UW house cook featured on Rachael Ray

Mary Wren has been preparing meals for the residents at the Seventeenth Avenue House, a UW male student living community, for the past five years. Recently, the residents decided it was time to repay her for all of her hard work.

Each of the 50 students contributed a paragraph in a letter to the Rachael Ray show, one of Wren’s favorite programs, describing their affection for Wren and their appreciation for her tireless efforts.

The letter ultimately resulted in CBS flying Wren and the entire house to New York May 6-8 to be featured on the show, which aired May 21.

With the help of CBS, the Seventeenth Avenue House residents surprised Wren with the news by showing her a video of Rachael Ray inviting her to New York to be on the show.

“It was unreal,” said Chris Lee, a junior and Seventeenth Avenue House resident. “She was totally surprised.”

The students had to keep Wren’s appearance on the show a secret for nearly a month, which house resident Brian Kruse, a sophomore business major, said was no small task.

“It was definitely tough to keep it a secret. You really just wanted to tell someone,” Kruse said.

The letter was originally a birthday gift, which the cook seemed to appreciate as much as the trip itself.

“The birthday letter was good enough for me, just knowing they would do that for me,” Wren said.

She added that the trip to New York and the chance to meet Rachael Ray were a couple of nice bonuses.

On the show, the 50 Seventeenth Avenue House residents came out on stage with Wren, all wearing ‘I love Mary’ T-shirts, and started chanting ‘Mary,’ which Ray joined in on.

Ray interviewed two of the guys, who described the amazing job that Mary does as their house cook and how much they appreciate her work.

“50 kids — ouch! Glad you didn’t do that the traditional way,” Ray responded jokingly, when Wren described how cooking at the house is like having 50 kids.

The other guest on this particular episode of Rachael Ray was supermodel Cindy Crawford, who introduced herself to Wren backstage after seeing all of the ‘I love Mary’ T-shirts.

When asked about the house food, it was apparent that the residents at the Seventeenth Avenue House love the meals that Wren makes on a daily basis, listing a long line of favorites that included chicken Caesar wraps, calzones and gyros.

“It’s definitely some of the best food out of the houses in the area,” Kruse said.

One of Wren’s regular dinners, stuffed pepper soup, is inspired by a recipe from Rachael Ray.

Although Wren was the featured guest on Rachael Ray, she emphasized that it was the guys who deserve the credit.

“The story is really about the boys; there are a lot of cooks that do what I do, but their boys don’t write to Rachael Ray,” Wren said.