfully normal and engaging. She's tall, thin, with shoulder-length blond hair and a professional appearance.

By Rachael Ray Clarkson Potter. 360 pp. $24.95 Reviewed by Robin Currie, for the Inquirer First, a confession: I have never been a big Rachael Ray fan. I have always found her, well, annoying. But I was willing to look at her new Big Orange Book with an open mind. Rachael refers to this book as "BOB," for Big Orange Book , so I will, too. Well, BOB and I did not get off to a great start. I could not identify the first photograph in the book. What was it? Why did it look like there was raw chicken in it?

SUDDENLY, THERE'S a new garden and mural at East Passyunk and Wharton Street in South Philly where there once was dilapidated mess. But things are still a bit of a mess. For decades - since 1947, according to lot owner Maria Olivieri - the concrete plot was a parking area and a Dumpster area for Pat's King of Steaks. (Back then, Pat's belonged to Harry and Pat Olivieri, her father and uncle.) In recent decades, the slab had become an eyesore encased in drooping chain link. Its main use?

Rachael Ray delivered more than kitchen equipment to Frankford High School Monday. The celebrity chef, who had just last week promised to renovate the school's culinary-arts room in honor of teacher Wilma Stephenson, also brought in Iron Chef America star Bobby Flay to cook, and she handed out $50,000 in college scholarships - $5,000 each to 10 of Stephenson's graduating seniors. Stephenson, whose tough-love approach gained national attention after the 2009 release of the documentary Pressure Cooker, learned Wednesday that Ray would donate a kitchen renovation.

PATTI LABELLE could teach Rachael Ray a thing or two about cooking. And she did. The iconic songbird appeared yesterday afternoon on the Great Philly Grill-Off on "The Rachael Ray Show," which taped outside Pat's King of Steaks, in South Philly. LaBelle told us before the taping that she was making her fried corn on the show. The diabetic singing sensation says she doesn't eat the dish herself but people will hurt themselves trying to eat too much of it once they've tried it. We asked LaBelle what was up with her musically and she teased, "So much I can't tell you yet. "Also I am Beyonce 's baby's godmother, her spiritual godmother," she told us jokingly.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (3 p.m., NBC10) - Michael C. Hall; Tony Danza; magician Steve Wyrick; CJ Holland and Dakota Bradley perform. The Oprah Winfrey Show (4 p.m., 6ABC) - Sex therapist Dr. Laura Berman talks to 30-year-old virgins. Entertainment Tonight (7 p.m., CBS3) - What Hollywood is up to this weekend. The Insider (7:30 p.m., CBS3) - Actor David Caruso; top 10 fashion looks of the week. Access Hollywood (7:30 p.m., NBC10) - Actress Jane Lynch ( Glee )

Leigh Richards started at WXTU (92.5) a year and a half after the country station's 1984 sign-on. She marked her 25th anniversary on Nov. 9. And a week later, she was gone. Her last midday shift was Thursday. Station manager Natalie Conner said she was "not at liberty to discuss" it, and Richards did not return an e-mail request for comment. Steve Leshinski of the local unit of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said the dismissal was "not for cause.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The first major nutritional overhaul of school meals in more than 15 years means most offerings - including the always popular pizza - will come with less sodium, more whole grains, and a wider selection of fruits and vegetables on the side. First lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the new guidelines during a visit Wednesday with elementary students. Michelle Obama, also joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, said youngsters would learn better if they don't have growling stomachs at school.

SUDDENLY, THERE'S a new garden and mural at East Passyunk and Wharton Street in South Philly where there once was dilapidated mess. But things are still a bit of a mess. For decades - since 1947, according to lot owner Maria Olivieri - the concrete plot was a parking area and a Dumpster area for Pat's King of Steaks. (Back then, Pat's belonged to Harry and Pat Olivieri, her father and uncle.) In recent decades, the slab had become an eyesore encased in drooping chain link. Its main use?

