While women worldwide are awaiting the release of “Sex and the City 2,” some lucky New York girls will be getting their own private preview. Nightlife impresario Jayma Cardoso, interior design guru Nina Freudenberger, Accompanied Literary Society’s Brooke Geahan and Katie Lee are hosting a Moet & Chandon screening at the Crosby Street Hotel two days before the May 28 release date. Guests expected include Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Kate White, Lauren and Ashley Bush, mom Sharon Bush and Kelly Bensimon.

At a party last week in New York, celebrating the release of Derek Blasberg’s new book, Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady, Katie Lee proved she is not only classy, but stylish as well!  Katie is the author of one of my favorite cookbooks, The Comfort Table,  and recently divorced from singer Billy Joel.  Apparently, she is also the owner of a pair of Louboutin lace ankle boots.  Wow, I don’t know which to be jealous of first!

The key to rocking the ankle boot with a skirt or dress? Keep the hemline short, like Katie here.

Steal this Look…

1. J.Crew Skirt

(have hemline shortened accordingly)

2. Gap White Tank

3. Phillip Lim White Tuxedo Jacket

4. Christian Louboutin Ankle Boot

xxx

PS: She recently shared this recipe of her Mom’s – yummmmmmy

Mom’s Unbelievably Light Lemony Cheesecake

1/3 cup cookie or cracker crumbs (Mom used amaretti cookies that are like meringues and contain no flour, but graham cracker crumbs would work just fine.)

Non-stick cooking spray
2 cups light cottage cheese
1 package light cream cheese
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sliced strawberries, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Spray a springform pan with cooking spray.  Use a measuring cup to gently press the cookie crumbs into a crust.  The crust is not supposed to be very thick.

Put all remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Serve with fresh berries.

Some have called me and my family food snobs. In all honesty I would not disagree. It’s the language we speak—hours are spent analyzing the fine tuning of a perfect braised roast, the complexity of a seafood broth or the gentle addition of honey to any number of savory sauces. We all have our personal copies of Bill Buford’s Heat and think it is a fabulous read (if you haven’t, you must!) and have traveled very long distances for exceptional eating.

And yes, those insanely gifted chefs like Flay and Batali who show up on the Food Network and Iron Chef are so masterful it is almost painful. If only meritocracy were truly the measure of food programming! But given its absence in so many other entertainment fields I shouldn’t be surprised that it doesn’t exist with chefs and cooking shows either. It’s jut that it is becoming increasingly more pronounced.

We have had a long time collective distaste for pert but talentless Rachel Ray, the uninspired Giada and a whole slew of other yawner food show wannabes. Frank Bruni’s article in this week’s Sunday Times Magazine, How to Cook Up a Food Celebrity, is just one more demonstration of the move to the mediocre. His article is a feature piece about Katie Lee, the latest cooking show sweepstakes winner (you too can host your own show!!) whose only credentials for being on the food network are her exceptional good looks and her marriage to Billy Joel. Enough! With so many gifted chefs out there I would love to learn from, this just seems ridiculous and absurd to me.

To give you a taste of where food programming is going, here’s the latest envisioning by food network producers:

A few months ago I accompanied [Katie Lee] to a meeting in Beverly Hills with the two young producers working directly on her pilot. Over peppermint tea on a patio outside the Four Seasons, they and Lee spitballed scenarios for the “Untitled Katie Lee Project.” They envisioned her inviting a small group of girlfriends over to her town house for a “spa night” of healthful eating and facials. They pictured Lee bolting to the home of an acquaintance who is less skillful in the kitchen than she, surreptitiously helping her cook, then dashing away before the acquaintance’s date arrives to a sumptuous meal.

The other: “Yeah, because you’re very stylish.”

Stylish? Linens and clothing? So maybe someone somewhere really does want to dress like these “I just play a chef on TV” types. But there are none in my database.

But bless you Bruni for including this quote from the passionate food adventurer Anthony Bourdain who, though arrogant, is watch-worthy. This is just too good:

“Why people want to watch people cooking and eating on TV — I’m still trying to figure that out,” says Anthony Bourdain, a longtime restaurant chef whose phenomenally successful best seller, “Kitchen Confidential,” became his pivot into information-packed food-travel shows. “In the beginning,” he adds, harking back to Julia Child and even Emeril Lagasse, “some believable ability with food, some kind of credential, was at least implied.” He doesn’t think that’s the case anymore, and says, “Just as teenage girls need nonthreatening teen idols, whether they sing or appear in vampire movies, America clearly needs likable people who appear in the kitchen.”

