She’s a Food Network star, girlfriend of the governor of New York, and a domestic diva with a legion of fans and high profile haters.
Love her or not, Sandra Lee has made a name for herself beyond the tree-lined streets of her native Sumner.
On Saturday she’ll appear at the Puyallup Spring Fair to demonstrate the specialty that has been the wellspring of her success: semi-homemade cooking.
Lee took a few minutes away from a family reunion of sorts at her brother’s Sumner area home to talk about her life, career and those nasty things Anthony Bourdain says about her.
Lee is 44, but always the bargain hunter she says, “Please tell me I look like 39.95.”
Sears and Kmart recently announced they would be selling a Lee-designed line of cookware. It’s the latest addition to an empire built on a simple yet overlooked concept – making food at home from mostly prepared foods. Lee dubbed it semi-homemade and started with a single cookbook.
“Nobody had written these (semi-homemade themed cookbooks), which is stunning to me,” she said.
Like Lee’s thematic material her first attempt at book publishing was semi-homemade.
“Every single publisher turned them down,” she said. “Nobody would publish them.”
Lee eventually self-published her first two books. She now owns her own imprint and has published 23 books.
Despite the books, TV shows, an autobiography and now a successful magazine Lee is eager to point out she’s no hands-off figure head.
“I create almost all of the ideas. All the recipes,” she said.
Her staff works out proportions and other details but her shows are unscripted and without teleprompters, Lee said.
“It’s completely ad libbed,” she said.
FANS AND BOURDAIN
Some of those ideas and off-the-cuff moments have engendered some strong responses from her fellow celebrity chefs.
Lee’s sometimes glib style, her references to “tablescapes” and heavy reliance on pre-made food has brought some critical reaction – most famously from celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
The host of “No Reservations” once declared in a public forum that Lee was the low end of “stand and stir shows.” He then urged attendees to Google “Sandra Lee” and “Kwanzaa Cake” and then “Count how long it’s going to take for your head to explode.”
If Lee wasn’t a politician before meeting her boyfriend, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, she is now. She’s unfailingly polite in her assessment of the acid-tongued Bourdain.
“I bet he’s a really nice guy. ... I think he’s really talented,” she said. “I’m going to love the day when he doesn’t need to drop my name and say nasty things about anyone to get exposure and press.”
She recently met Bourdain for the first time at a New York City charity event.
“I saw Anthony and I had to say hello,” she said. “... He didn’t even look at me. It was hilarious. You have to laugh. You have to giggle.”
Lee takes criticism in stride but she does get a little defensive when it comes to the fans who embrace her style of cooking.
“I think if you take a shot at me, you take a shot at every single homemaker here and abroad (who watch Lee’s shows),” she said. (Lee’s programs air in 56 countries, she said.) “You don’t need people looking down on you, judging you. Who are you to tell me how to run my life?”
HARD DAYS IN SUMNER
Being the girlfriend of Cuomo (she prefers the term “sweetheart”) has put Lee in a new spotlight. Despite the pressures of being public figures the couple make a point to keep their work stress at the office.
“We kind of don’t bring that to the house unless it’s really bothersome,” she said. “When we’re home it’s about the girls (Cuomo’s daughters), it’s about the house.”
Family is important to Lee who makes several visits a year to the South Sound to see relatives. One of those visits is usually timed to coincide with the fall Puyallup fair.
“I go with no makeup and a baseball cap and no one knows who I am. Genius. That’s how I roll.”
Lee still has two brothers, a sister and six nieces and nephews who live in the area. Her youngest brother, Johnny, works for her in New York.
Her position as the oldest sibling defined her childhood.
“Everything was really great until I was 9,” she said.
First addled by mental illness and then by drugs, Lee’s mother, Vicky, “just went down hill very quickly.” Soon, Lee was in the dual roles of sister and mother to her younger siblings.
Abused by her mother, she left Sumner at age 16 to live with her father in Wisconsin.
Lee clearly has painful memories from those days but she’s sanguine about the hard knock lessons from those days.
“I have to say (those lessons) have served me in the rest of my life very well,” she said. “I didn’t have anyone telling me I couldn’t do something. I applied that to my career.”
The family home is still in existence, conjuring up memories of her hard scrabble days whenever she visits the area.
“It makes me feel sick,” she said. “I have to drive past it every day now.”
SATURDAY DEMO
Her better memories of Sumner are filled with the bounty of fresh produce, especially berries, which she picked to make extra cash, she said.
Those days of living on welfare and food stamps have long drawn Lee to charity work with local food banks (Her other charitable cause is AIDS/HIV).
Saturday’s demonstration at the fair will have seating for the first 300 people who bring nonperishable food items or a monetary donation for local food banks.
At the demo, Lee will show off the money- and time-saving tips that have made her brand famous.
“My job is first and foremost to make your life better, easier, smarter and more convenient.” she said. “If I can do that I’ve done my job.”
But before the demo Lee has something else on her agenda Saturday.
“My No. 1 one goal when I walk on to the property is to get a scone,” she said. “No. 2 is an elephant ear.”
Once a Sumner girl, always a Sumner girl.
Craig Sailor: 253-597-8541 craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com
Sandra Lee at the Spring Fair
When: 2 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Americraft ShowPlex, Puyallup Fairgrounds.
Tickets: First 300 people who bring a nonperishable food or monetary donation to the demonstration will receive free seating starting at 10 a.m. Some standing room is available. Admission to the fair is required.
Information: www.thefair.com.
• Puyallup police may take over security at fair. A3 if you go
The Spring Fair kicked off Thursday and runs through Sunday at the Puyallup Fair & Events Center, 110 Ninth Ave. S.W.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets: $9 for adults and $7 for students ages 6 to 18; discounts are available if purchased in advance at Safeway, Fred Meyer and the South Hill Mall. Kids 5 and younger get in free.
Parking is free.
Information: thefair.com.
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