• A list of V-Day meals and deals, in case you need some inspiration. [Eater]
• The good news/bad news about the newly-opened Trigo in Tribeca. [Eater]
• Frank Bruni gives Corner Bistro's burger a try; he isn't impressed. [NYT]
• Cocoa prices are up, which means chocolate is about to get pricier. [WSJ]
• A list of this year's James Beard Awards semifinalists. [GS]
• Bobo's Patrick Connelly will be on Nightline tonight. [Feedbag]
• Don't read this piece about "natural contaminants" if you're squeamish. [NYT]

Mickey Rourke's Oscar-date roundelay shrunk Thursday night with a creative — and we'd say pretty firm — denial that he's considering Courtney Love.

Remember Sex and the City? Where writing a dating column for a living supported Carrie's extravagant lifestyle? Well, those days are over. As is your hope for a luxurious life. The middle class is back!

Need a target for your recession-related fury? How about Brian Williams? The NBC anchor takes home $10 million a year, yet he tells TVNewser he's had "no desire to walk into any store but a grocery store for months" because "it doesn't feel right." Go buy a new suit this weekend, Brian. You can afford it. You need it. We all need it. The economy is depending on you, damn it! [TVNewser via The Biz]

Here is some important non-pork spending news from your stimulus bill:

Freida Pinto Gets Whitewashed By VF [Extrawhoredinary via Jezebel]
Related: Did Vanity Fair lighten Beyonce's skin? [MSNBC]

Well, that was a nice while it lasted. News that Grey's Anatomy powerkvetchers Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight had left the show—Heigl off to various slumcom pursuits, Knight to, um—appears to have been premature.

No money? No problem! Twitter doesn't have any actual revenues, but venture capitalists have poured another $35 million into its coffers, valuing the text-update service for hipster oversharers at $230 million.

Hedge fund titan John Paulson has even more reason to beef up the landscaping outside his $41 million Southampton home today. As shares of the British bank Lloyds plummeted by more than 40 percent this afternoon, the billionaire short-seller made $67 million in less than 25 minutes. So how did your day go? [Bloomberg via Dealbreaker]

After Jon Stewart kicked Viacom's synergy machine out of whack by anointing Benjamin Button the Sleepytime Picture of the Year, a Colbert Report corrective was the least Comedy Central could arrange.

Doom-saying party-animal economist Nouriel Roubini has an op-ed in this Sunday's Washington Post and he's contributing to Forbes—when will he start live-Tweeting the apocalyptic economic collapse he's still predicting?

In your fiery Friday media column: The Post has a bad cover day, Chuck Todd is mad as hell and can't take it any more, a reporter makes the grave mistake of believing the internet, and more!

amfAR kicked off Fashion Week with a gala at Cipriani last night, where the long list of attendees included Donna Karan, Mary J. Blige (left), Anna Wintour, Calvin Klein, Rachel Zoe, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Liza Minnelli, Candy Pratts Price, Robbie Myers, Jessica Stam, Lily Donaldson, Kenneth Cole, Stefano Tonchi, John Demsey, Stacy Bendet, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Lisa Dennison, Terence Koh, Vito Schnabel, Noemi Lenoire, Harry Belafonte, Mary Alice Stephenson, Jennifer Creel, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Taylor Momsen, Maggie Rizer, Doutzen Kroes, Robert Verdi, Mario Cantone, Eliza Dushku, Kipton Cronkite, Derek Blasberg, and Howard and Cindy Rachofsky. [PMc, Wireimage, WWD, NYO]

You were thinking there weren't any jobs left in media? Think again! Two of Anna Wintour's three assistants are reportedly heading out the door and Anna is looking for replacements. "Some experience in fashion or media is good." Indeed. [NYM]

· The whole Blart team has reconvened for The Zookeeper, the story of "a lonely zookeeper...leading to intervention by the zoo's animals." He settles for a nice Tufted Capuchin in the end. [Variety]

So, how did those photos of Nadya Suleman's horribly distended, octuplet-carrying belly get out into the world? They were licensed to TMZ (presumably by Octo-mom herself), which wants to drum up publicity and traffic.

Poor Jeffrey Epstein hasn't even been released from prison yet and he's already finding himself in more legal hot water. Palm Beach Post gossip columnist Jose Lambiet reports the shadowy money manager, who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution, is now being sued by the contractor who built him a larger boat dock for his $10.7 million Palm Beach mansion. Apparently Jeffrey failed to pay a $105,000 bill, and the contractor says he's been trying to collect the debt since August. In Epstein's defense, though, he has been a wee bit tied up recently. [Page2Live, previously]

In a perfect world — one we've actively fantasized about for a while — there would be a cultural tribunal somewhere holding George Lucas accountable for crimes against fans and films alike.

This isn't entirely surprising: Aaron Bruns, the Fox News producer who was arrested for possession of child porn, has been fired after an initial suspension without pay.

Oh hey our friend just some girl, we barely know her, R&B singer and hooker to the stars Ashley Dupre, showed up at Fashion Week today, right there 'in the tents,' as they say!