I’m not going for likable, in the kitchen or anywhere else. I’m going for delicious, memorable, high amplitude, sumptuous. And that’s what we hope to have in our house, food networking mis-programming be damned.

I feel like I’ve been in such a rut lately…and, like Austin Powers, my mojo is gone. But…to carry the analogy a bit further, I’ve been unable to find my Dr. Evil and somehow learn a powerful Dorothy-esque lesson that I never really lost it at all.

I still haven’t been baking much…even though a friend recently took me to Costco and I got 72 ounces of chocolate chips and could theoretically bake cookies for every last one of the 2,556,598 people who live in Brooklyn. And, sure, *that* would be one heck of a post…but…let’s be realistic.

Today is March 14…or 3.14…or Pi…which I suppose means I should be making pies. But I’m not. Cat-sitting, yes. Old-bill-shredding, yes. Laundry-doing, yes. Book-draft-tweaking, yes. Golden-Girls-watching, yes. But…pie-baking, no.

I just sort of accepted that maybe I’m not going to have anything to write about for awhile. And…I’ve been pitching stories — a girl’s gotta eat — and I was trying to think of some good ideas for St. Patrick’s Day and *that* got me thinking about the Sweet Potato Queens of Jackson, Mississippi and their yearly parade (or, rather, the yearly parade they march in…) and I realized the timing is perfect and I *do* actually have something to write about now.

For the uninitiated, the Sweet Potato Queens are a group of women in Jackson who dress up in spangly green outfits with pink fur and fringe and big red wigs with sparkly crowns and accentuated body parts. They march in Hal and Mal’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade every year and are led by Jill Conner Browne, who calls herself the “Boss Queen,” and has written numerous books on being a Queen that are both amusing and empowering…even though I sort of feel like if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. She’s a good writer — and has definitely found her niche — but I think (and I mean this in the nicest way possible as I really do think it’s a good example of someone who found a way to make a living doing something she loves…) it’s the same brand of fiery Southernisms packaged under different themes, like Love or Money or Divorce or Getting Older. Nothing wrong with it. Just…like I said, if you’ve read one, you pretty much know the gist. (Although…to be fair, I don’t think I’ve read anything after the Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner).

And yet…despite the repetition or whatever, I really like those ladies and part of me wishes I was en route to Jackson for next weekend’s parade.

I went to the parade one year while I was living there…but I only vaguely remember the very end in which Tiny Tim — the Grand Marshal that year — passed by on the back of a convertible with his ukulele. And…it sort of begs the question how I could possibly miss and/or not remember a brassy gang of Southern women in sequined outfits and giant boobs who go by “Tammy” while Lance Romance tickles the ivory and they dance on a float…but I have absolutely no recollection of them. It’s kind of sad. I guess I had different priorities circa 1994…

A few things I *do* remember about the Magnolia State:

