tuesday, february 12th, 2013. i'm willie geist along with al ro roker, natalie morales and our special guest back with us from the "sports illustrated" swimsuit cover for the second year in a row, kate upton. you're used -- i'm looking at photo and thinking to myself, you're used to -- >> what are you thinking, willie? >> i'm going to go to a different place to save myself. they say you're going to an

arct arctica. >> i say have you sure me? i'm from florida. i don't know if we're thinking this through. >> this is the seven continent shoot. did you draw the short end of the straw on that one? >> when i heard the theme, such a powerful scene and i was chosen for antarctica. >> what was your impressions of the weather, the penguins, all that was around you? >> it was the most beautiful place i've ever been. every time before i took off my coat, i would enjoy just the views and, i mean, the mountains were pink and the water was glass. it looked like little ice cubes were in the water. it was gorgeous. >> there were a couple of photos throughout this issue of you. how long did it take to do? i'm imaging how cold you are as you're doing it. >> i could really only do it for a minute and then everyone would come running and they would build me like a little blanket

cave, hold me. >> you are back-to-back, first time that's happened since tyra banks did it in 1997. can you talk about how it changed your life a year ago and what it means to be back-to-back this time? >> so amazing i was able to accomplish that. i'm really happy about it. i think, you know, the first year i didn't know what a huge impact it would be on my life. i feel like maybe i'm a little more prepared this year. >> talk about suffering for your art. you suffered some ill effects like frostbite and other issues once you got back from the shoot. >> i went all out for this. we went there thinking we might not even get a shot and came back with the cover. >> you didn't know, but i guess it was leaked originally, i guess on friday,s h is how you found out. does that take the oomph out of it? i guess it's like christmas when you find out. but as the cover girl it got leaked to you. >> i like to know everything.

i was excited. i was able to prepare, get a few more dresses. you know, for girls that's the thing. >> i'm with you on that. i love that. we've got a little surprise coming up at the end of this segment. kate is going to turn the tables, shall we say. >> uh-oh. >> that's a very vague tease. there might be some blue steel coming out. that was our take one. take two, the end of the landline telephone. at&t customers report rate increases now as much as 50% has a lot of people saying good-bye to the landline. the question is, do you even still have a landline? i don't have one in my home. >> i just gave up my landline. for a little bit, i didn't even know my apartment offered that, so -- >> i still have one because in the event of a sandy or something like that, if you are completely dependent on cell service, you're going to be out of luck. and, in fact, in our basement we have an old phone -- it's still

touch tone. there's still current that runs through the phone line that allows the phones to work. >> mr. disaster preparedness. >> red phone. >> yeah. >> we'll come over to your place for all our emergency calls. >> and have a great party because i've got penguins in the basement. >> finally! >> it's interesting, because i think this generation of kids -- i don't think they're going to know a landline phone. >> it's not unlike the u.s. postal service conversation we had last week. there's some kind of nostalgia for the old way of things. >> part of the problem is that the landline business has been deregulated and now these companies can charge whatever they want. while they're regulated the increases were fairly moderate and they still made a profit. now it's all bets are off. >> and they just say you're out of luck. we're going to keep raising the rates. take three now is -- i don't know. i guess we're going to call it a breakfast drink. hard to associate mountain dew

with breakfast but they're trying. it's called kick start. we've got some of it here. i guess we're going to test drive some of this. >> yeah. >> kate, are you a coffee person in the morning? >> honestly, i can't give up my coffee. >> okay. >> but -- >> this has some juice. >> 5% juice? >> 5% juice, it's so healthy. >> 8 0 calories, that's good. >> a big can like this. >> pepsi is not calling it an energy drink. this is a breakfast drink. remember that as you drink it down. >> it's good. it has 92 milligrams of caffeine. >> which, by the way, in a 16-ounce can is less than a starbucks cup of coffee. >> that has like 330 milligram. >> it tastes like mountain dew, oddly enough. >> oddly, it's made by mountain dew. >> cherry mountain dew. >> kate, would you do this in the morning? >> not in the morning. maybe afternoon. >> it kind of defeats the purpose. this is kind of a morning drink. >> but in the afternoon, right? >> i have a coffee in the

