Category Archives: Celebrity and Entertainment Blogs

Emmy Party ’09

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The only thing better than being on a guest list of a swank Hollywood party is to be someone’s “plus one.” I was lucky enough to be my friend Chris’s plus one to the HBO party. In an age of austerity, this soiree bucked the trend. Honestly, it was refreshing to see something excessive and fun. Moreover, I kept thinking of all the jobs it created. There were at least 4 long buffet tables, three elevated stages, and endless open bars. Some were sponsored by Moet and only poured champagne, which was fine with me.

Many stars were seen, Kevin Bacon (fellow Madoff victim), his wife Kyra Sedgwick looking thin and pretty in pink. Loved Chole Sevingy’s polka dot dress. In the beginning, it was mostly chubby regular folk dressed up who are the workers of the channel, and then later after the show ended, there was an infusion of tiny, thin people. They were the stars.

The day had gotten away from me, and I didn’t get to a salon in time to do my hair. So I thought, my Top Chef Master could do it. There, in the kitchen while he cooked up some mashed potatoes and pork chops, Mark used my flat iron for the first time in his life. And it did help.

I liked my dress but was very excited to wear BORROWED JEWELS. A first for me. On “The Fashion Team,” we were doing a story on a platinum (no, no gold here) jewelery suite. This is a place where stars and stylist for stars can borrow SERIOUS jewels. I sort of couldn’t believe they asked me, a confirmed G-lister, if I wanted to borrow something. I got a Sasha Primak diamond earrings, and a Michael Beaudry diamond bracelet. These were picked out for me by a stylist, Michael O’Connor. He’s a sweet guy who I did a segment with a while back. I held up a roundish pair of earrings at one point, and he said, “No, not with your jaw.” Note, my jaw needs to be slimmed.

When I showed them to my mother she said, “Oh, yeah, the real stuff does sparkle more.” I think they trumped my less-than-stellar ‘do. They are classic and beautiful. I had to return them post haste, but will wear them one more time for my show–when I will look a little cuter– and get a better picture then.

I used to think jewels that cost that much… oh, did I mention they cost… $70,000? Yep. I used to think that was crazy to spend something like that on jewels, but after the Madoff thing I don’t think so anymore. If one has money it might be better to have something tangible if the s– hits the fan. Better than a worthless financial statement and much prettier. I walked a bit taller at the party with them, but also checked them every 4 seconds. Didn’t want them to go the way of so many pairs of sunglasses… or boyfriends. Now where did I put that?

The place was massive; they had taken over the parking lot of the Pacific Design Center. It was all done up in deep reds and black. I’m sure it cost several hundred thousand dollars. And fun to see Jessica Lange sit down at a table a foot from me with her recently acquired Emmy in hand. (Sidebar, think she’s had a tad too much done to the face. But can’t blame a girl for trying!) But my breast were going to explode, and my feet were hurting.

As we waited for our car at valet who glides out but my old pool party buddy Jon Hamm. I could have said, “Hi, remember me? The thick-waisted mom?” but I didn’t have a chance. You see, he didn’t have to wait for a car on a folding chair like I did. His appeared, and he left.

Was praying Rex would go easy on me, and he did. He woke up at 2 and went right back to sleep. Phew. Then he was rarin’ to go at 6am. Not ideal, but I have had worse nights. And after an A-list party I really wasn’t up for some protracted sleep training night.

Oh, by the way, did anyone watch the show? I didn’t, I was eating the free food!

Non-Labor Day

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Welcome back! Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was not full of trips to the beach or BBQs. But darn fun. My goal has been to be a shut in. Between having a baby and the heat I think it seemed logical. My top high points from the weekend, not necessarily in this order were:

1) My husband and I had a date night. Nothing like being face to face for reconnecting… across a table that is.

2) After she and I had a run in ( I didn’t let her do something, she kicked me, I sent her to her room), Vivien followed me into Oliver’s room where I was cleaning up and hands on hip said, “Mommy, we need to talk.” I stopped myself from rushing forward and telling her, “You are so cute, and look at you using reasoning!” I just said, “Yes, we do.”

3) Thursday night one of my oldest friends (freshman in college) Trish took me to see the Pretenders. I kind of forgot how wicked cool Chrissie Hynde was and still is. Here is an apt review of what I saw. There she was 57, mother of two, looking like the cool, accomplished rock star she is. An icon. She had a great outfit. White vest over some shirt, tight jeans tucked in almost stocking-like high boots. I would look like a clown, but man it worked for her. She has that great deep voice, she bantered with the crowd well. And I also forgot how many good songs the Pretenders have. Talking bout my generation. She’s just so “this is who I am and if you don’t like it, you can kiss my ass.” Which makes me want her to like me. Then when she broke out her guitar Trish and I were thinking, ah, I wish I could be that cool. At the end when she took out a harmonica and started playing I turned to Trish, “Okay, I want to kiss her… if she’d let me.”

