Remember when Rachael said she was writing a new book during quarantine in 2020? Well, guess what—it's officially out! And we couldn't be more excited.
As Rachael revealed last year, "It's similar to Rachael Ray 50—it's a collection of 15 to 20 essays about what we've been through, and of course it will include recipes as well."
Specifically, the new book of "dispatches & food from the home front," as Rach puts it, contains a whopping 127 recipes and 16 essays on life lessons, loss, gratitude and the special memories that make a house a home, all written from her home kitchen in upstate New York. Plus, the cover—featuring her and John—is downright adorable.
"The book is called This Must Be The Place," Rach explains. "It's one of my favorite songs. I love David Byrne a lot. But the book is really about how much we learned being here in this place. To us, we felt like we lost our privacy, but then we got so much more out of that from sharing our lives with you guys." 🧡
This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors.If you are using ad-blocking software, please disable it and reload the page.
And who better to chat with about her latest release than one of her good friends, bestselling author (75 million times over!) Harlan Coben?! (Stay tuned for one of his new projects, "Stay Close," out on Netflix on December 31st!)
Harlan opens by asking Rach about that fateful day in March 2020, right at the start of the pandemic, when she realized that she and John would somehow have to figure out, just the two of them, how to finish the number of episodes promised for the season. And that the place where she would have to do that was inside her beloved upstate home—which then, so sadly, burned down just a few months later.
"We felt lost—we felt like the boogeyman had come to the door," Rach says. "Because [our house] was our quiet place. That was the place where John would play music—where we would bring our closest, dearest friends and our immediate family." As such, she had never filmed inside it—until she knew she had no other choice.
And so much emotional turmoil followed, including the loss of her beloved dog, Isaboo. But, she tells Harlan, there was a silver lining—which she shares in the book. "I wanted the book to be a reflection of several things, [including] really analyzing what home means to all of us after great loss, really understanding what it is to show people everything, to be raw with them and share the darkest and toughest times. To be completely transparent with other human beings becomes strangely cathartic."
"We started getting all of these letters," Rach continues, "all of this emotion and all of this beauty back into our lives in a very different way."
We're so glad to hear it, Rach. 🧡
Watch more from Rach's heartfelt interview with Harlan in the video above. As for some of the delicious recipes you'll find in the book, here's a tasty preview...
Turkey Roulade with Simple Gravy
Rachael Ray Show
Kate Mathis
Rachael Ray Show
Rachael Ray Show
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s63CoZiepKKWxrS0zrBlnKedZK6zwMico56rX6eupLTAnqOsZZ6axG6uzqiiZqyYnsBuudSsq2aalWLBqbGMqaOam5Viwamt02aqoZ1drL%2BwwMRmoKdlYmV%2FcXnIrGSoraRiu7DD