afternoon. >> there you go. >> mix it into your routine. >> how about you? >> i'm not going to do it. thank you for the offer. >> i like it. >> do you? >> it's that 5% juice, you know. >> we're going to slam these, power chug these as natalie takes care of the news. good morning, everyone. in the news the u.n. security council is holding an emergency meeting today to deal with north korea's latest provocation, the reinclusive communist country announced it conduct ed a third nuclear test today. president obama called it a threat to u.s. security and international peace. a vatican spokesman said today that pope benedict xvi will not play any role in running the church when he steps down at the end of this month. and today in germany the pope's brother said benedict plans to keep a low profile and may not publish any new writings so they don't interfere with the work of the new pope. president obama lays out the agenda for the start of his second term during tonight's state of the union address. he is expected to focus on job

decr creation and middle class growth as well as gun control. the republican response will be delivered by florida senator marco rubio. it will now be at least thursday before a cruise ship stranded in the gulf of mexico reaches port. carnival cruise line says the ship drifted so far north it will be towed to mobile, alabama, instead of to a closer port in mexico. the carnival triumph, with more than 4,000 passengers and crew members lost power after an engine room fire this weekend. chicago police have arrested two men in connection with the murder of teen hadiya pendleton just days after first lady michelle obama attended the girl's funeral. pendleton had performed at the president's inauguration as a majorette last month. and if anyone ever accuses you of throwing like a girl, just show them this. colorado high schooler anna olson shot this basket, launching the ball all the way across the court, big bounce and nothing but net. don't want to know how you score

that, but i guess she only got two points because of that bounce. doesn't seem fair, though. creative shot. pretty good. yeah, very good. >> it's a two-pointer because it bounced. >> it bounced before it went in, right. >> paging lynn berman. we'll see that again. >> that's for sure. how about the weather? >> ahead of this storm we've got a lot of wet weather. from new orleans, where they're celebrating fat tuesday on into florida, looking at heavy rain. we've got flood watches and flash flood warnings out there. as we take a look rainfallwise, we're talking anywhere from three to five inches of rain. backside of this system we're talking about snow. that's right. we've got winter storm warnings and winter storm watches in effect. a lot of snow from amarillo on into oklahoma city. anywhere from three to six inches. some areas, though, picking up up to a foot of snow between elk >> good morning. it will be a dry start to the

day today. we will see a mixture of sunshine and a few clouds. and that's your latest weather. >> i'm not quite sure what's happening here. a couple of fans are about to shoot at us. >> what? >> i understand you're going to be photographing us? >> yes. i'll show you what it's like to be a model, even if you're not shooting in antarctica, every set makes sure to have a fan so that you're very cool. >> and blow the hair, do the whole thing? >> we've got two. >> beyonce fan? >> we have props, right? >> where do you want us? >> go ahead, hand us whatever you want to give us.

all right. work the props. >> pretty hands. >> not the claw? >> no. maybe in the pocket. >> handle the problems. >> these pictures are actually going to be on our website for the fans, right? >> oh, we lost it. >> work it, willie. >> chin down. >> chin down. >> why the chin down? is that a better angle? >> for the lighting. >> you're a natural. >> what should we be up to here? >> look natural. you both look very natural right there. >> don't hurt me with that cane. >> you're being photographed by kate upton right now, al. >> very cool. >> kate upton, thank you. congratulations on the cover. >> thank you so much.

>> coming up next, i'm wearing a boa. i'll take that off. brandi glanville from real house wives of beverly hills has a new book. we'll talk to her in a minute. h a new book. we'll talk to her in a minute. [ mom ] with my little girl, every food is finger food. so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but after one day's use, dishcloths can redeposit millions of germs. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to a fresh sheet of new bounty duratowel. look! a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth, as this black light reveals. it's durable, cloth-like and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to new bounty duratowel. the durable, cloth-like picker-upper.

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from the brand doctors recommend most. new honey bunches of oats greek yohere we go.ole grain. honey cornflakes and chunks of greek yogurt. i'm tasting both the yogurt and the honey at the same time. i'm like digging this yogurt thing. i feel healthy. new honey bunches of oats greek. you got yourself mcdonald's new fish mcbites. hit it! ♪ fish-ay! fish-ay! [ male announcer ] you can catch a lot with a dollar. like the snack size of mcdonald's new fish mcbites. ♪ ba da ba ba ba delicious. but say i press a few out flat... add some beef sloppy joe sauce... and cheese fold it all up and boom! i just made an unbeatable unsloppy joe pillsbury grands biscuits. let the making begin. pillsbury grands biscuits. see lioutdoors, or in.ight.