• The boiled (pronounced “bald”) peanuts sold on the side of the road by an old guy with a crusty nose. When my mother first saw his sign, she said, “P-Nuts? What’s that? Pine nuts?” and our real estate agent furrowed her brow and said, “No. Peanuts.”
• The prisoners wore pants with big green and white stripes and served lunch at a barbecue festival called Red Hot in July…which was a little weird. I’ve never had a felon serve me food before. (I don’t think.)
• I had my first pulled pork sandwich at Red Hot and Blue (which my parents tried to find again when passing through Jackson last year but it maybe doesn’t exist anymore?).
• My dad’s coworkers called him, “Mr. Brian,” because they wanted to be respectful, but also friendly…
• I was on the yearbook staff with the mayor’s son and I played basketball with the Secretary of Agriculture’s daughter…and we had a dress code that said we could only wear t-shirts from the school itself or from colleges…and every time someone walked into the gym in a Yale shirt, my basketball coach would scream and when that person looked around, confused, he’d say, “Well it said, ‘Yale,’” but he pronounced “yell,” and “Yale,” just about exactly the same…or if anyone walked in with a shirt from say, Brown, that wasn’t Brown, he LOVED saying, “That ain’t brown, that’s blue!” (or gray or white or whatever). He was born in California, but only lived there for a few months when he was an infant…and yet still felt we had some sort of bond because of it. “My mama said you could get green beans real cheap there,” he’d say. He was the first person I ever met who actually chewed tobacco and he would spit it into the back of his truck. And, for whatever reason, I can remember him talking about getting fire ants in the innards of his truck and watching them spit out at him when he turned on the AC.
• Mississippi also introduced me to king cake and beignets (I’m not a big fan of either)…fried pickles (which I like better), a grocery store chain called Jitney Jungle…and the sweetest little four-year-old boy named Connor who used to live next door to me and who I used to babysit every Saturday night. He saw Free Willy and fell in love with orcas…and, 15 years later, I still have a drawing on my refrigerator that he made for me with the Ross Barnett Reservoir and his house and some boats and the warning, “No Killing Orcas.” It’s really scary to think that he’s 19 now…and the same age as Levi Johnston. He was just such a sweet little boy…and — spoiler alert — I’ve often thought that if I ever have a son, the name Connor will be at the top of my list.

These are just random memories from Mississippi…and don’t likely paint a very good picture. I haven’t been back since…1996? 1997? I imagine a lot has changed. But it’s what I remember. (And I say this even after catching a little bit of Wanda Sykes last night in which she interviewed Constance McMillen and said that Mississippi always has a knack for being on the wrong side of history…and…gotta admit she sorta had a point…)

Back to the Queens: I’m not really sure how Jill Conner Browne became the Boss Queen…but I’m glad she did. She’s definitely on the list of people I admire (…and whose career paths I wouldn’t mind following…) From what I’ve gathered in her books, it sounds like things haven’t always been easy for her — she’s divorced and was a single mother and it took her a long time to find the Cutest Boy in the World…so, I mean, I guess I see her as another example of how important it is to be tenacious and that things work out when they’re meant to be…even if it doesn’t always make sense when you’re in the thick of it. (Amen? [Seemed the appropriate way to end that paragraph...])

And, heck, I think this whole thing got started when she decided to declare herself a queen one day. Which sort of begs the question why I don’t just call myself the Queen of Something and get the ball rolling. But I can’t really think of anything that I’d like to be the Queen of — Artichokes? Endives? Soybeans? — nor do I really have a place to march…or anyone to play the piano for me as I do it. Although — one thing’s for sure: I’m pretty sure the Sweet Potato Queens got the boob thing right. I have a friend who went as Doralee from 9 to 5 for Halloween…and she told me that she learned that men do not care what your boobs are made of as long as they are huge. So…perhaps the lesson here is that I should get a boob job if I want a successful media career?

Or…I could always marry a pop star from the 70s?

Frank Bruni wrote a story recently about Katie Lee (formerly Joel)…and, gotta say, I envy this chick’s life. Basically everything I want to do (with the exception of my own cooking show and marrying Billy Joel), she’s either done or has in the works: the Chelsea-Handler-esque collection of short stories; the monthly entertaining column in Cosmo; the Good Morning America appearances…if I had accomplished any one of those things, I might be happy to rest on my laurels for all eternity. (It also sort of reminds me of those bumper stickers that say, “I want to be just like Barbie — that bitch has everything!” Except my bumper sticker would say, “I want to be just like Katie Lee…”? No. That can’t be right either…)

Or, you know, maybe I can just print my resume on a shirt…?

I’m not sure how we ended up here. It’s a long way from existential crises to Happy St. Patrick’s Day…but, believe it or not, that was my point. So. I’ll slam the brakes and throw this post in reverse and wrap things up with, “Don’t forget to wear green on Wednesday! And have a happy St. Patty’s Day…!”

This is an interminable essay about how a brand called Katie Lee is on the verge of becoming a food-TV star. It’s formally a terrible piece — it doesn’t, for instance, isolate any questions to explore about Katie Lee — and much of it could be spared by simply viewing season one of Top Chef. Why doesn’t Katie Lee take off on food TV? Because she’s not charismatic and she reads as vapid. What else is in the Times Magazine this week?

