Al Roker Brings Out Unexpected Guest on ‘Today’

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Food definitely brings Al Roker’s family together!

The Tuesday, October 15, episode of Today featured a few people who hold a special place in the weather presenter’s heart — his family.

Al, 70, had his daughter Courtney Roker Laga, who he described as a “trained chef and recipe developer,” on the show to cook a meal from the pair’s new cookbook filled with family recipes titled Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By: Easy Memory-Making Family Dishes for Every Occasion. Courtney shares her daughter Sky Lara, born in July 2023, with her husband Wesley Laga, with whom she wed in June 2021.

The dynamic duo showcased a recipe for salmon burgers and shortbread banana pudding. After working hard in the kitchen, Al and Courtney celebrated with some blood orange Aperol spritzes as Wesley came out holding Sky in his arms. “Even better than the cookbook, the best production, Wes Laga,” the weather anchor exclaimed.

The author then noticed his granddaughter was a little teary-eyed. “Oh, were you crying, sweetheart?,” Al asked as he picked the one year-old up. “You wanted your pop-pop. Ok, there we go,” he said before kissing the little one’s cheek.

Courtney attempted to feed her daughter a bit of pudding, but Sky was seemingly uninterested in the dessert, pushing the spoon away with her hands. “Not so much right now,” Al remarked. “I think she got scared with the kitchen aid,” Courtney quipped, referring to when the kitchen appliance splattered the banana pudding mixture on the counter earlier in the segment. “When the kitchen mixer blew up, everything went crazy,” the broadcast journalist joked.

The pair discussed their most loved recipes from the cookbook, with Courtney naming the “Aperol spritz” and the “cinnamon buns” and Al naming his mother’s “Oxtail stew and dumplings” and her “pineapple upside down.” The doting grandfather gushed, “And this is my favorite recipe right here,” referring to Sky.

Later in the show, the father-daughter duo returned for a second cooking segment, opting to make breakfast burritos and bacon waffles. Sky briefly made an appearance as Wes brought her out again at the end. Co-anchor Craig Melvin then presented the 15-month-old with a gift from the Today Food team, a t-shirt that read “Today Food.”