Ray started teaching the concept at a chain of local grocery stores and on a Schenectady television station. As a holiday promotion, she developed a class to help people get dinner on the table in half an hour. She was a buyer and a cook, preparing hundreds of pounds of food every day. Ray moved back into the cabin and eventually landed a job at the fanciest food and equipment store in Albany. After a bad break-up, a broken ankle and a violent mugging in front of her Queens apartment that left her scraped and shaken, she headed home. She stayed in the city for only two years. When Macy's tried to promote her to a buyer in accessories, she moved to Agata & Valentina, the specialty foods store. She worked first at the Macy's Marketplace candy counter and moved up the ranks quickly, learning about everything from buying cheese to how to shop for Liza Minnelli's holiday food gifts. She had grown up around Lake George, but the cycle of small-town life and low-paying jobs was wearing thin. Some months she could barely put together enough money to cover the $550 rent. She rented it 13 years ago and has lived there off and on with her mother and, sometimes, her younger brother, since. Ray has 'canoodled' over the years were written in her cabin.

Ray has shown America the way back to the kitchen. With more than 4 million books in print and four shows on the Food Network, Ms. She'll stick with hot dog nachos and 'jambalika,' a dish that is kind of like jambalaya. Let the big-name chefs fuss with foams and sous vide. Ray, 37, is one of the most influential people cooking today. Though the nation's food elite might cringe, Ms. She flashed the wide grin that critics of her performances on the Food Network compare to that of Batman's nemesis, the Joker.

'No, mamacello, I didn't burn anything,' Ms.

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