I suppose you could reasonably wonder why Katie Lee is any less interesting than the rest of the Food Network’s low-wattage stars, but in contrast to Katie Lee, most of them have individual identities, culinary profiles and gahhhhhhh who fucking cares.

One final thing about this offensively, aggressively uninteresting person:

It was during a visit to Manhattan to check out the school in late 2002 that she literally bumped into Billy Joel. She was rooting around in her purse, she told me, as she walked out of a hotel-lobby bathroom.

She said she didn’t recognize him, but a friend who was with her did, and invited him to join them for a drink. The next six hours were a modern fairy tale, during which Lee called her mother twice with breathless updates. Joel treated her and her friend to a lavish dinner that included white truffles at one of his favorite Italian restaurants, then spirited them to a Broadway theater for the final minutes of “Movin’ Out,” the Twyla Tharpproduction based on his music. He even got up onstage to sing. Lee assumed it was a regular gig but learned much later that he was trying to impress her. “It’s a good bag of tricks to have,” she said.

So now we know that Billy Joel’s courtship technique is to ever-so-slyly let a chick know that He’s Billy Joel. Now I ain’t saying she a golddigger…

The Uptown Girl singer is hoping to get $35 million (£21 million) for the pair of up-market properties in the Hamptons.

Billy Joel has put his two adjacent Hamptons homes for sale

Billy purchased the larger of the two homes, which once belonged to Jaws actor Roy Scheider, in 2004.

Three years later he bought a bungalow on an adjacent land.

Both lie on the eastern tip of Long Island. Famous nearby residents include Steven Spielberg, Paul Simon and Jerry Seinfeld.

Billy and Katie Lee Joel announced that they were to separate in June after five years of marriage.

“Billy wanted to get going now. Katie, who’s 27, wanted to focus on her career,” the New York Daily News quoted a friend of Joel as saying.

However, a friend of Lee said: “That’s not true. If anything, it was the other way around.”

Recently, it was being suggested that the major reason behind the couple’s separation was their age difference.

According to sources, Joel, 60, was just too much of a codger for his 27-year-old wife

A joint statement issued by their representatives confirmed saying, “After nearly five years of marriage Billy Joel & Katie Lee Joel have decided to separate. This decision is a result of much thoughtful consideration. Billy & Katie remain caring friends with admiration and respect for each other,” People magazine reports.

The couple had earlier denied reports of their marriage being on the rocks.

The 60-year-old actor had married the 27-year-old chef at his 15-acre waterfront Center Island estate in Long Island.

Click here to see photos off Joel’s ex-wives.

Flashback to October 16, 2008.  On that day,  the piano man and Katie  were leaving a restaurant in Miami and stopped to chat with paps. When Katie leaves Joel, she says “Goodnight honey. I’ll see you at home”.  Billy responds jokingly: “Goodnight honey, I’ll see you at home? Isn’t that what Madonna said to what’s-his-name?” (refering to Madonna’s ex Guy Ritchie) 

The pap then comments: “Uh oh… does that mean she’s leaving you?”

This is the third marriage for Joel. He and Katie have been married for nearly five years.

Divorce papers have not been filed yet, but are expected to be filed shortly.

In a statement, the pair said they remain “caring friends with admiration and respect for each other”.

Billy Joel and wife Katie Lee confirmed they have split

They got married five years ago at Joel’s mansion on New York’s Long Island.

A representative for Joel did not immediately respond to the question of whether the couple were getting a divorce.

This was the singer’s third marriage, her first.

Sixty-year-old Joel is one of pop’s most successful singer-songwriters; Katie Lee Joel hosted the first season of US reality TV show Top Chef.

He recorded the song All My Life as an anniversary gift to his 27-year-old wife two years ago.

The 60-year-old singer has been jealous of his wife’s relationship with another man, according to published reports.

Click here to see photos off Joel’s ex-wives.

Katie, 27, attended an event alone on June 13 at Montauk, N.Y. Yacht Club. This is the third marriage for Billy.

Divorce papers have not been filed yet. But are expected to be filed shortly.

UPDATE: The couple’s rep has now issued a statement confirming RadarOnline.com’s earlier exclusive.  “After nearly five years of marriage Billy Joel & Katie Lee Joel have decided to separate. This decision is a result of much thoughtful consideration. Billy & Katie remain caring friends with admiration and respect for each other.”

