Chef ina garten’s new memoir details life story | members only

Cooks love Ina Garten. The recipes in her 13 bestselling cookbooks are beautifully photographed, produce delicious dishes and don’t require a fully stocked commercial kitchen. Her television

shows embody what’s so special about being around a table, as she invites loved ones to share the dishes she makes with her audience. And she possesses an intuitive sense for what real

people want to eat, whether plating food for to-go lines at the original Barefoot Contessa store or assuring time-strapped home cooks that, really, store-bought items are just fine. “When I

had my first book contract, the idea I started with was very specific,” Garten, 76, tells AARP. “I wanted you to be able to open a book and say, ‘That looks delicious.’ Then I wanted you to

look at the recipe and say, ‘I can actually make that.’ And that hasn’t really changed.” Now the beloved cook has a new memoir, _Be Ready When the Luck Happens_, a candid look at the many

side plots and surprises that helped set her course. “Writing a cookbook is simple compared to this,” Garten says. “Working on the memoir was hard. It required me to really go back and think

about where I came from and how I challenged myself and why.” "I figured out pretty quickly that people didn’t want fancy restaurant food at home: they wanted the best home cooking

without the trouble of making it at home," Ina Garten says. Courtesy Ina Garten BATTLING DECADES-OLD INSECURITY In the book, Garten opens up about the abuse she suffered from her late

parents, citing their constant criticism as a key source of insecurity even all these years later. “The negative voice in my head is my mother saying, ‘You think it’s a good idea, but it’ll

turn out badly,’ ” Garten explains. “I don’t think you ever get rid of it. But now I’m diligent about making sure that when I hear that voice, I counter it. I go, ‘_Oh, that’s her voice.

It’s not me. What do I think?_’ ”__ But quieting the cruel voice in her head has been an ongoing process. Lately, for example, Garten starts each morning listing five things she knows she

does really well. “At first, I thought, Well, that’ll get me through a day, maybe a day and a half,” she says, laughing. “But what I found is that over a period of several weeks, I could

always think of five more things, big or small. When I get anxious about my ability, I sometimes go to that list.” Community is another key driver for Garten. “I surround myself with people

who are happy and positive and smart and funny, and we support each other,” she says. “That alone gives you a sense of confidence.” Perhaps the most celebrated of those supporters is her

husband, Jeffrey, who takes a starring role in _Be Ready When the Luck Happens_. The pair met when Garten was still in high school; he spotted her out a library window when she was visiting

her brother at Dartmouth, and he wrote to her, asking if he might be able to take her out sometime. Garten was 20 when the couple married, and his approach to life (a perspective she

describes as “Just try it!”) would shape her business trajectory as much as her personal one. “If he and I want two different things that seem disparate, his whole goal is to figure out a

situation so that everybody is happy,” Garten says. His outlook became a key influence in her approach to negotiating. “It’s not about winning. It’s about making sure everybody gets what

they want,” she says.