Ray’s catchword immortalized

Prolific phenom Rachael Ray – with 13 cookbooks, a lifestyle magazine, three television programs and branded cookware, appliances and cutlery – has officially become a wordsmith. One of her catchphrase will be immortalized in the 2007 edition of the Oxford American College Dictionary. That would be EVOO, short for extra-virgin olive oil.

“It’s C-O-O-L,” Ray writes us in an e-mail. Unlike “yummo,” another of her favorites, EVOO “is not a made-up word anymore,” she writes. She calls the term “a time-saver. It’s a mouthful to say extra-virgin olive oil over and over again,” especially when it is your “most important kitchen ingredient.”

Early this month, Erin McKean, editor in chief of Oxford University Press, presented Ray with a certificate, saying: “We look at thousands of words every year, and very few of them get in. It has to be useful to people, and we see people using EVOO.”

Wraping ideas, last-minute gifts

For one-stop wrapping: the Holiday Treats Kit from Chronicle Books contains a recipe booklet and enough paper and cellophane bags, tags, string and stickers for 20 tiny gifts; $19.95, available at some bookstores and by order from Barnes & Noble stores and several online purveyors.

Party people with an eye on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. might like this idea: Cocktail napkins with 19th-century depictions of the White House. Packages of 20, $3.50 to $4.50, include a brief history of the image. Available in the gift shops at the White House Historical Association (202) 737-8292, and White House Visitor Center (202) 208-1631, in Washington.