(Photo: PR Photos)

First up is 59-year-old Bruce Springsteen, who has denied having an affair with married New Jersey woman Ann Kelly.

Billy Joel caught in marriage ‘storm’

And the wife of crooner Billy Joel, 59, has rubbished claims she is doing the dirty on him. Katie Lee said the allegations were ‘mean spirited’.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, unfortunately, this is not the case in every relationship… Especially when it comes to the long distance marriage between Billy Joel and wife Katie Lee.  For this couple, distance in fact makes the eyes wander…or at least Katie’s eyes.

Billy Joel’s crazy tour schedule keeps him away from his bombshell wife for months at a time.  However, it doesn’t seem like Katie is too upset at his absence.  Instead of missing her hubby and eagerly awaiting his return from tour, Katie is embracing her “alone” time by hanging out and getting down with another man.

36 year old Yigal Azrouel has been Katie’s designer and close “friend” for over a year now.  The two have become extremely close in the time that Joel has been on tour and have been seen out together on multiple occasions.

In the beginning, Joel just thought that the two were really good friends and was happy that Katie had found a companion to keep her occupied while he was away.  Humm..well I guess Yigal really did occupy her…in the bedroom.

Billy has not made any final decisions as to whether or not he is going to give his two-timing woman a second chance,  or ditch her to find another 20-something year old.  Either way, again, Hollywood gives us yet another great example as to why MARRIAGE CAN WAIT!

Gray + silver living room: Luxe neutrals in Billy Joel’s home, featured in Domino, originally uploaded by xJavierx.

It’s a rainy Sunday in Northern California, and I’m dreaming of the day I can afford to live in a place this gorgeous, preferably in an ocean town. I’m thinking Pebble Beach. You’ll recognize me, I’ll be the one with the frizzy locks pulled back, since I’ll have no reason for a flat iron with that ocean air. Hmmmm I may have to rethink this plan of mine…….

But I’m wondering if my own brain (and yours too) can sustain the lifestyle we have in which in any given hour we are bombarded with so many facts and figures and needs and people that we want to explode.  Maybe it’s my heart that’s affected most.  Or soul.  It doesn’t matter what part of me takes the biggest hit; I’m under attack.

Multitasking be damned this morning; I’m exhausted.  This morning in one hour on a machine at my gym, I encountered the following facts and/or ensuing thoughts (via two books, an iPod, the people around me and four television screens):

• “Rescue at sea happening off Virginia Beach; hope our uncle didn’t go boating”
• “Confirmation hearings delayed til after election; who IS that guy?”
• “Traffic predictions for inaguration weekend” (I live in DC)
• Kathie Lee and Hoda showing off an eagle and an alligator (closed captioning broken; I don’t know why)
• Challenges to my thinking on consumerism and news-gathering and the scale of each mediating against community (from Deep Economy by Bill McKibben)
• The history of the wearing of white wedding gowns (Thanks, Queen Victoria)
• “There’s the woman who photographed my children when they were young.  Boy was that a long time ago.  My kids are leaving home now.  Wonder if she remembers us.”
• “There’s a woman I taught in a class.  Maybe she thinks I’m weird.”
• “Levon wears his war wound like a crown.  And he calls his child ‘Jesus.’  Cause he likes the name.”  I like Elton’s voice.  Remember seeing him in concert in 1973?  And those pom pom balls all over his clothes were cool.
• “All the trainers in the gym are wearing matching clothes today.  Wonder why.”
• “There’s that woman who looks young enough to be my daughter but who is older than me.  I should use heavier weights.”
• “Every time I hear Aretha Franklin’s Think, I remember how much it helped me in running a marathon.
• “Oh, my friend Julie left her book, What Every American Should Know about the Middle East, here.”  Should I drive it to her or is she in the building?  I should read that book.”
• “I haven’t yet read ‘Middle East for Dummies’ though.”
• “Should I buy the bra strap extender on tv?”

You get the idea. This is ridiculous.  I search for scripture that applies.  ”I will keep in perfect peace (her) whose mind is steadfast because she trusts in me” doesn’t quite work.  I’m not refusing to trust; I’m just overwhelmed with data.  Maybe, when all else fails, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Not much else matters… but a lot more bombards us.  Help me, God!

(via yay!everyday)