Ina Garten Quotes

You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you eat a cookie but you can't be miserable while you are eating a cookie.

Food is about nurturing: not only physical but also emotional nurturing.

Cooking is one of the great gifts you can give to those you love. It says “you’re important enough to me to spend the time and effort to cook for you.

I actually think that the food our mothers made may not be what we are nostalgic for. It’s more an emotional picture of a mother who was always there, knew what we needed, loved us, let us run free when we wanted to explore.

Slow down, they seemed to say, you can take a little twirl and still get exactly where you're going. Such a nice approach to life.

A good home should gather you up in its arms like a warm cashmere blanket, soothe your hurt feelings, and prepare you to go back out into that big bad world tomorrow all ready to fight the dragons.

He was telling me that I was too smart not to do something with my life, which no one had ever said to me before.

Most of life's problems can be solved with a good cookie.

TRADITIONS REASSURE US THAT WE BELONG TOGETHER,

I’d like to think that when I invite friends to my house, they know what I’m really saying is, “I love you; come for dinner.

Your 20s are the time when you master what you think you're supposed to do. But in your 30s, when you've figured out what you like and don't like, and you're more confident, you can move on to what you really want to do, which might be totally different.

cool to room temperature.

big sofas for a nap on Sunday afternoon; comfy reading chairs with good light and a view out the window for daydreaming

When you're young, you marry someone who has the qualities you wish you had...As you grow older, one of two things happens. Either you start to find those difference increasingly annoying and you grow apart, or...you gradually become more like the other, even as you remain who you are".

I have often thought that everyone should work in retail at some point in their lives, kind of like mandatory military service. They would understand two things—first, that serving customers all day can be a very difficult job, and second, that being kind is so much more effective than being nasty.

There's a wonderful quote attributed to George Lucas: "We're all living in cages with the door wide open." That was me until I realized I had the power - and the responsibility - to set myself free. To step out of the cage of whatever I'd experienced in the past, to think for myself, and to believe in my choices.

After all my mother's negativity, I could design the rooms, cook anything I wanted, throw parties, and make a home for us.

Stand up for yourself, even when it’s hard, even when it means taking a risk. And in any endeavor, find just one person who really believes in you.

I also learned that it’s important to listen to advice and then decide if it’s true to who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish.

For me, cooking wasn't the goal of entertaining; being with friends was the goal, so I wanted to make easy recipes that anyone could prepare and know their guests would be delighted.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, the person sitting next to you at a dinner party turns out to be really interesting, and you have a lively conversation that makes you think, I want to know more.

But in France, these little traffic circles are a reminder that life is not about straight lines or the shortest distance between two points. Slow down, they seemed to say, you can take a little twirl and still get exactly where you’re going. Such a nice approach to life.

It doesn’t really matter what the occasion is—big or small—but it’s the connections that we have with people we love that nourish our souls. Entertaining isn’t just about making dinner parties. It’s about celebrating those connections and I think that’s what makes life worth living.

My friend Maile Carpenter, the remarkable editor of Food Network Magazine, who's wise beyond her years, told me that the definition of a good marriage is that each person thinks they got the better deal. That's exactly how I feel about Jeffrey as we approach our fifty-sixth anniversary, and I know he feels the same way about me.

Megan was able to get me the single most important item in this entire house.” “She got you that new vibrator?” “Jesus . . .” “Oh, the cookbook, right,” he said, remembering. Megan used to work for the Food Network, and was able to secure me a signed copy of the original Barefoot Contessa cookbook. By Ina Garten. Signed to me by the way; one of those “Best wishes, Ina” deals. It honest-to-God said: To Caroline— Best Wishes, Ina Go ahead and be jealous. I’ll wait. Simon, on the other hand, would not. “Okay, so you remember Megan.” “Remember her? Did you not hear me say single most important—” “I got it, babe. Are you at all curious about hearing what they’re up to, or are you just going to spend some head-space time dreaming of Ina and her kitchen?” “And me in her kitchen. If you’re going to get into my daydream, you have to set the scene correctly. I’m there with Ina, in her kitchen in the Hamptons, and we’re cooking up something wonderful for you and her husband, Jeffrey. Something with roasted chicken, which she’ll teach me how to carve perfectly. And roasted carrots, which she’ll pronounce with that subtle New York accent of hers, where it sounds like she’s saying kerrits.” “I worry about you sometimes,” Simon said, reaching over to feel my forehead. “I’m perfectly fine. Don’t worry about me, I’ll continue my fantasy later.

Do you ever make a meal and just know - I mean know, with absolute certainty - that somewhere in the Hamptons, Ina Garten would be like super proud of you? That even if she were completely absorbed in splitting vanilla beans for homemade extract, she would totally side-eye your dish and smile.

Everyone who makes this cake can’t believe how easy it is! The ricotta and sour cream keep the cake moist and the blueberries and lemon zest give it lots of flavor. Even if you’re having breakfast for dinner, you still need to have dessert, right?

Less is more & quality is everything.

