TVSquad

This is really great news, because I was truly afraid that Ray wasn't going to have enough work to do an might find herself unemployed of something.

Yup, the coffee and donut chain has hired the host of the syndicated Rachael Ray, the host of 30 Minute Meals, the host of Tasty Travels, the maker of her own knives and olive oil, and the editor of Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine to be their new spokesperson. As Rachael herself puts it: "Having grown up in the Northeast, I have a longstanding and deep appreciation for Dunkin'."

Besides being their spokesperson, Ray will actually help come up with new food and beverage products.

Great, Rachael Ray on caffeine. That's all we need.

Okay, now I'm getting a tad bit afraid. Last week we told you that, on top of everything else that is owned by or endorsed by Rachael Ray, three of her meals were being tested on the current mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. Now we hear that one of her trademark Rachael-isms is being added to the next edition of the Oxford American College Dictionary. Can enrichment of uranium without U.N. approval be far behind?

The word being added is EVOO, which is an abbreviation for 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil'. According to our friends over at sister site Slashfood, the announcement that the word would be added to the dictionary was made last week on her talk show by the editor of the Oxford American. During the announcement the editor spoke about how hard it was to get a word added into the dictionary. Hence, the reason 'Yum-oh' wasn't added.

You know what this means, don't you? Rachael may be surpassing friend Oprah in the race to rule the world. Yes, Oprah has billions of dollars and millions of fans. But, as far as I know, she doesn't have a word in the dictionary. Let the bloodletting begin!

Some people just don't give up. No matter how poorly they do, they try again. And, no matter how poorly they do after that, they try again. Some would say that it is a sign of someone who is not willing to give up. Others would say that the person was just stupid.

I'm not too sure which description I would choose for chef Rocco DiSpirito. If you remember, DiSpirito was the star of NBC's The Restaurant, a reality show about running his own restaurant. There were hopes for the show when it began airing in 2003; however, reviews for the show were terrible and it ended its run in the summer of 2004. We thought that would be the last we saw of Rocco on eposodic television.

Apparently, that's not the case. According to Sarah Gim (from our sister site Slashfood), DiSpirito is currently filming a pilot for another reality series simply titled Rocco. In the show, the chef will act as a culinary therapist, solving people's problems through the use of food. Um, don't professionals usually say that solving problems with food is actually one of the worst things you can do?

Is Rocco determined, or just someone who doesn't get it? We'll see if this pilot turns into a series.

To follow up on this post I did over at Slashfood, I just got through watching Celebrity Poker Showdown (the one where David Cross won and gave bananas to the whole audience - you'd have to see it to understand), and right after the show ended, the NBC reality series from a couple of years ago, The Restaurant, came on.

Huh? Why is Bravo showing this again? I thought it was a low-rated embarrassment that the network (and Rocco DiSpirito) would want to put behind them. I know that CNBC was showing the show on a regular basis, but...well, that's CNBC, and they need all the programming they can get. Is Bravo so hard up for programming that they have to show a reality show that not many people cared for in the first place, and show it in the middle of the day to boot?

Weird.

Earlier today, as I was once again watching the SNL skit for "Taco Town", it hit me: Why the hell hasn't anyone tried to make this taco yet? So, I set the Squad (and Slashfood folks) to task: Someone try to make the pizza crepe taco pancake chili bag ... for real. And eat it (or at least try it).

Sarah of TV Squad and Slashfood has said she'll attempt this crazy creation, though she could use some cheering on. Let's get this puppy made, people!

Everyone here at WIN is very excited about the launch of our new blog, Slashfood. As you can probably tell from the title, it's all about the world of food and drink. Like you, we here at WIN love to eat and drink and talk about what we eat and drink. New restaurants, recipes, food hacks, industry news, celebrity chef gossip, fun foods, food porn. You name, we'll cover it.

Mmmmmm. Go check it out.