February/March Selection: Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten

Back when the FoodNetwork was all I would watch on a Saturday afternoon, I enjoyed the dulcet calming voice and recipes of Ina Garten on The Barefoot Contessa. I really hadn’t thought much about her these past years even though her Boeuf Bourguignon recipe is my go-to Christmas dinner dish. This summer, however, I reviewed Cooking in Real Life by Lidey Heuck. (Lidey was an assistant for Ina for many years.) Then I heard an interview with Ina on Fresh Air promoting her upcoming memoir. I pre-ordered it. I had no idea that she had worked in the White House, that she spontaneously bought a specialty food shop in the Hamptons, and that she was a very reluctant FoodNetwork Star. I guess I wasn’t much of a fan girl back in the days of The Barefoot Contessa. Long story short… the February/March selection is Ina’s most recent book.

From the publisher:

Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose. From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

I hope you’re inspired by one of her personal tales like “1000 Baguettes” or “It’s Always Cocktail Hour in a Crisis." Perhaps you’ll choose a recipe from one of her thirteen cookbooks! Regardless, I think this will be a fun and interesting read. I always like a good food memoir. Posting deadline is March 31, 2025. Just leave a comment below with your link.

If you're new to CTB, check out the Guidelines  page here. We're a fun bunch so please join us. Just read Ina's book, get inspired, pop into the kitchen and create and then post about it. 

Until then...

Debra 
Eliot's Eats