First, it starts with simple ingredients. I always ask myself, “Does every ingredient earn its place in this recipe?” If I can’t clearly distinguish it or it doesn’t enhance the flavor of another ingredient, out it goes. Fewer ingredients mean less shopping and less prep time. Second, are they ingredients that you can easily find in a grocery or specialty food store? There’s no point in writing a simple recipe if it means you have to go to three different produce markets to find three different kinds of wild mushrooms in order to make the recipe. I’ve seen recipes that call for gelatin sheets (where do you find those, except in a restaurant kitchen?) or a teaspoon of glace de viande. When I see ingredients like that in a recipe, I just put the book back

was already committed to go to one of Ina Garten’s dinner parties, and you know how Ina gets when you cancel on her at the last minute! Barefoot nothing—that Contessa gets ANGRY. I once saw her throw an entire roast chicken at Ben Affleck! In steel-toed boots!

Living the dream did, however, come with certain realities. Cooking is hard for me anyway, but cooking in Paris is a whole new level of difficulty. Don’t even think about celebrating Thanksgiving in Paris if you’re a traditionalist, because the turkey (la dinde) is a completely different bird in France. There’s no such thing as a cranberry, and celery is practically impossible to find. One Thanksgiving, Jeffrey managed to find a lone stalk in a little convenience store, but he had to beg the shopkeeper to sell it to him because the shopkeeper’s wife had asked him to bring it home to her. Heavy cream isn’t called heavy cream. Gelatin comes in sheets, not little packages of powder. If you want chicken stock, you have to make it yourself.

On the road, even the infamous roundabouts that popped up every so many miles seemed charming to us. In the States, rotaries, as we call them, usually provoke squealing brakes, honking horns, and the occasional rude hand gesture, because nobody understands who has the right-of-way. But in France, these little traffic circles are a reminder that life is not about straight lines or the shortest distance between two points. Slow down, they seemed to say, you can take a little twirl and still get exactly where you’re going. Such a nice approach to life.

Good architecture makes me want to do a better job, to live up to the promise of the space.

the definition of a good marriage is that each person thinks they got the better

I remember sitting there stunned, thinking, “Oh shit! I just bought a specialty food store!

Challenges, disappointments, heartbreaks, problems that hit like a ton of bricks, days when I didn’t want to get out of bed. The solution is rarely obvious, and it’s never a straight line up and over the hill.

It was like we had spent our lives building an airplane, we’d learned how to fly it, and now we could cruise along and just enjoy the ride.

We’d go to Europe! The dollar was strong, we had no responsibilities until the fall, and we loved to travel together. Jeffrey took a long, hard look at our tiny savings account and calculated that we could stay in Europe for four months IF we kept to a budget of five dollars a day. I know that sounds insane, but there was actually a very popular book at the time, Arthur Frommer’s Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, that told us exactly how to do it.

I’m a big believer in collaboration, in playing nicely with others. I think it makes everyone better because we can learn from each other. Business doesn’t have to be cutthroat and isolating. It’s much more fun and productive to exchange ideas, to be genuinely curious about how other people do things, to be generous, and to root for a competitor’s success.

Barefoot Contessa Pantry. It

Why do successful women always say they’re lucky, and successful men say they got there by the force of their talent?

Downtown, Dean & DeLuca imported goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and ingredients that nobody knew about. On the Upper West Side, Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso of the Silver Palate worked magic with raspberry vinegar and made Chicken Marbella the “must-serve” dish for every dinner party. At E.A.T. on the Upper East Side, Eli Zabar prepared the most delicious take-out salads, dinners, cheeses, and baked goods, and later he started baking his own bread, which was a revolution in itself. There was a store called Fay and Allen’s Foodworks, which dazzled customers with a five-foot display of fresh caviar and 160 cheeses. At Word of Mouth, Eileen Weinberg and Christi Finch made quiches with unusual ingredients, memorably eggplant with a whisper of dill and a mustard glaze, and cold pasta salads that nobody had done before, like tortellini, ham, green and red peppers, and salsa verde.

Boulevard Raspail Market, or Marché Raspail, was another irresistible destination,

enormous Grande Épicerie at Le Bon Marché department store,

amazing aisles at Dehillerin, the historic cookware emporium

the

I concentrate on what's in front of me, and work hard, because I love what I do, and have fun doing it; and then I leave the door open, so I'll be ready when the luck happens.

I concentrate on what's in front of me, and work hard, because I love what I do, and I have fun doing it; and then I leave the door open, so I'll be ready when the luck happens.

Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes Serves 6 to 8 Kosher salt 3 pounds large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and 1½ to 2-inch diced ½ cup vegetable oil Coarse sea salt or fleur de sel Minced fresh parsley Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bring a large pot of water with 2 tablespoons kosher salt to a boil. Add the potatoes, return to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 8 minutes. Drain the potatoes, place them back in the pot with the lid on, and shake the pot roughly for 5 seconds to rough up the edges. Carefully transfer the potatoes in one layer to a baking rack set over a sheet pan. Set aside to dry for at least 15 minutes. (They can sit uncovered at room temperature for several hours or in the fridge for up to 6 hours.) Pour the oil onto another sheet pan, tilt the pan to distribute the oil, and place the pan in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until the oil is smoking hot. Transfer the potatoes carefully into the oil (I use a large metal spatula) and toss them lightly to coat each potato with the hot oil. Evenly spread out the potatoes and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Roast for 45 minutes to one hour, turning the potatoes occasionally with tongs, until very browned and crisp on the outside and tender and creamy inside. Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle generously with 1½ to 2 teaspoons sea salt and parsley and serve hot.