"She's become a one-woman multimedia phenomenon in less than 10 years and is still as rootsy and down to earth as she has always been."

"One friend said of Rachael Ray, 'She is a machine.' She finally arrived fresh from a photo shoot with flawless hair and makeup and a power-minx short Derek Lam cocktail dress."

"'I'm heading to the house that Letterman built right after I leave you, she explained. I will admit it felt rather genius to be interviewing Rachael Ray before sending her on her way to David Letterman. "

"Yes—this was the perfect schmoozefest!As soon as G.W. dropped a fart joke to uproarious laughter, there was no stopping us."

In just a decade, Rachael Ray, 42, went from humble food purveyor and cook to media empress—overseeing cooking shows and a talk show, a magazine, cookware lines, and 17 books. With the release this month of Ray's Look + Cook (Clarkson Potter), our correspondent pays her a visit.

George Wayne: I love it! I'm sitting here in a huge, neonorange-painted office.

Rachael Ray: It wakes you up, doesn't it? Yes, it's my favorite color, and it's also the color of hunger awareness across the globe.

G.W. Well, G. W. started watching your morning show to prep for this meeting. You have this incredible ability to connect.

R.R. I consider myself nothing more than a very good waitress. I think that everyone should have to wait tables at some point in their life. I think that what I do—whether the shows, the magazine, or the cookbooks—is to try and listen for what's being ordered and then deliver it. I grew up in restaurants. My first job was as a dishwasher in my mom's restaurant.

G.W. That must be where you get all your multi-tasking workaholic tendencies.

R.R. My mom was the first of 10 children, and my grandfather was an extraordinary gardener and butcher. He was a stonemason by trade but came home and cooked too. It was my mom's job to be in the kitchen with him a lot. So even if it meant working a long day, that didn't mean you didn't go home, cook, and spend time with the family.

G.W. Do you cringe when people call you "the next Martha Stewart"?

R.R. I think that's tougher for Martha to hear than for me. I take it as a huge compliment. I don't sew or bake, and I am very limited in my crafting abilities, but I have always been flattered by any comparison to Martha Stewart. Because I think if it weren't for people like Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse our entire industry wouldn't exist.

G.W. You have this gorgeously sexy, throaty rasp of a voice. I heard you had something called croup?

R.R. I was one of those kids that was always in the vaporizer tent. I was always sick when I was real little, but by the time I was in middle school it got much better. I do think that's where my funny voice comes from—the croup cough. I had to have a small operation two summers ago. I had a cyst on my vocal cords that kept swelling. After taping three shows a day for five days a week, I was barely audible. By the weekend I would have no voice. So I had surgery.

G.W. Everything you have hatched so far has been a golden egg except for your magazine. It seems to be a stinker with low advertising and subscription rates.

R.R. Not at all. We had great sales in September and October. It's just like every other magazine—we've had ups and downs over five years, but I'm very proud of our track record.

G.W. Of all your peers in the business, whom are you closest to?

R.R. It would probably be Mario Batali.

G.W. We love Mario, too! But why does Anthony Bourdain say such mean things about you?

R.R. Tony has said some nice things and some mean things, but, hey—I guess you can't like all the kids in the playground.

G.W. Would you agree with G. W. that Piers Morgan is going to be the biggest bomb in the history of CNN?

R.R. I don't know, but I am very curious about that because I am a CNN junkie. Those are really big suspenders for anybody to try and fill. He could be quite good at it.

G.W. How did you come up with the idea that launched your career, the meal in 30 minutes?

R.R. I was working in Albany. I said to myself, If the Domino's guy can deliver in 30 minutes, why not try and prepare a meal at home?

G.W. You have a slamming body, Rachael Ray. Whom are you wearing right now?

R.R. Derek Lam.

G.W. Well, the only superlative left to add to your resume is Good Housekeeping's "most trusted person in America."

R.R. I work very hard on anything I put my name on.

G.W. You walk on water, Rachael Ray.

R.R. "It's about food, conversation, and storytelling."