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free. she's known for speaking her mind on bravo's "the real housewives of beverly hills" as you just see. that clip real quick, was there a little drinking and tweeting going on there as well? >> yes. absolutely. always. >> how are you and adrienne do? >> who? >> that's how we're going to start, okay. let's talk about the book. you wrote most of it four years ago at a time when your marriage was breaking up. do you regret anything you put in there now that you would like to have out of there if you could do it again? >> no. i was very angry, obviously, four years ago when i wrote the book. there were things in there that i did take out because i was so mad like, oorks maybe that's too much of a low blow. and also the lawyers had me take some things out as well. >> obviously, you were mad at your ex-husband, who left you essentially for leann rhymes.

among other things you call him a made for tv actor, a pretty face, not a talented actor. i understand and a lot of people would understand why you're angry, but he is the father of your two kids. >> right. >> is it appropriate to put that out there in public? >> you know, i don't know if i do everything that's appropriate in life. the fact of the matter is, that is my opinion and one day all of this will be available for my kids to read and i think what they're going to take away from it is that throughout this entire time, i've never said a bad word about their dad in front of them. they ask if we can go and all move into a house together. i'm like, sure, just talk to your dad. >> they're going to be at the age soon where they'll see this online and see what you said about their father. >> not at my house. we have parental controls. they can't google certain things. >> eventually. >> eventually, they will, for sure. >> we reached out to eddie and he gave us a statement. quote, i certainly wish i handled some of the choices i made four years ago differently. but i have been conscious of the

choices i have made since. this exploitive book, intended to hurt leann and me will ultimately only hurt and scar my kids. that deeply saddens and concerns me. do you worry about the kids? >> that's all i worry about. with eddie not working and me having to pay my own bills, this book will help me do that. the fact that, unfortunately, i had to write this book, i have to pay the bills. he's not doing that for me. >> what's your relationship like with eddie right now? >> we don't have one now. >> you don't speak at all? >> no. >> you don't see him in the course of dropping the kids off or picking the kids up? >> no. >> you did have a relationship not long ago. how did that deteriorate of late? >> unfortunately, you know, she -- leann went to rehab. and i was very concerned for my children, what was going on over at that house. why that had to happen. and i didn't get any answers. and i got very angry. you know, it's my children's stepmother. so, if she's checking into rehab

for stress and anxiety and says she's crying every day, i need to know my kids are okay when they're with them. so that kind of started the ugly back and forth again and, you know, there was a time when we were good. i had them over for easter. it was just them, me and the kids for an easter egg hunt. it's difficult. >> what are your concerns when your kids are over there, given what you said about leann and eddie? what do you think is happening there that should concern you? >> i don't know. if someone is checking into rehab clearly there's some sort of issues going on. i want to make sure that's not affecting my children. >> you write in the book of leann rhymes, among other things, call her a washed up country singer. child stars are just the worst. throughout their careers no one tells them knno. they think they can take anything they want without repercussions. you're talking, of course, about i don't you are husband.

you've had this twitter war. she says she wants to move on and you won't let her. >> i don't tweet leann. i try to leave them out of my timeline. i really do. >> do you feel that you and leann will ever have a relationship because of the kids that can be at least stable, something that will help the children? >> i hope so. i think once leann has a child of her own and understands kind of boundaries and what's okay and what's respectful as far as, you know, being a parent goes that she and i will hopefully be okay. i hope so. >> do you think this book does anything to forward that relationship? >> no. >> how about the relationship with your husband? >> my husband? i'm not married. >> your ex-husband, excuse me. excuse me. >> no. >> and you're okay with that? >> i'm okay with that. >> so are you okay with having no relationship from this moment forward with eddie or leann? >> i haven't had a relationship with them for probably over a

year. do i want to be at mason's high school graduation and be able to sit next to them? i do, absolutely. they've done numerous sit-down interviews where they've told their side of the story over and over and over again. i never did. this is my sit-down interview. i put it in the form of a book. this is my story, my truth. here you go. when this book tour is done, i'm done talking about them completely, in public, not on twitter, nothing. this is my side. this is my last chapter when it comes to talking about them publicly. >> the book is very tough in some places, very funny in a lot of other places. your fans are going to love it. brandi glanville, the book is "drinking, tweeting and other brandi blunders." thank you, brandi. we're back with more of "today" after this. wait for everybody. you know what, while we're waiting why don't we play a game of hide and seek? right now? yeah go hide. go on buddy. one, two... [ son ] come and find me! three! [ son ] are you even looking for me? i am looking!

