Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Ina Garten on Her Memoir, Marriage and Becoming Barefoot Contessa - Part 1

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

Ina Garten is a New York Times bestselling author, beloved Food Network star, and cultural icon whose Barefoot Contessa brand has reshaped home cooking for millions. In this conversation from May 2025, Garten sits down with Willie Geist at City Winery in New York City during the second Sunday Sitdown Live to discuss her memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens, starting her own business, and the steady support of her husband Jeffrey. (Venue sponsored by City Winery.) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. I am, I would say, unusually. I would say exceptionally excited to bring you my conversation this week with Ina Garten, not just because she is one of my favorite people currently walking the earth, but also because it is our latest Sunday Sit Down live. That means the conversation took place in front of a live audience at City Winery in New York City, great spot right on the Hudson River that has been such a generous host and sponsor of our Sunday

Sit Down Live series that began earlier this year with Nate Bargetse. So Ein and I got together. We've interviewed each other a million times. She on my show, me on hers, doing live events, including one recently around her number one bestselling memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. So the deal is, our viewers of Sunday today, you who listen to the podcast, flew in from all over the place. And I do mean all over the place, from Canada, from Las Vegas, from Atlanta, from L.A. bought plane tickets, bought tickets to be in the room, got hotel rooms. I'm again so overwhelmed and humbled by the response. People bringing their mugs in the room, buying a mug at City Winery and sitting with me and Ina for this conversation.

So just that live feel, the reaction from the audience, seeing, meeting, hearing from our viewers, bringing Ina's fans into the room as well. It was such a special night, and I'm so glad we get to share it with you. I will spare you the long windup. You know who Eindgarten is. She's the barefoot contessa, right? She is 13 cookbooks into her career, then this new memoir, which opened up her personal life more than any other piece of work she's done before, anything she said on a show or put

into a cookbook talking about her childhood and her marriage and her journey from home cook to culinary icon. So I will get out of the way here. sit back, relax, and let you enjoy right now. Ina Garten on the Sunday Sit Down podcast live from City Winery in New York. I've interviewed very famous actors and rock stars in settings like this, and I never hear the reception like the one Ina Garten gets. This is being nice.

We did an event around her. Did you guys read her incredible memoir? Be ready when the luck happens. More on that in a moment. But I interviewed Eine Up in Hartford in a theater with three or four thousand people. And they introduced both of us. And we walked out on the stage and I thought for a minute, this must be what it was like when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan in 64,

which just left to their feet in the crowd screen. It was you, Willie. Her deeply uncomfortable. So I'll move on from it. But she is amazing. I'm so happy to see you. Thank you for doing this. So we have a bit of a.

kind of like a Frost Nixon thing going. You come on my show, I go on your show, we do various events. And the thing that amazes me for Be My Guest, you were my first guest. Yes, yes. I mean, how crazy is that you invite the best interviewer in the business to be your first guest? I'm like, I thought that was crazy. I'm glad you brought that. You guys watch Be My Guest, of course.

She's had incredible guests over her many seasons. And I remember sitting down with you in the barn, and you said this is my first interview. Yeah, it was my first interview. And I was struck by how well-prepared you were. Oh, thank you. And how much you what great questions you asked and all of those. So what was the adjustment for you from

doing obviously cooking shows to doing that kind of show? It was a totally different thing. I mean, it's just when you're doing a cooking show, you're doing something. I always found I was doing something that I already know how to do again to teach people how to do it. So it was really, I'm there by myself

and talking to, as you know, an inanimate object. to a TV camera. But all of a sudden, I'm sitting and talking to somebody who's really interesting and learning things and having a conversation. It's not about checking the boxes, ask this question, ask that question.

It's about starting a conversation. And I always think of it as like, if you were at a dinner party and the people next year were having a really interesting conversation, what would I want that to be? And I kind of think of it that way. And you've had Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci and Tina Fey.

The list of people. who sort of make the pilgrimage to your barn is amazing. It's just so sweet. And literally last time in the spring, I had like Yitzhak Perman, the incredible violinist. And I thought, what am I going to talk to Yitzhak Furman about? I don't know anything about a violin. And we just had a ball.

He's funny and he's smart and he loves to cook. And I just love the range of authors like Aunt Patchett and interviewers like Willie Geist. And I mean, it's just an incredible experience. So a question I get all the time. I'm curious what you'd say about it is who's still on the dream list of people you want to have on the show

who haven't been there yet. Taylor Swift. That's easy. She's a little busy. If anyone could get Taylor Swift on the show, I think it's Ina. She's a fan of Ina's as well. And she's a great cook.

Is she a good cook? Yeah. She actually came... Do you know this that she came to the barn? Yes. Miley Carpenter, who's the founder of Food Network Magazine, did one issue where she asked rock stars who their favorite food network cooks were. And Taylor chose me, which was so sweet.

