Barefoot BFF's hit 30 Rock hard and cook up some ad pages, too

Ina Garten and Stephen Drucker are a culinary and design tour de force. The Barefoot Contessa and her BFF, the House Beautiful editor-in-chief, do not take celebrating the 2009 Kitchen of the Year lightly. They build a full-on replica smack the middle of Rockefeller Center. Then they party like culinary royalty for a full week. I don't take celebrating the 2009 Kitchen of the Year lightly, either. I almost quit my job and moved to 49th Street for a week. Would they welcome me and ask me to prep some brioche and then reward my efforts with flowing praise and my own show? OK I did not quit my job, but I did breeze by 30 Rock to experience the Most Important Kitchen of 2009. I'll admit that I was slightly surprised that a magazine did such a lavish promotion. But HB's vp/publisher Kate Kelly Smith points out that not only is the event longer in duration, it also has attracted more sponsors (19 in all, versus 14 last year) and more than doubled the ad pages from sponsor companies for the title's October issue. Still, it was a perfect execution. I even got a little emotional when I saw the glass bottle of Coach Farms heavy cream in the fridge. Nice touch.

—Posted by Cindee Weiss