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♪ [ female announcer ] nothing gets you going quite like the power of quaker oats. today is going to be epic. quaker up. this thursday is valentine's day but also the two-month anniversary of those tragic school shootings in newtown, connecticut. >> grassroots group wants your help in honoring the 26 lost. >> you can go online to twitter, facebook, google plus, pinterest, any of those, and sind an electronic valentine to let them know you're thinking of them. >> they're calling it the one million hearts campaign to mark this two-month anniversary.

>> to learn more about the one million hearts campaign, create your own valentine. head to today.com. we're back after your local news. together for breakfast. in fact, they might work too well. [ ding! ] [ shuffling, scooting ] [ clears throat ] [ children laugh ] [ female announcer ] golden, crispy outside. warm and fluffy inside. we are one good-looking family. [ children laugh ] [ female announcer ] eggo waffles. simply delicious. progress-oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!" share your progress-oh! story on facebook. i'll tell you what we do. i want you to go out on the field and look for anything with an "o". we will win this for mother russia! coach, eat a snickers®. why's that, chief?

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>> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> much better than yesterday. we had rain yesterday. today we should have mostly sunny skies. a little on the pc side. high temperatures in the 40's and 50's. we will start with dry weather in the morning. snow on wednesday night.

most surprising thing was twitter changing tweet with his the dalai lama. he said geez, you sure ran out of steam quick. i've been the dalai llama. then the pope tweeted i guess being pope is a lot harder than just wearing a bed sheet all day #get a real job. then he wrote back at least i don't wear a -- pope responded come on, son, you know my hat is dope. don't hate the playa, hate the game #jealous much. >> my hate is dope says the pope. jimmy fallon. >> i love him. so creative. >> got ugly. >> i'm telling you. >> a smackdown.

>> little bit there. >> i'm willie geist along with al and natalie. coming up this morning, two days left. you know, this morning we've got diy last-minute valentine's day ideas for the ones you love. >> you know jeff probst from survivor. he has taken that idea, written adventure series for kids. >> and we brought the fat tuesday party to the kitchen with chicken and sausage gumbo you can make tonight. >> sounds good. let's get a check of the weather. starting off with today, a risk of severe weather right around new orleans, into the panhandle of florida. wet weather through the mid plains. we're expecting showers and mountain snows in the pacific northwest. some lake-effect snow, western new york and pennsylvania. for tomorrow, the rain moves into the midatlantic coast with a slight risk of strong storms, northern florida into southern georgia. sunny and mild through the texas area on into the southwest. that's what's going o

>> good morning. it will turn out to be a nice day today. temperatures will be slightly above average. up and that's your latest weather. natalie? >> al, thank you. jest brobst is best known as the emmy-winning host of survivor. he has taken that idea, written an adventure series for kids based on the question, what would happen if four kids were shipwrecked on an island and left to fend for themselves? the book is called stranded. we should also mention he is the host of the jeff probst show as well. good morning to you. >> good morning gnatry. >> nice to have you back who

are. >> thanks for having me. >> people have long asked why not do a survivor series for kids? >> survivor is such a family show. that's what they say, when are you going to do one for kids? since we have not yet dropped an 8, 9, 10, 11-year-old on an isla island, we thought we'll write the book, put the kids in there. could you find food, build shelter, build a fire? >> this is such a blended story. you bring your own personal experience in this as well. when you married lisa, she had two kids to add to the family. >> she brought these two amazing little kids who were so -- they were young enough they were excited to have another dad in their life. we went looking for fiction. and there's nothing out there, virtually nothing. so this is a story of a mom and dad who each bring two kids and say let's send them out on a sailing trip to get to know each other. a storm comes in and -- >> they're shipwrecked. >> and they're stranded. >> and they don't always get along, right? >> no. because they don't even know each other yet. what survivor does and what "stranded" does, it forces you