4) Speaking of wanting to kiss someone… I was at a fun pool party for a 4 year old where who else was the there, but Mr. Hunk himself Jon Hamm, lead in “Mad Men”.

I am fanning myself at the thought. It was a nice normal exchange at a taco-catered-truck backyard party. He tried his best to get Vivien to warm up to him. I didn’t tell him that she shined on Jake Gyllenhaal a couple of years before in a similar manner. I did not tell him he was the cutest, hottest thing on basic cable. I wasn’t pleased that I hadn’t lost ten pounds that morning as I had to take off my cover up and give him an eyeful of my mom suit as I pushed Viv around a little floaty. My only hope was that my large, nursing breasts would pop out, and I would have felt I had made myself somehow memorable to Mr. Hamm.

Oh, and I saw a movie. Which is where this comes in.

The only reason I could go to the concert or the movie of course. That is my pump station. The spilled milk, the sound “eh-a-eh-ah-e-ah” humming along as I try to read for a couple of minutes. (BTW, at this point anyone could walk in the room, and I couldn’t care less who sees me with large plastic domes over my special place) Except that I don’t make that much, so I saw “Extract,” which was really funny. (The jokes about married sex are right on the money.) It was close by and only 90 minutes. I never like a long film, and when I am nursing, I really don’t. I only had a smidge pumped, so I booked.  It was the brain holiday I was after. And one that kept me in air conditioning.

Give me your highlights!

Top Chef Judge

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Tonight’s the night!  Where Rex’s dad is a judge on Top Chef (Wednesday, September 2nd). His appearance on Top Chef (not the Masters, different show) came at a provident time for us. April 30th we were loading out the last our possessions from the dream home where we had to sell. And May 1st we were being flown to Las Vegas so Mark could do the show. We were put up in a suite on the outskirts of town, but it was sweet to be sure. I left the kids for 22 hours and had such a great time. Here is where we stayed. It was actually prettier in person and wasn’t chock a block with white trash in the pool the way Vegas can be. We drank, had naked time, got massages in the beautiful spa, and saw a show. What parents away will do. The next morning MP filmed his first bit with Padma. I was a good wifeager and asked them to promote his book, which they kindly did. Then I had to get home to see my babies.

I honestly think that trip really helped me from getting the blues.

MP shot there a couple more days and had a great time. So, it will be fun to watch it.

Wow, seems like so long ago.

And Now for Some Good News…

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(Sound of trumpet!) Yesterday we received a copy of Mark’s new cook book, “New Classic Family Dinners.”

It will come out in October. But it is already available for order on Amazon, and Borders and is going to carry it as well. Hard to sell books these days, so this is all great news. This is the first we have seen of it. It was VERY EXCITING. As many of you probably know it takes a LONG time to write a cook book (See my video about Kate Gosselin’s cookbook). A REAL cook book. Then once the lengthy part is done (he and his collaborator writing the book for over a year), it’s in production for quite a while.

For all those moments when nothing happens, when a day blurs into the other, it’s nice to have a day where one finally sees the fruits of ones labor. When we first started talking about this book, I was pregnant with Vivien and it was two homes ago. What a journey!

When it comes out, I have to have some kind of virtual book signing party on Cool Mom. Uncork the champagne and play “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.”

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Yesterday I was a last-minute guest on “Show Biz Tonight” on CNN Headline. Making jokes about Michele Obama wearing short shorts. Lemme say I was in the zone. I had so many one liners. The producer said, “I’ve been interviewing you for years, and you’ve never been this funny.”

Hmm, what did I say??

“Baby’s got back.”

“Why shouldn’t she wear shorts?  What are mom’s suppose to wear, dumpy mom jeans? No, her husband can do that.” (call back to baseball incident)

“Her shorts are in protest to the GOP’s opposition to the public option. The more they protest, the shorter the shorts will get.”

“Shorts-gate is such a big deal, Woodward and Bernstein are getting back together and…” (Can’t remember the joke. I work in the moment and don’t write it down, but I think that one was funny.)

I think it helped I did a double espresso beforehand. And I had already had an audition for a mom makeover show. First time auditioning in almost two years. More about that if anything comes of it…

I Saw a Movie!

