If you’re looking for a good book, I highly recommend Ina Garten’s memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens.” I truly enjoyed it and felt inspired enough by it to write this post. It’s one of those books where you’re sorry to see it end. But luckily, Ina Garten aka “Barefoot Contessa” is still around and we can enjoy more books from her and her wonderful recipes.
While reading, I was reminded that when my friends and I cooked for our dinner club, Ina Garten’s recipes were a group fave. And reading about her life made me like her even more!
It’s so interesting how when looking back over a career, the parts of it usually seem connected and even inevitable. But when you see how decisions were made and things happened in real time, it can seem quite random.
Her career was definitely not inevitable at all. If she weren’t so brave, curious and up for any challenge, things could have gone in a million different directions.
She was a policy wonk in Washington, D.C. before deciding to randomly buy Barefoot Contessa, a specialty grocery shop. She always loved food and entertaining and worked extremely hard on whatever captured her attention.
One of the things that I loved most was how she would always go back to a favorite saying by her husband, Jeffrey. “You never know your good breaks from your bad ones.” What seems like bad luck at first, can end up being good. And the opposite also holds true. We never know until some time passes.
Reading this book makes me want to get her first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary, with updated recipes!
And speaking of anniversaries, today is my 20 year blogging anniversary! While I don’t blog as much as before, it’s pretty wild to think about all that has happened in 20 years. It’s truly a different world.
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Image: Amazon