So she came to the barn, and it was actually quite an example. It was a long time ago, I think it was like 10 years ago. And so we asked her very famous publicist Tree Pain what Taylor likes to eat. So we were going to cook something together. I didn't want to just stand there and take pictures with her. I wanted to cook with her. So we asked what she likes to see. And it turns out she likes my mustard roasted fish,

roast beef, I think my filet beef, and Dayton Up Bread. And a friend of mine said, that doesn't sound like Taylor Swift. That sounds like a Ukrainian grandmother. I was like, okay, we're not going to make any of those things. And I decided we would make it Pavlova because I thought that kind of looks like Taylor.

It's meringue and whipped cream and berries. And we just had a ball. We had such a good time. How do you grapple with the fact that Taylor Swift loves you? That Megan Markle loves you, that you're on 30 Rock with Tina Faye. I love Tina. I just adore her.

Because you are, you're such a humble and unassuming. You just go out and cook and the way you've always known how to cook. How do you deal with that side of you being this sort of icon? It's very sweet. I don't know. It's true, right? It's very sweet. I mean, I think in some way, I think that cooking creates a community around you. And when people bring me gifts, and in the beginning I was like, why would people bring me gifts?

And I thought, it's because I've given them the tools to do something that makes them feel good about themselves. And when you cook, everybody shows up. And so I think in that sense, I've connected with people through cooking. And it's not like giving them something. It's like giving you the tools to do something for yourself, which I think is wonderful. So let's talk about this book that became an absolute sensation. Be ready when the luck happens.

Number one, New York Times bestseller. It just went berserk. Went berserk. I thought, who would want to read my memoir? Well, there she goes again. She doesn't get it. She doesn't get it. But you've done a million cookbooks.

They're all successful bestsellers. There's a lot in this book that you didn't have to tell the world. What was the decision to sit down and open up well beyond the kitchen and talk about your childhood and your marriage and all the things that you get into? Well, I just think, you know, I did 16 minutes, and Sharon Alfonzi said to me, everybody thinks you're just walking around with a big cosmopolitan having a ball. Which is true. I am.

Yeah, that's true. But she said that, she said, but you worked really hard. And I thought, I don't know. I mean, I worked hard doing what I love to do. It didn't feel like hard work. But I started to think, actually, it did work really hard. And I wanted people to know it's not easy, but the effort that you put into it is really worthwhile.

And yes, I had a really tough childhood. A lot of people have tough childhoods. But I just wanted people to know that that doesn't have to define your life, that you can decide to do it differently. And I really... I remember when I was 15, I just made an absolute decision that if I was dating somebody who so much just raised his voice to me, I was gone. I was never going to go out with that person again. And then I met Jeffrey.

At 15, by the way. I was like, yeah, I was like 16. It was just incredible. So I think I just wanted people to know that it takes real determination and real clarity to make your life what you want it to be. and I had a good support system with somebody who really believed in me which makes all the difference in the world. More on Jeffrey in just a moment.

In the book you describe your child that it's kind of dower I think was the word you used which was at least out of... At least, right, right, that's to put it mildly. But just sort of that for a young woman you shouldn't have ambition, you shouldn't have all these thoughts in your head

about dreams and the things that you wanted to do that you should sort of know your role in some way. I think it was more that they didn't believe in me, that they didn't think I had any talent. They didn't think I had any drive. They thought I was, I mean, I remember when I was probably 14, my father said to me, nobody will ever love you, which is such a harsh thing to say to a child, especially a girl, I think. And so I don't think it's that they didn't have ambition for me. They didn't think I was capable of it. And then I met Jeffrey and thought I could do anything I wanted to do.

So, I mean, find somebody that believes in you. Hang out. Don't let them go. The story is famous by now. It won't make you rehash the whole thing, but you go to Dartmouth. Jeffrey's there. You're still in high school.

He says, who's that beautiful young woman walking across campus? I was the only girl walking around. I thought there was all boys' college. That was a very low bar. So when does it become something more between the two of you of a flirtation? When did you say this is somebody

I could see myself with, spend my life with? Well, it was so young. I don't think I think I and also I just I live in the moment. I don't I don't ever look ahead that much. I just um and I did then and I still do. I just I think that I just had a wonderful time with him. I felt wonderful with him and he was smart and funny and cared cared about me and took care of me and I just you know I love being with him. So we just kind of followed that along and then when I think I must have been 20. He just, I mean literally he never proposed to me. He just said, so, so we'll get married in December. I was like, what? I'm still waiting.

