Porn Valley- I was in for a shock or two Monday night. From my conversation with her, I learn that Kat, sans braces, is back in the business.

Which is good news because Kat’s always been a very nice woman whose ability to choose mentally suspect friends like Allie Ray was second to none. Then I learn that Kat and James Bartholet are a romantic item. As someone who has absolutely no business commenting on May-December hookups, I find this match rather intriguing.

Kat was at the Galaxy Publicity booth during Adultcon this past weekend, and Bartholet’s now managing her.

“She’s going to do select work,” explains Bartholet. “I’m going to make some calls around. The exciting thing is that we’re working on a pilot for a cooking show.”

“I love her so much,” adds Bartholet who talks about how he and Kat are watching Food Network making notes. Bartholet says he’s run the idea by a few people who are hesitant about her porn past.

“I know Pamela Peaks is doing this, but Pamela’s doing it on a very small level, www.pamelapeaksinthekitchen.com

“This is going to be on a bigger level,” insists Bartholet. “I think we can make this thing happen.

“I got her together in her life now,” Bartholet also declares.

“We get up and exercise, and we’re living healthy. A lot of people were commenting to me at Adultcon how Kat had such a wonderful glow about her and that she wasn’t like the wild little Kat from before. I’m keeping all the barracudas away from her. We go out and have fun. It’s like she’s got a new attitude and has someone in her life who loves and cares about her. She’s doing really well and excited about working again.”

Kat, who will be at the XRCO awards show this week, gets on the phone telling me how she took a year off.

“That’s my first time going there to XRCO,” she says. “I haven’t been to a porn party in awhile.”

Kat was also at the Hustler Party Saturday night and was very excited about that.

“I was walking the red carpet, and I couldn’t believe people remembered my name.”

Kat explains that she’s just started working again, telling me a bit more about the cooking show Bartholet is planning.

“It’s going to be called Kat’s Kitchen,” she says. And Bartholet is working on a TV cable deal.

“It’s going to be a serious cooking show because I want to be a chef,” she continues. Kat mentions Rachel Ray who also has a cooking show on TV.

“James says I’m like her only hotter,” Kat laughs.

She also tells me about plans for doing an inside the industry show but it sounds like the cooking show has top priority. It’s going to be aimed at the young demographic.

The last time Kat was in the business, there was controversy involving her, Allie Ray and a missing $5,000. Kat explains what happened.

“When I was young I used to be in a group home,” says Kat. “I was a bad student and my parents put me there. I met my roommate [Ray] there and we became best friends. We stopped talking for awhile, then she needed some help and I let her live with me. One day she just took off with all my money.

“I didn’t even have a safe box because I trusted her so much. I put it in the closet. I come home, and I’m wondering where the hell is she. Everybody know she was nuts but this was so fucked up. I was helping her out and she stole from me. I knew it was her. So we had all this controversy on MySpace. She admitted it: ‘I stole that bitch’s money.’

“I tried to press charges but I couldn’t prove it,” Kat continues. “She took off for Florida with my money. And I’ve heard stories that she stole money from other people as well.”

Ray, if you’ll remember, also poisoned her then-boyfriend David Luger.

“She really did and was in jail for that,” states Kat. “She’s a little troublemaker. When I went to the cops they had her on file already. They’re, like, yeah we know this girl. We were like sisters. She’s always been a jealous person but I never knew she had envy for me. She was a foster kid and I was a probation kid. She never really had a family to teach her. It’s really sad but I’m over it.”

According to Kat Ray got into the business primarily because she did.

“When I left the group home I got into the business and she just showed up at my house out of nowhere,” relates Kat.

“She saw how much money I was making. I would take her to parties. Finally she said I want to do a movie just to make some money. And she liked it. After she made some money, then she took off and didn’t talk to me for a year. Then when she comes over, she stole money from me.”

Kat hasn’t spoken to Ray, and says if she saw her on the street, she’d beat her up.

I asked Kat about the braces she was noted for, and she says she’s no longer wearing them. But my question prompts the fact that Kat completely forgot about a dental appointment she had earlier in the day.

“I took them off a year ago- you just reminded me. I had a dentist appointment this morning. I just remembered right now. I’ve been rescheduling it and they put me in the morning. I’m not a morning person.”

Kat says when she was repped by an agency she was in porn full time.

“Right now I want to do it where I have time for my cooking stuff,” she says.

According to her, her new website should be up in less than a month. It’ll be kandykat.com.

Kat talks about how she and Bartholet have been dating. Asked how that started up, Kat says she’s known Bartholet for a long time.

“I knew he always liked me,” she says. “But I was always busy doing movies and going out.”

“And you were doing NASTY movies,” I remind her.

“Yes, I was,” she laughs. “That’s so funny.”

To hear Kat tell it, when she performs it will still be up to that nasty standard.

When Kat turned 18, she was assigned to a half way house. It was for those predisposed to the bottle.

“I liked to drink and I still do,” she confesses. “I lived there and all of my roommates were like 30 and 40. I was the youngest one there and one of my roommates was a P.A. for Anarchy Films. I told him, look, I’ve got to pay my rent or my parole officer is going to send me back to jail. So I did one movie for Anarchy called Shooters. I did that, and that’s when I meant Tim Myren from Naughty Modeling.”

Kat said she just spoke to Myren and got the impression he owns his own clothing store.

“Remember his twin brother Chris?” asks Kat. “They’re twins but look nothing alike. They’re so opposite. It’s so funny. Tim is like this little short man and Chris is so skinny and tall.”

“Are you trying to tell me they’re twins?” I ask Kat, having met both men.

“Yeah,” she says. “Doesn’t Chris look like the guy from Napoleon Dynamite?”

I remember that Chris used to drive the girls around.

“Nobody in the industry knew about that [he and Tim being twins]- that was really fun,” says Kat.

And according to Kat, the only times her braces got caught on a guy’s dick was with Scott Nails and then with Anthony Hardwood.

“You know what sucks?” Kat asks. “They’re nice people but kind of mean in a way. These guys, like Anthony, after I did that he made a huge ordeal about it. Everybody was afraid to work with me because of the way he made it seem.”

“It wasn’t that bad, just a little nick,” she says.