first up, mario batali. short, vest, and orange crocs. a le cordon bleu dut

first up, mario batali. short, vest, and orange crocs.

first up, mario batali. short, vest, and orange crocs. a le cordon bleu dropout, instead batali got schooled in a remote italian village. he made his splash in new york with babbo, and now he is known around the world for his restaurants, cook books, and personality. >> when you tell me that you're in a hurry, i'm already leaving the house. >> next, rachael ray. if the kitchen is a man's world, ray did not get the memo. growing up in her family's restaurant business, she turned her concept for 30-minute meals into an empire. >> pat me on the back. >> yeah, baby. >> and yet, the emmy award-winning host is too humble to take credit, calling her career a happy accident. bobby flay. flay says being a chef wasn't cool when he went to the french culinary institute, but he changed all that in the early-1990's, between his first restaurant and becoming a food network star. >> nerves are ok. utilize those nerves the best way. >> flay is still not afraid of hard work, even eyeing a run for office. rounding out the group, tom colicchio. to colicchio

. >> finally, italy, the italian food im porium from -- the bell going on -- from chef mario batali andtpost in chicago, 2,000 visitors the first week alone, they had to shut town down the place for a day because it ran out of ed. >> first they became celebrity chefs and now created the pasta megaplex. i lived near italy in new york city and that place even though it doesn't have anything special because it's a food experience, it is mobbed every single day. it's amazing what they've done. >> i can tell you i live in the suburbs of new york city and there is a bastionitch place with an italy an a wine shop and that place is always going gang busters. may not just be about the economy. maybe it's ba tally. >> frank and chu. top stock winners of the day next. [ male announcer ] here's a question for you: if every u.s. home replaced one light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, the energy saved could light how many homes? 1 million? 2 million? 3 million? the answer is... 3 million homes. by 2030, investments in energy efficiency could help americans save $300 billion each year. take the

rodgers won beard's outstanding chef award a year later, beating out notable chef mario batali and others. rodgers started cooking in the 1970s after being inspired by alice waters' chez panisse, where she met her business partner pilgram. pilgram says he'll continue to run zuni's kitchen. >> a host on h-g-t-v was been killed in a motorcycle accident in san francisco. bill beckwith. co-host of 'curb appeal'. was killed monday night in a motorcycle accident in san francisco's lower haight. police say, beckwith was hit by a car near oak and steiner streets around 8:30. beckwith suffered head trauma and died at a hospital. the driver of the car that struck him is cooperating with the investigation. beckwith was a carpenter and general contractor. he owned his own bay area construction business. h-g-t-v says in a statement that his creativity, adventurous spirit and general love of life will be missed. line we have clear and cold conditions around the bay and i will talk about the freeze watch and what the temperatures will be light later on this afternoon when we continue. xñ >> welcome back

. >> and mario batali, he's got those orange crocs. >> i wear these gray canvas with a white bottom.igan's island kind of shoes. >> are they crocs? >> yeah. they're slip-on sneakers, basically. not the conventional ones. look them up. >> i'm going to. >> you got me nothing for christmas, i guess. >> u.p.s., it's still somewhere. >> my birthday's coming up, too. >> i know. i've got it on the calendar. it's ready to go. i've also put in the for birthday, already. i've got to depend on u.p.s. to get it here. >> my birthday's another -- a lot of people buying a lot of stuff for that. >> you can borrow my car and drive to the store and get something for joe. >> it's not a stick, obviously. separately crocs says the ceo is retiring in april and stepping down from the board. the company will recruit a new ceo between now and then. coming up, this morning's top stories. plus, we're going to welcome guest host david darst, the morgan stanley wealth management chief strategist. you've got five themes? i can't wait, david darst is here. >>> i really wish that there are more opportunities for pe