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We went to the premiere of Julie and Julia. I NEVER GO TO THE MOVIES. So I was pretty excited. The last time I was in a movie theater it was to see Paul Blart: Mall cop. I was with my stepson, but honestly I liked more than he did. Which tells you about how giddy I get when I go to a movie.

Now, I already shared the promo Mark did for the film. So, we were treated well. It was the premiere in Westwood (the big, old movie houses). When we picked up the tickets, they asked Mark if he wanted to walk the red carpet.  He said yes. When we got on the red carpet Alice Waters was there. Mark worked for her years ago; she is a very warm person. I steered them both toward a reporter I know at E! channel. My co-host Lawrence Zarian was working for Entertainment Tonight. They weren’t chatting with the chefs. But he was excited he had interviewed Meryl Streep (who didn’t stop to talk to TV Guide). I was suppose to take the mic from the TV Guide reporter to do a line that we would use on “The Fashion Team,” but when I approached her she said they were waiting to get Amy Adams, who was about 4 tv outlets away from them. I know how tense it is to be waiting to get the big ones to stop and talk to you, so I hung back till she had chatted with them. onestly, i don’t think I loved what she was wearing. Thick material, off white… she should wear color.

Which is what Vivien has been telling me lately. She crosses her arms and says “Mommy, you aren’t pretty enough.  You need color.” So Mark helped find a red dress to wear to the party (sidebar: we went to a store that had a sale, and in my new mode I’m not bashful about looking for a deal.). The gal was bringing $300 dollar dresses over to me and I would say, “Is this on sale?” No.

“Well, I’ve never heard of this designer; it’s not well made, and it’s $300. I need something from the 75% off rack.” Which we found.

I forgot to take a picture!  But here is the dress. Vivien had me wear a double strand of black beads my mother-in-law gifted me and gold shoes. She is probably going to replace me on my show.

But how was the movie? It was GREAT. There was free water and popcorn, which would normally cost about $14. Ha, I make myself laugh… no it was a good movie. Funny and charming and well written. It was a perfect film for us. eCombining blogging and food. Highly recommended. But be forewarned, before you go, make a roast chicken that you can eat after, or go to the nearest French bistro you can find ASAP. I was ready to rub garlic on my shoe and dig in. We ate afterward, and it was a great night out… of course my breasts were going to explode by the time I came home.

And not that it goes with the story, but I love this picture of my kids.  Sigh.

Top Chef Masters: My Own Watching Party

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Okay, I couldn’t watch it live. Even though I knew the outcome, it made me more nervous than I realized. We went over to Mark’s restaurant and ate, and I had a big glass of white wine (I like them dry and minerally). After the bunnies were in bed, and Mark came home from work, I watched it.

It’s funny since I have hosted reality shows, and I know how much of it is set up and made in the editing room, yet I was still drawn in to see my husband compete.

For those that didn’t see it, I think Mark did very well. He looked handsome, and he was genial and articulate. Which is why I think they used a lot of his sound bites. I also thought the New Orleans chef Jeff Besh came off as a very likable guy. I found the other two chefs were mumblers and a tad harder to understand, but nice enough.

Mark had been saying for months (It was shot a while ago) “I could have done better in the Quick Fire.”  Ironic that his flaw was forgetting the olive oil when I have learned so much about cooking with olive oil.

Stefano stava cucinando
Creative Commons License photo credit: BobbyProm

In the challenge, he had to tie one hand behind his back (they all did). I loved that they had him talking about his dad who was born with only one hand. And that they showed the sweet photo of he and his dad when Mark was little. His dad was pretty solid. He was a teacher. Taught special ed and drivers ed and painted houses in the summer to support his family… with one arm!

The shows goes a fast clip, but Mark was AWOL from home for two and half days. He said there was a lot of sitting around. And the judges’ deliberation that takes about 2 minute in the show? That took 3 hours. He and the other chefs did sit around and drink and wait… and wait.

While we watched, I would pause and ask him things like, “Was your fish overcooked?”  He said probably: “They say you are going to go, and then you have to wait.”  Ah the magic of “reality” television.

When it came down to just he and one other after the other two chefs were ordered to get their knifes and get lost, I said, “Do you feel bad when people are eliminated?”

He said with a smile, “No.”

My Top Chef

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Okay, tonight is the night! My husband Mark Peel will be on Bravo’s Top Chef: Masters. I’m a bit of a stage mom so I have to chat him up. He is a very unassuming guy who never blows his own horn. And I want him to have some recognition.