PATTI LABELLE could teach Rachael Ray a thing or two about cooking. And she did. The iconic songbird appeared yesterday afternoon on the Great Philly Grill-Off on "The Rachael Ray Show," which taped outside Pat's King of Steaks, in South Philly. LaBelle told us before the taping that she was making her fried corn on the show. The diabetic singing sensation says she doesn't eat the dish herself but people will hurt themselves trying to eat too much of it once they've tried it. We asked LaBelle what was up with her musically and she teased, "So much I can't tell you yet. "Also I am Beyonce 's baby's godmother, her spiritual godmother," she told us jokingly.

Disney sweetie turned Hollywood ingenue Lindsay Lohan in legal trouble? Say it ain't so! LiLo, 24, who has only two weeks left in her court-ordered sojourn at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., may find herself behind bars. Police say the Parent Trap star is being investigated for allegedly assaulting an unnamed female employee at the rehab. TMZ says the Dec. 12 incident was sparked when the employee chided LiLo for returning late after spending the night at a local bar. The employee says she was attacked when she insisted LiLo take a drug and alcohol test.

Leigh Richards started at WXTU (92.5) a year and a half after the country station's 1984 sign-on. She marked her 25th anniversary on Nov. 9. And a week later, she was gone. Her last midday shift was Thursday. Station manager Natalie Conner said she was "not at liberty to discuss" it, and Richards did not return an e-mail request for comment. Steve Leshinski of the local unit of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said the dismissal was "not for cause.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (3 p.m., NBC10) - Michael C. Hall; Tony Danza; magician Steve Wyrick; CJ Holland and Dakota Bradley perform. The Oprah Winfrey Show (4 p.m., 6ABC) - Sex therapist Dr. Laura Berman talks to 30-year-old virgins. Entertainment Tonight (7 p.m., CBS3) - What Hollywood is up to this weekend. The Insider (7:30 p.m., CBS3) - Actor David Caruso; top 10 fashion looks of the week. Access Hollywood (7:30 p.m., NBC10) - Actress Jane Lynch ( Glee )

FOR MOST people, "hunger" is a metaphor for wants rather than needs. We hunger for more time, more money, more of what the next guy has. Even in reference to food, the term becomes hyperbolic. If we go more than five or six hours in any day without a meal, we declare, "I'm starving!" - just before we bite into our supersized sandwiches. Imagine the physical and emotional distress of true hunger. Now imagine suffering that pain as a child. An empty stomach makes children feel empty emotionally, overlooked and forgotten.

Rachael Ray delivered more than kitchen equipment to Frankford High School Monday. The celebrity chef, who had just last week promised to renovate the school's culinary-arts room in honor of teacher Wilma Stephenson, also brought in Iron Chef America star Bobby Flay to cook, and she handed out $50,000 in college scholarships - $5,000 each to 10 of Stephenson's graduating seniors. Stephenson, whose tough-love approach gained national attention after the 2009 release of the documentary Pressure Cooker, learned Wednesday that Ray would donate a kitchen renovation.

How many surprises can one culinary-arts teacher and a group of her budding chefs take in one day? At last count, at least three. TV host Rachael Ray was in town yesterday to unveil a new kitchen she gifted to Frankford High teacher Wilma Stephenson, a no-nonsense instructor with a loving touch. Then there was barely a dry eye in the room when Ray announced that each student, all of whom are seniors, would receive a $5,000 scholarship from Ray's Yum-O! Foundation. "She needed it so bad," a tearful Stephenson said as she hugged a smiling Selena Brown, who accepted a certificate from Ray. Later, Ray called on fellow chef, TV personality and restaurateur Bobby Flay to christen the kitchen, and he whipped up the dish Chicken Chasseur for students.

Wilma Stephenson, whose dedication, tough love, and success with Frankford High School culinary students was immortalized in the 2009 documentary Pressure Cooker , was flabbergasted yesterday to learn that her kitchen classroom would get an extreme makeover, courtesy of the celebrity chef Rachael Ray. "We're going to do one giant kitchen renovation," Ray said in a video played in the high school gym, where students had gathered for a...