Oh, this is one of my favorite pasta recipes.
My name is Andrew Lore.
I am 30 years old from Charleston, West Virginia,
and a lifelong fan of Rachael Ray.
I found out about Rachael Ray
when I was in fifth grade, 10 years old.
My family likes to joke
that I've always been kind of an old soul at heart,
and so I would watch Rachael Ray,
30 minute meals while doing my homework.
So as I would watch her on 30 minute meals,
and she made everything look so easy and doable,
it really gave me the confidence
and inspired me to start getting in the kitchen
and trying to do that myself.
Through making my own food,
eating more nutritiously, eating a variety of food,
I actually lost a lot of weight starting about 10 years ago.
During the pandemic one of the things
that I really focused on
and things that kept me busy were planning my meals out.
It was something that kept me focused,
gave me something to do,
especially with the restaurants
and everything being shut down.
A lot of friends didn't know how to cook,
so I would actually meal prep for them,
give leftovers to friends
and families who I knew could use, you know,
a home cooked meal.
After I saw that Rachael had lost her home in 2020,
I thought, well you know, it'll be a nice gesture
trying to send something to help lift her spirits.
I know that she had lost a lot of things in the fire.
So I decided to actually put together a cookbook of meals
that I had made over the past year from Rachael's recipes
to actually show what an impact she had actually had
on my life in the past year and a half
and letting her know just really how grateful I was
for all the things that she has actually taught me
over the years.
Four days after my 30th birthday,
I come home and there's a big bouquet of flowers
sitting on my front porch.
When I actually opened the card,
Rachael had sent me a flower arrangement
to thank me for my gift.
And then a couple of weeks after that,
I got a handwritten note in the mail,
thanking me for the gift and asking me to be on the show.
From someone who's had such an impact on my life,
and been such an inspiration to me over the years,
it was just one of those unbelievable moments
that I can't forget.
When someone teaches you how to cook,
it's a very familial thing.
It makes you feel like family already.
So actually being able to meet her after all these years.
It's just unbelievable and I couldn't be more excited.
(crowd clapping)
Please welcome Andrew, Yay!
Andrew, Andrew!
Love you!
I love you so much, thank you.
I love you so much.
Thank you.
This is your take on the pasta alla norma from your book.
It is.
Thank you for grating the cheese.
My friend Barrett prepped the food
for some of the pictures in the book.
A lot of them are actually from my iPhone camera,
but my friend Barrett made the cheese,
on the small grater.
So I say, tell Andrew when he goes into the kitchen,
use the big side of the grater.
I didn't even know that, so we're just on the same page.
We're right here.
Right there, we're on the same page.
Your book meant everything to me,
It really brought me to my knees.
Your kitchen is so beautiful.
A lot inspiration from here, so.
It's cleaner than ours.
You want to taste, honey?
You know, absolutely.
It looks a lot like yours,
I gotta tell you, just looking at it.
Everything that you make is so beautiful.
I mean, honestly, it looks like a photo shoot
from a magazine.
Thank you, learn from the best obviously.
Listen,
Andrew, this tastes, I eat her food all the time,
tastes just like hers.
Good, glad to hear it, that's awesome.
(crowd clapping)
So you were saying that you give away a lot of yours too
that you were cooking for your friends,
and I love that you made them meal kits.
Oh, absolutely.
Well, here's what I learned, especially during Covid,
was that if you know how to cook,
you'll always have friends because,
That's true.
because people love food.
So yeah, and it was a great way for us to bond,
to have time together.
We would do cookalongs over Skype.
Just like the Zoom, right?
Absolutely, absolutely.
It's so fun.
So you'd prep it out for some and cook along with them.
Yes.
And for others, just say, hey, I've been cooking all day.
You want, isn't it fun?
So my mom, you know, bless her heart,
a lot of great qualities.
Cooking? It shaky.
One of the things that I would do
was meal prep for her
because she likes to blame it on my dad
for being a picky eater.
So I would make her things
that he would never eat in a million years.
And that was a great way to pass time.
And you probably expanded her food horizon.
Oh, absolutely.
Quite a bit.
Oh Absolutely, anything past like macaroni and cheese.
So obviously, I'm going to give you
one of our first copies.
I would love for you to write some more meals.
Okay.
Your own like brr jam jam on them.
Okay And the next time you come,
just cook one of your originals.
I would love to do that.
At my request.
I would love to do that.
All right? Yes.
I will be his sous-chef on the upcoming episode
of this television show, alright?
I'm looking forward to it.
Pinky swear.