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One of the great gifts that you can give people is to cook for them.

Ina Garten

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Ina Garten
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: February 2
Author
Chef
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Ina Rosenberg Garten
Give
Women
Giving
Great
People
Cook
Cooks
Gifts

More quotes by Ina Garten

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The dirty little secret is that I grew up in a household where there were no carbohydrates allowed, ever. No cookies, no bread, no potatoes, no rice. My mother was very extreme in terms of what she served. Since I left home more than 40 years ago, I've been making it right for myself.
Ina Garten
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Take one flower that you like and get lots of them. And don't try to 'arrange' them. It's surprisingly hard to do a flower arrangement the way a florist does one. Instead, bunch them all together or put them in a series of small vases all down the table.
Ina Garten
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I get up every day, do the best that I can do, and go home and have a good time.
Ina Garten
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I've lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.
Ina Garten
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I use other cookbooks for inspiration. I must say I tend to cook from my own cookbooks for parties.
Ina Garten
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You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!
Ina Garten
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All my life I dreamed of an apartment in Paris where I could cook, and now I have one, on the Left Bank.
Ina Garten
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Grilled cheese and tomato soup is the ultimate comfort meal.
Ina Garten
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Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable.
Ina Garten
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In the summer you want fresh, light and sort of quick things in winter you want things that are comforting, so your body really tells you you want to go towards potatoes, apples, fennel, things that are warm and comforting. And loin of pork.
Ina Garten
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My mother would never let me in the kitchen. I always wanted to cook, but I was never allowed to. Her view of the world was, Cooking is my job, and studying is your job. I think, in retrospect, she didn't like the chaos. She was very orderly. It had to be her way.
Ina Garten
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If it's a cocktail party, I generally make five or six different things, and I try to choose recipes that feel like a meal: a chicken thing, a fish or shrimp thing, maybe two vegetable things, and I think it's fun to end the cocktail party with a sweet thing.
Ina Garten
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My favorite fall or winter lunch is big steaming bowls of soup. I usually invite people for around 12:30 and have two hearty soups like shrimp corn chowder and lentil sausage soup, which can be made a day or two ahead.
Ina Garten
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The planning is everything. Deciding which dishes you're going to prepare can turn into the make-or-break decision five days later, when you actually serve the meal.
Ina Garten
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I always have music. I love it to be very upbeat. When you're having drinks, I like something like Cesaria Evora. During dinner, I like the much more traditional - old Frank Sinatra and things like that.
Ina Garten
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I try to greet my friends with a drink in my hand, a warm smile on my face, and great music in the background, because that's what gets a dinner party off to a fun start.
Ina Garten
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I measure everything, because I always think that if I've spent so much time making sure this recipe was exactly the way I want it, why would I want to throw things into a pot?
Ina Garten
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I don't like sitting at a table that's too large, where everyone is too far apart. That's a party killer.
Ina Garten
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I love to take something ordinary and make it really special.
Ina Garten
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The most overrated tool: a pasta maker. Why make it when you can buy it? It's a lot of work!
Ina Garten