Ina Garten Quentin Bacon Popular Books

Ina Garten Quentin Bacon Biography & Facts

Ina Rosenberg Garten ( EYE-nə; born February 2, 1948) is an American television cook and author. She is host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and was a former staff member of the Office of Management and Budget. Among her dishes are Perfect Roast Chicken, Weeknight Bolognese, French Apple Tart, and a simplified version of beef bourguignon. Her culinary career began with her gourmet food store, Barefoot Contessa; Garten then expanded her activities to many best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, and a popular Food Network television show. Early life Born Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, Garten was one of two children born to Charles H. Rosenberg, a surgeon specializing in otolaryngology, and his wife, Florence (née Rich), a dietitian. Encouraged to excel in school, she showed an aptitude for science and has said she uses her scientific mindset while experimenting with recipes. Garten's mother (an intellectual with an interest in opera) discouraged Ina from helping in the kitchen, instead directing her towards schoolwork. Garten described her father as a socializer, and admits she shares more characteristics with him than her mother. Her cousin is musician David Torn. At 15, she met her future husband Jeffrey Garten, on a trip to visit her brother at Dartmouth College. After high school, she attended Syracuse University majoring in economics, and later went to George Washington University School of Business. Career On December 22, 1968, Jeffrey and Ina were married in Stamford and soon relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She began to dabble in cooking and entertaining in an effort to occupy her time; Jeffrey served a four-year military tour during the Vietnam War. She also acquired her pilot's certificate. After her husband had completed his military service, the couple went on a four-month camping vacation in Europe including time in France which sparked her love for French cuisine. During this trip, she was introduced to open-air markets, produce stands, and fresh cooking ingredients. Upon returning to the U.S., she began to cultivate her culinary abilities by studying the volumes of Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child's influential cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. During this time, weekly dinner parties turned to tradition, and she refined her home entertaining skills when she and her husband moved to Washington, D.C., in 1972. In Washington, Garten worked in the White House; Jeffrey worked in the State Department earning his PhD at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. Garten was originally employed by the Federal Power Commission and later at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Eventually she was assigned the position of budget analyst, which entailed writing the nuclear energy budget and policy papers on nuclear centrifuge plants for presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. While she worked at OMB, Garten also taught herself to cook and entertain while buying and renovating old houses in the Dupont Circle and Kalorama neighborhoods. She used the profits from these sales to make her next purchase, the Barefoot Contessa specialty food store. Barefoot Contessa store Garten left her government job in 1978 after spotting an ad for a 400-square-foot (37 m2) specialty food store called Barefoot Contessa in Westhampton Beach, New York. "My job in Washington was intellectually exciting and stimulating but it wasn't me at all," she explained four years later. After traveling to visit the store she purchased it and moved to New York. She often worked 12 hour days at the business. The store had been named by its original owner in tribute to the 1954 film which starred Ava Gardner. Garten kept the name; it meshed well with her idea of an "elegant but earthy" lifestyle. Ironically, as of 2006 she had not seen the film. Three years later, Garten had moved Barefoot Contessa across Main Street to a larger property, and in 1985, she relocated the store to the newly vacated premises of gourmet shop Dean & DeLuca in the Long Island village of East Hampton. In contrast to Westhampton's seasonal beach atmosphere, East Hampton houses a year-round community, providing a larger customer base. In East Hampton, Garten expanded the store over seven times its original size, from its original 400 square feet (37 m2) to more than 3,000 square feet (280 m2). In this new, larger space, the store specialized in delicacies such as lobster Cobb salad, caviar, imported cheeses, and locally grown produce. As the business grew Garten employed local chefs and bakers including Anna Pump (who later bought Loaves & Fishes Specialty Food Store and the Bridgehampton Inn). Celebrity clientele such as Steven Spielberg praised the shop in the press. In 1996, after two decades of operating Barefoot Contessa, Garten again found herself seeking a change; she sold the store to two employees, Amy Forst and Parker Hodges. She retained ownership of the building itself. Unsure of what career step to take after selling the store, she took a one year sabbatical from the culinary scene and built an office for herself above the store. There, she studied the stock market and attempted to sketch out plans for potential business ventures. At the time, her website, Barefoot Contessa, became a high-profile business as she began offering her coffees and a few other items for purchase online. By 2003, Barefoot Contessa had become a landmark gathering place for East Hampton; director Nancy Meyers chose the store as one of the sets for the Jack Nicholson-Diane Keaton film Something's Gotta Give. The store was permanently closed in 2003 when the property lease expired and negotiations failed between Garten (still the owner of the building) and the new owners. Garten did not reopen the shop but kept the property for potential new tenants. Barefoot Contessa cookbooks In 1999, Garten reemerged with her attention turned to publishing. She carried on the Barefoot Contessa name in her 1999 sleeper bestseller, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. The book far exceeded both Garten’s and publisher Clarkson Potter’s expectations, containing the recipes that made her store successful. Garten eventually sold over 100,000 copies in the first year, immediately requiring second and third print runs after the initial printing of 25,000 cookbooks were sold. In 2001, she released Barefoot Contessa Parties!, Parties! also produced praise and high sales; Barefoot Contessa Family Style followed in 2002. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and Parties! were nominated for 2000 and 2002 James Beard Awards in the Entertaining & Special Occasion Cookbooks category. Parties! was a surprise entry—Garten was perceived as too inexperienced to compete with nominees such as French chef Jacques Pépin and international wine expert Brian St. Pierre. Her cookbooks have many color photographs including a full.... Discover the Ina Garten Quentin Bacon popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ina Garten Quentin Bacon books.