to work together through the conflict. and there's three books in this series. so they get to know each other. then they learn how to is your voiv and ultimately are trying to get rescued. >> they each have a skill set. one is good at lighting fires, the other is good at hunting, finding water. >> the kids are very different. one is kind of a couch potato that watches survivor shows. the other is more of the athlete. there's two girls. one is the gatekeeper and journalist. each of them bring their different skills in over the course of the journey, which is why i say it is survivor for kids. it's the same idea. >> did you bring sort of that blended family experience to this as well, allowing them to go through the challenges as -- >> yes. >> -- kids growing up in that environment? >> yes. that is the point. they are really going to mature quickly. but also they're going to learn that this new brother i have, maybe he's not so bad after all. maybe he actually brings something into my life, in the way that kids do.

first usually by saying i don't know if i like you so much or not. the big part of the story is adventure. it is full-on survivor adventure. >> this is the age group of 8 to 10. >> 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, yeah. the characters are 8 to 13. so right in that range. >> and we know that it continues. you said it's the first of three. they're still stranded? >> oh, yes. they're still stranded at the end of book one. >> okay. survival skills will come in handy. congrats on the show. >> thanks. >> keep it going. >> thanks for having me on. >> jeff probst, thank you so much. coming up next, last-minute valentine's gifts right after this. this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left.

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"today" celebrates valentine's day, last-minute gift ideas. good to see you again, brit. >> good to see you. >> i was going to wear my hard hat. last time you were on, i think we have video of it. >> uh-oh. >> this is what happened. i was standing next to you, not less than twoweeks ago and you smashed an egg on my head. >> it had confetti. >> and then you brought in tamron. >> i think she went way harder than i did. >> i'm worried because we do have eggs in front of us. >> yes. the first thing is breakfast. right way to kick off the day. we made a hearty breakfast. heart-shape egg, use iing a heart-shaped egg mold here. that's a little bit of protein. if you want to add milk, we customized these straws using cut-out foam hearts, make it cuter for your honey.

>> where do you get the foam hearts? >> you cut it out of foam. diy. fill it with your own tea. of course, custom diy sugar koo cubes made out of food coloring dyed with plain white sugar kt with cookie cutters. of course, cereal and milk. the love of my life deserves the best cereal ever. >> you make your own box cover? >> exactly. i recommend honey bunches of oats is another good one. have fun of with it. take notes here. >> i need this. >> first time you can send cannedi and flowers in one. >> together? >> yes. >> good. >> small face in between and candy on the edges and just start pouring it like this. once you fill up, put your flowers in like this, deliver it to your valentine. sweets for your sweet. >> you get a little two for one

there. >> exactly. speaking of sweets, chocolate is something that makes valentine's day complete. >> yes. >> we've taken your average chocolate bars, snickers, twix, peppermint pattys with rolled-out fruit candies, star burst, airheads. you use your cookie cutter once you roll them out to cut out shapes. >> do they roll out well? >> exactly. >> just like that. >> just like that. exactly. you need a little bit of powdered sugar to roll it out smooth. top your candy. package it up in this clear wrap, add sprinkles if you like. >> cut up the candy and top the snickers bar. >> exactly. making our own jewelry? >> we're making our own jewelry. did you notice my bracelet today? >> did you make that? >> yes. this is using nothing but this brass wire, stencil or design p.

you can write words, use hearts. mold the design with the wire. you can see that this one even sticks together using nothing but the wire itself, no clasp needed. >> you have to have a little art skill. >> you just follow -- cursive. did you learn that? >> first she's cracked an egg, now she's cracking on me. twitter handle on there, a little narcissistic? >> it's a little geeky. >> don't you want to go buy the card? >> it's way cooler if you make the card. these will only take you a couple of minutes. don't worry. you can do it. first is a pixel heart, continuing with the geek twitter handle. this has been pinned on pinterest tens of thousands of times. cut out a little heart with scissors. typical first grade pop-up you're used to. we have a deck of playing cards to create king of heart and queen of heart cards. you can give it to your king or queen of hearts. >> that's a good idea. >> isn't that fun?