Last year when we got the bad Madoff news I said, “2009 is going to be a good year for you.” His restaurant celebrated it’s 20th year; his cook book comes out in the fall; and his new cocktail bar will open in the fall. I said one of of my goals this year is for you to get on Top Chef. I asked a casting friend I know to submit him and also my agents did so, but it’s so Mark that I think they just found him by his own reputation. In the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, he is the Tortoise.

The Bravo site has different behind-the-scenes stuff with the chefs. They asked Mark to send in some video and pictures. The request sat there for weeks before I took up the task.  I said:

“You know, I know something about doing videos for the web”. I hope they use what I sent in!

Of course, he is also a great dad, and he sweetly carried Rex around Campanile the other night so I could eat with my friend and Vivien and her friend.  No wonder I love him… whether he wins or not tonight.

Michael Jackson’s Kids

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In an attempt to parody the coverings of MJ’s kids, I ended up looking like Twitter avatar sticking up for Iranians.

I have to weigh in on some of the Michael Jackson stuff. I loved his old music, thought he was kind of sad, and probably after about “Smooth Criminal” didn’t pay a lot attention because he started to have the cooties.

It’s prurient sure, but it’s also because of being a mom I am curious about what happens to the kids. Or what has already happened to them. Raised with no mother, they have strange identical names, a ferris wheel in the back yard and every summer their father has a different face.  Someone will be penning a great tell all on their up bringing one day.

I was thrown by the Diana Ross as back up for guardian ship after his mother.  Miss Ross might need to step in at some point.  Less so because his mother is 80 and more so because her estranged husband Joe is a gross child abuser.  He is open about having beat his kids and their are rumors that he did even worse. Of course now there is speculation that they are not his biological kids as if that matters.  It does annoy me that people act like then they are not his kids.  I know many adopted children and their parents who would beg to differ. The dermatologist in question, Arnie Klein, my husband is acquainted with from the restaurant.  He talked about treating Michael, but over short ribs never offered up, “oh, and btw I fathered his kids.”  Mark said Klein was in a very bad car accident that has impaired his walking.

But, did Michael talk to Diana Ross about this?  Is she in Europe ( where I think she lives) saying, “oh, god, Can’t Liza do it? ” Michael was her best man. Liz Taylor can’t pull it together to be Auntie Mame?

I hope someone teaches them to manage money well.  Maybe Michael’s former mother in law Priscilla Presley could step in.  She save Elvis’s estate when it was in shambles.

Telling that he didn’t ask any of his siblings to step in.  Might be best if the children go to a less carnival like home where creepy grandpa can’t stop by.  But, what will it be like for them?  Where is the consistency?  Well, that’s where the nanny comes in.  They have had the same one their whole lives, their only “mother”.  But do they in a sense hire her till they are legal? ( Wait a minute, sound s like a good premise for a movie.  Kind of like “Parent Trap.”) Or the courts could give her custody and shove a few Beatles songs in her back pocket to support them?

Just thinking…

Top Chef: Masters… the Party

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Okay here is my dress… if I’m leading with that it means the party wasn’t that exciting. Granted, I’m a jaded ole basic cable host.

1) My dress is Vivienne Westwood; it was a splurge for me, but it was 50% off. And I bought it at a small store near me that NEVER has customers, so I kind feel like I was helping the economy. The shop owner was so sweet; she held Rex while I tried on clothes. Which was pretty brutal, as I am still 15 lbs overweight, and as moms know, everything has settled oddly. Oh, and I have bad undergarments. It would have helped if I had a supportive bra (a la Jane Russell); instead I have these limp, cotton nursing things that send my guns downward. And I have Spanx, but they roll under my roll. It’s really better to have a Spanx slip. Those are good.

2) I added the broach to the hip. I thought it anchored the ruching.

3) There was a little bit of press, notably my people, TV guide Network. (It’s not a channel, dammit!)  I spoke to them, but otherwise I was there as Mark’s press coach. Mark is a warm, sincere person. So I would say, “Look, that was okay, but if you want them to be sure to use your soundbite say something like, ‘I was afraid the quick challenge would involve Mario Batali in a bikini.’

4) Campanile looked great; the place was packed with people who had worked on the show. But only a few chefs. And chefs and crew people= I could have worn sweats… and clogs.

5) Looking forward to seeing Mark in his episode.

6 ) The party was going strong when I left, but my feet were aching, and I know a sweet,little boy is waking me up at 2:30a.m. So, I think 9:30 is a good exit.