Still hasn't asked you? Still hasn't asked. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Ina Garten right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Ina Garten. Your career path is so interesting and you guys probably know a lot of it. But the fact that you worked in the White House, the Office of Management Budget, on nuclear energy policy, Ina Garden. True story. So what gave you, besides Jeffrey's support, the guts to make this leap from a solid job

in Washington, but not something you were passionate about, I think it's fair to say? You know, I don't know how different it is now, or if it is different, but I think at the time, I worked in the White House for four years, and I just remember thinking, no matter what happens, I'm never going to be the head of this organization. Some guy isn't going to choose me to be the head of O&D. And I thought, well, then I'm not in the right field. I need to be in a play. I mean, this was in the 70s,

and women weren't the heads of organizations. And I just thought, I need to be in a field, A, that I love doing the work. It's something I really love to do. But also that the only limit to my success is my own imagination. That I don't have a boss who is either, telling me what to do or limiting my abilities. And so I always thought it was either going to be in real estate or in food. And I kind of kept my eye open and I saw an ad for a business for sale,

which was a specialty food store in the Hamptons in the New York Times. And I thought, well, maybe I'll just look at that. Because the joy you were feeling and the passion you felt in Washington was more the dinner parties, right? That you were throwing that it was the nuclear policy, if it's fair to say. I mean, when I think about it now, it seems so amazing because I did a lot of things that I loved doing. I bought old houses and renovated them. I taught myself how to cook. I went to business school while I was at the White House.

So when I look back now, I think, well, I was really searching for what I wanted to do. I mean, but the move to see the business opportunities, I believe, was the name of the section of the New York Times. In 1978, you see this ad for a little shop. West Hampton Beach. It was like the size of this table, guys. It's really small. But I'm just thinking about in that moment, the leap you made personally from a solid job in Washington to go, I'm going to just go out there and do this. What gave you the courage to make that leap ultimately?

I think I felt that I don't have a choice because what's behind me is not an option. And I don't think I ever said this is where my life is going. I just said, okay, I'm going to jump off a cliff and see where it's. where I land. And this is certainly an option. And Jeffrey said, do what you love. If you love it, you'll be really good at it. And I think that's such good advice.

It's like, do what you want to do, and get out of bed in the morning and think, what do I feel like doing today? And that's what your business should be. And what were the early days, barefoot consensate like? Was it the dream? If I had known, I never would have done it. I mean, in the beginning, I would literally work.

I'd go to work at 4 in the morning. I'd work all day, and then most of the night, I'd go home at like midnight, sleep for a couple of hours, and come back at four in the morning. And it was intense, but I just was really happy doing it. And some days I'd go, okay, you have to go home. You'd really have to go home. I'd go home at 10 o'clock, and I'd go, okay, what do I want to do now? I don't think, I want to test the chocolate cake, and I'd go back to the store.

So did you have moments during those early days where you thought, I don't know, This is not what I dreamed of. This is the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. And what kept you going through those moments? I think it was a real challenge. First of all, we had invested, I mean, Jeffrey and I both had invested everything we had in this business. So I didn't have a choice. I had to make it a success.

And I just, I think it was exhausting, but I love being in the store. It was like a big sandbox. There was always something interesting to do. Customers were great. The food was great. The employees were fantastic. It was a small store, and you could, there was a great, I always wanted the store to feel like a party

because it was fun to be there for us and for the customers. So when you walked in, you know, the door would slam it would be like a screen door. And there was always great music, old-fashioned music, and there were samples out, and you could help yourself to coffee or in the winter hot apple cider. It was just, it smelled good. look good. There were great displays. It was just fun. So when did, Anna, did it become

clear to you that this was working and this was something that you could do as a career, as a life, that you actually had made the right choice by leaving Washington and choosing this life? I think probably after about a year, I realized that it was just really, yeah, it was great.

I mean, it was, I was making a living, and then I started expanding it and building it. And that's really fun for me. I love doing that. Took over a big space. You write about in the book is some of the strain that have put on your relationship with Jeffrey, right? That you were so dialed in on that.

And he was in Washington. And you thought maybe I have to stay focused on this and not on our relationship. Difficult days? Yeah, it was really difficult because I just, I mean, I think I don't have children, so I don't know. But I think it's like when you have a new baby, you just want to spend the time with a baby and want everybody else to leave you alone. And I just wanted to build the business. Jeffrey was working at the State Department. He was in the Secretary of State's policy planning staff.

And he would come on the weekends when I was really busy. And so I was like, I'm sorry, I just can't spend any time with you. So, I mean, he was great. But, you know, we took a little time apart, figure. I need, you know, I'd never lived on my own. And I just kind of needed to do that. And he was great. There was really incredibly.

incredibly. In the book where you come to Washington and he meets you at the train station. Yeah. And then you guys kind of sit on the steps. And what did he say to you? What was that conversation? Well, it's interesting.

One of the things about writing the book is I had to go back to Washington and stand in front of those steps and think, what was that conversation like? And I'd forgotten about it. It was really distressing. And he said, is there anything I can do to change your mind?

