LIVE from Guild Hall, Stirring the Pot: Katie Lee Hosted and Interviewed by Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant, a food and wine writer for the New York Times, contributes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, is a member of the wine panel and writes the pairings column for the wine tastings. She frequently writes features that appear in the Food section and also covers food and travel elsewhere in the Times. She has written 13 cookbooks. This spring, her latest, The Ladies Village Improvement Society Cookbook: Eating and Entertaining in East Hampton" to celebrate the 125th anniversary of LVIS was published by Rizzoli. Other books include Wine with Food, based on the New York Times pairings columns and written with Eric Asimov and The City Harvest Cookbook, both published by Rizzoli. She actually began her career as a food writer in East Hampton, contributing the column In Season to the East Hampton Star. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, she has an M.A. in French from New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She holds L’Ordre National du Mérite from the French government, is on the Board of Trustees of Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y., and is a member of Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. (New York, NY). She and her husband, Richard, a retired lawyer, live in Manhattan and East Hampton, N.Y. They have two children and two grandchildren. 

For Katie Lee, host of The Cooking Channel’s series Beach Bites and co-host of Food Network’s The Kitchen, cooking wasn't just a hobby growing up - it was a way of life. Raised in a modest, tight-knit West Virginia family, each evening centered around the dinner menu. Eager to get involved, Katie began cooking at the tender age of 4 under the guidance of her mentor Grandma Dora. Using fresh vegetables from her Grandpa's garden and meat from the family's cattle and pig farms, Katie quickly learned the value of seasonal ingredients. Katie’s third cookbook, Endless Summer Cookbook, was released in April 2015. Katie's first cookbook, The Comfort Table, was released in 2008, soon followed by The Comfort Table: Recipes for Everyday Occasions (2009). In addition to her comfort food cookbooks, she published her first novel, Groundswell, in 2011. Outside of her culinary and literary adventures, Katie is an ambassador for 96 Elephants and works closely with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Food Bank of New York. When not working or volunteering, she enjoys surfing, traveling and playing with her dog, Gus. She resides in the Hamptons and NYC.