across this card here we used a push pin to create holes in a piece of cardstock, embroidery thread and needle to stitch it up. if you want to create your own gift wrap or custom cards, everyone has a pencil. >> right. >> we exacto knifed a heart from the pencil eraser. this is an easy way to make a stamp. start stamp iing. you want to give it a try? there you go. keep going. >> want to see a lot of hearts on that? >> heart attack. give it to me. look at you. >> you thought i couldn't do it. >> your wife will love it. >> pretty good. >> super easy. super simple. >> most of this stuff costs you a couple of bucks shall right? >> yeah. candy. flowers you might want to splurge on. >> very cool. thank you so much. always good to talk to you. brit will be guest pinning on our valentine's board today. check out pinterest.com/today show. thanks, brit. up next, mardi gras taste of

new orleans right here in new york when we come back. ♪ and i would do anything for love... ♪ ♪ but i won't do that ♪ or that ♪ or this definitely not this! it hurts but i kind of like it! ♪ it hurts but i kind of like it! backflips and cartwheels.mile? love, warmth. here, try this. mmmm, ok! ching! i like the fact that there's lots of different tastes going on. mmmm! breakfast i'm very impressed.

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the new fiber one caramel nut protein bar. hurry up or we'll miss the bus! come on! ♪ whatcha got there, richard? they're for show & tell. wasn't that yesterday? yup, but the class wants me to do it again. [ male announcer ] tim and richard smucker learned early on just how irresistible their jam really is. so how'd it go today, richard? i shoulda brought more. [ male announcer ] for five generations, with a name like smucker's, it has to be good. this morning in "today's" kitchen, what's for dinner?

how about some mardi gras grub? from the new orleans restaurant, restaurant revolution. chef, good to see you. >> nice to be back with you. >> you know, it's fat tuesday and you're doing some great cajun creole cooking. it encompasses a large number of cultures. >> seven different nations arriving in louisiana and all bringing their food, philosophy, technique and it all ends up in one of the dishes we're showing today. of course, restaurant revolution right at bourbon street, times square of new orleans. and we're doing the foods that are important to new orleans culture. >> starting with? >> this is the gumbo. we're starting with the dark brown, equal parts oil and flour. we cook it to 385 degrees to get color, texture, flavor. you want to throw in -- notice onion, pepper and garlic.

kitchen is supposed to be messy, right? the sausage, very heavy smoked. go ahead and put that in. that's what really brings the smoke into our gumbo, the sausage. and then this is a chick en chi gumbo, certainly the gumbo that the writers of carnivale use. put all the chicken in. we would saw today this around. you can see the pot is already filled. we would saw today this around to bring the juices out of the chicken. of course, for demonstration purposes, nice chicken stock is going to go in. you can stir that up for me there. salt, pepper, gran lated garlic. of course, onion, celery, bell pepper, all those wonderful flavors. seven to one basically will be the ratio of water to stock. partner of mine in new orleans at revolution, this is one of the things that is so important

that the world understands. without that dark brown base, this is one of the first things we want to teach them, what the importance of this. this is going to cook for about two hours on a low simmer and all the smoke of that sausage and everything will come into the pot. i have some right here. look what it looks like in this beautiful mardi gras tourine, sausage and all that. i have some right here. of course, ground leaves of the sassa sassafras tree, gift of the native americans flavor the dish. so that's -- now we can't have mardi gras without the homes filled with these dishes. crab cake, jumbo lump crab mete meat, with our roumalade sauces,

hot sauces. oysters, i'm using the 505 salsa. i always use salsa. paying homage to the spanish cultures of america. certainly this is one of my favorite salsas here. the king cakes. you cannot have carnivale without the two king cakes. this one is toasted coconut, largest african-american parade in new orleans and then, of course, the purple, green and gold royalty, springtime and wealth. that's where the little baby comes. >> i always wondered what the colors mean. >> of course, if you get the baby, that means you throw the next party. >> chef, thank you so much. >> happy mardi gras to everybody. >> that's right. we're back in a moment. first this is "today" on nbc.

before we go, let's check out some of the photos super model kate upton took of us earlier. >> look at al. >> sinister looking. >> oh, yeah, that's mardi gras right there. >> puff daddy willie g. >> we're actually pathetic. >> i don't think they'll be calling us for sports illustrated next year. >> no. they may call us for popular mechanics. coming up tomorrow, by the way, steals and deals for you. up next, kathie lee and hoda from southern california after your local news and weather.