Mario BataliChef, TV show host and Michigan summer resident Mario Batali is the subject of this week's episode "A Day in the Life," a new show available on Hulu.com.
As the head of more than 14 restaurants, a cookware line, a vineyard and a footwear line, Batali also hosts a daily TV show and employees 3,000-plus people. Needless to say, he's a busy guy.
His day begins at 7:15 a.m. on the set of ABC's "The Chew." Then it's off to one of his New York restaurants for afternoon meetings, before heading home for dinner -- and wine.
"It starts really outside the house between 8 or 9 and goes until about midnight or 1 a.m.," Batali said. "This is a very typical day, and I have been working at this pace since 1995 or 1996."
Although this is a typical day, Batali says he tries not to follow the same routine every day because it stifles his creativity. And come summertime, he really changes gears when he moves his family to Northern Michigan for two months.
Batali has praised Leelanau Peninsula, where he lives at his "fish camp" from July 1 through Labor Day weekend, for its relaxed environment and sophisticated food scene.
"The chefs involved in the scene celebrate what's here; they're not trying to be anything they're not. Now people are coming for gastronomic tourism," Batali told Bon Appetit magazine in July 2011.
"All winter I look forward to eating two things: pizza from my wood oven topped with Leelanau Cheese Company's Raclette and serrano chiles, and cherry pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company."
In an April 2008 interview with Solace magazine, Batali further described his "love affair" with Northern Michigan:
"It's not just 2,000 miles from New York. It's 2 million miles from New York. In New York, we have to watch the kids at every corner and be very careful. In Michigan, they can run for 3 miles without stopping."
Batali said he comes to Michigan with his wife, Susan Cahn, and their two young sons, to leave it all behind: "Within three hours of arriving, I'm relaxed."
Cahn is a University of Michigan graduate who introduced her husband to the region in the 1990s.
The show, available on Hulu.com, is created by Jeremy Chilnick and Morgan Spurlock, who also narrates and produces it. New episodes of "A Day in the Life" are available each Monday on Hulu. Each episode goes behind-the-scenes with celebrities, musicians, comedians, chefs, athletes, entrepreneurs, chronicling one day in their lives in a half-hour documentary.