For those of you that follow me on
instagram, you already know I was rather heady with excitement earlier in the week as my mum and I packed up and headed north for a little road trip to see my ultimate celebrity crush and cooking idol, Ina Garten. As part of her
Foolproof book tour she was speaking at select locations around the country in a program called "A Conversation with the Barefoot Contessa." Truthfully, I had no idea about the event until Jimmy mentioned it to me late last summer. In the past her book tours NEVER come near Cincinnati so I'd given up hope that I'd ever see her close to home. When he heard about her plans to visit Cleveland, Ohio {about 4 hours north of here} he was on the phone the minute the tickets came on sale and bought two for me. He made the hotel arrangements, dinner reservations and took off work to watch the boys, all so I could go enjoy myself. Lucky, I know.
The evening was to include an on stage interview with audience Q&A, followed by a book signing/meet + greet with Ina. I was very much looking forward to meeting her face to face, gushing a bit about the influence she has had on my cooking, and treating her to something I made. Ina is like the Julia Child of my generation. Maybe not for everyone, but certainly for a lot of us. Next to my mum, Ina has had the biggest impact on not just on how I cook, but also the way I think about food and sharing it with the people I love. Unfortunately, the book signing was canceled with this event so, regretfully, I did not get my moment with Ina. I did however bake her something. {A glazed lemon, blueberry, yogurt loaf cake} Not one of her recipes, but one that I tried about a month ago and knew she would love. I packaged up 4 thick slices in a berry crate with a pretty blue linen dish towel and little handmade tag.
I carted that thing into the hotel, in a cab to dinner, sat with it on my lap for the whole presentation and didn't get to hand it to her. I find the whole thing a bit comical. But I wasn't bringing it all the way to Cleveland and not getting it to her, so after her on stage performance I whistled down a crew member and had him bring it to her. Not quite the same, and likely not eaten by her, but I'll pretend she sank her teeth into it and said something like "oh wow, this is soooo good. I can really taste the lemon zest and fresh blueberries." hahaha.
Ok, let's dish a bit... Ina was exactly the same in person as on TV {only prettier}. Black blouse/pants ensemble and all. You forget she's a multi millionaire/mega brand and feel like you are listening to a funny aunt. One of the first things she said was that she knows Jeffrey comes across as a bit of a doofus on TV and she wanted to assure us he is nothing of the sort, that he is very brilliant! So cute. She blushed when she made a remark about the most loving thing you do with your husband {it wasn't cooking}, she said "s@#t" when she talked about her reaction to getting her original offer on the first Barefoot Contessa store. She shared funny stories about disastrous recipe attempts "herring and beet salad" and a New Year's Eve she spent with Martha Stewart that had me almost crying tears. Apparently, Martha called Ina at 3:00 pm on New Year's Eve one year and asked her and Jeffrey over for dinner. By 7:00 pm Martha had an impressive and over the top dinner party. After dinner she asked Ina to join her in the kitchen to help with dessert. Ina was puzzled because she already saw a gorgeous lemon meringue cake topped with meringue snowman sitting on the counter. But there they were, the two of them in the kitchen, Martha bustling about and chatting, all the while melting sugar {no measuring, no thermometer}. Ina watched as Martha found a whisk and began cutting off the ends, talking and talking as she went through the motions. And then out of nowhere Martha is swinging her arms around the room making spun sugar to top the cake. Ina said she was in awe and "exhausted" after they left that evening. Can't you just picture it?
Ina admitted she is still terrified filming each of her TV episodes, that she is always convinced she will forget her recipes and ingredients. She is not scripted on the show. She said she is naturally a nervous cook and a lot of times "fear" has been the best motivator at different stages in her career. She enjoys the business side of things as she much as she does the creative/cooking side. This surprised me. She attributes her success to doing what she loves and luck. She spent a lot of time talking about the evolution of her brand. As a former Brand Manager, I found this part of the talk to be the most fascinating. She describes the process as a very organic one, saying that she didn't set out to create a brand, but she did set out to create an experience and a feeling {ultimately what a brand is}. From the moment she started her first shop she wanted the experience of shopping there to be "Fun." It should "feel like a party." Ina wants people to feel welcome, loved, and have fun. That core experience has always been at the heart of what she does, whether as a shop owner, TV personality, or cookbook author. She described stepping into her store, the type of music that was playing, the way coffee and samples were laid out, the way the screen door slammed, how all these elements were intentional on her part, how they all worked together to make the customer feel good. That same experience is still true in her work today.
Despite all her success and her inspiring lifestyle, Ina still manages to be completely relatable to so many people. She seems so genuine and real. Everyone feels like they are her biggest fan, everyone feels like they know her and could sit down and strike up a conversation. She almost feels like family. Crazy, I know.
I stood in line to ask a question but didn't get called. I had hoped to get her talking a bit about social media, like food blogging and instagram. Maybe next time. And there will be a next time, because she is already hard at work on a new cookbook! True to form, I was far too caught up in enjoying the experience rather than capturing it behind the lens. I wish I had taken more pictures! The theater district was impressive {second in size only to NYC} and the theater gorgeous. The restaurant was excellent too,
Lola's, in case you find yourself in downtown Cleveland!