And I said, yeah, you can, you know, go see a therapist and, you know, we'll work through these things. And he was like, okay, I'll go after I come back for my trip around the world, which was what he was about to embark on. And I said, it's going to be too late. And he went the next day, which was incredible. Wow. And I think we both changed.

I think we're really, it's just very supportive. Yeah. And I think it's just, if you admire each other and you support each other and you're on different tracks, you just have to give each other space to figure it out and then figure it out together. Like, you know, there was a time when Jeffrey had an offer to go to Tokyo for a year. And I was like, how's this going to work? And he just said, look, we're not going to decide between your career,

in the specialty food store and my career. How about if we just try it for a while and see how it works? And so I would go to Tokyo for a week a month, and he would come to New York for a week a month. And, I mean, that was really hard. But we did it for a year, and at some point you just go, okay, that was fun. Let's try something else. And now 56 years of marriage in, is that right? I think it worked out.

I think it worked out. What is, I asked you about how you grapple with Taylor Swift, loving you and all that. What does Jeffrey make of the fact that he is like a sex symbol, this guy? I mean, people go. He's so much more popular than I am. What does he make of all this? I just think he loves watching me have a good time. So I think he's just very sweet about it.

People love Jeffrey. They love that. They really do. They really do. Everybody needs one. So you've got this little shop in West Hampton. It grows out. You build it into something else.

And then in 1999, you make a huge investment on your own to make your first car. cookbook. You spent your own money to get the stylist and the photographer, the ingredients and the testing and all of that. And it just explodes. It was, you know, it was, I mean, the important thing at the time, the publisher would have paid for all of those things, the food stylist, the prop stylist, the photography. But I just decided I wanted to do it my way. And I didn't want them to say, this is the way cookbooks are done. If I was going to do it, I wanted to do

it differently. And fortunately, there was somebody at the publishing house that really supported me and just said to everybody else let her do what she wants to do. And I thought, well, if I'm right, they'll think I'm a genius. If I'm wrong, they'll never have to see me again anyway. I just wasn't willing to

compromise. And it was really, because I wrote a very simple book. It only had 75 recipes. But I thought, how many recipes are people really need? I mean, like, 75, it's a lot of recipes. And they were like roast chicken and roast carrots. But they were simple, and they, I knew

from having a specialty food store, that's how people want to eat at home. They don't want like veal with truffles and they want simple food at home. That's easy to make. So I think I kind of keyed on something that really worked. You had to be shocked though by the response to it.

Stunned. The fact that it was like they couldn't keep it on the tables at bookstores. Well, the deal I made with the publisher was that they were going to print 10,000 books, of which 5,000 I had to buy. And so they didn't, they really didn't risk anything.

And what I never did is figure out what those 5,000 books were going to cost. So by the time the publication date came, they'd actually, I had hired a publicist, did an amazing amount of publicity, really great job. So they increased it to 25,000

books, but I still had to buy those 5,000 books. So when the publication day, they called me up and said, so we're going to be sending you 5,000 books. And I didn't know what, what had even looked like and we'll need a check for $85,000 and I was like whoa I'd never even thought about it and three days later they said you know those 5,000 books we need them back because they sold out the first printing wow so I was like talk about by the seat of my pants but that's an

amazing thing because you're not a known person at that point I mean right I mean outside you have a fabulous shop but like you're not a national figure yet There was a moment when I was in California, I had to go to California for a publicity event. And sweet Jeffrey, he was like an investment banker, but he decided he was going to take the week off and go with me. So I wouldn't be alone. And we were driving around California. And he said, you know, there's a Barnes & Noble. Why don't you just go in and maybe sign some books?

And I'm like, they don't know who I am in California. So I walked into this Barnes & Noble, and I found the manager, and I said to them, would you like me to? I wrote a book. Would you like me to sign it? And he's like, yeah, what's your book? I mean, he couldn't have been more bored with the whole thing. And I said, it's the bear for contestant cookbook. He goes, oh, we have a table in the middle of the store with 50 books on it. He said, you want to sign them? Great. Come with me. And we walked over, and the table was completely empty. He said, oh, I was gone yesterday. We sold all 50 books. And I was like, oh, my God. So the rest of the trip, Jeffrey and I were going, whoa.

Something's happening here. Whoa, what happened there? And how quickly did they ask you to write another cook? after that. Yeah, like a minute and a half. And then not long after, for obvious reasons, because of the success of your cookbook, here comes the Food Network. And you get your first show in 2002, I think, is the year.

After saying no for like years. Oh, my God. When they pitched you the idea of being a TV personality, what was... Forget it. Not interested. And so how did they twist your arm? How did they get you there?

You know, it was literally over like a year and a half they kept coming back with a better. offer. I'm like, I'm not negotiating. I just don't want to do it. And I think at some point, I had heard about a British show, and I asked if they could, it was Nigella Lawson's show. And I asked Food Network if they could get me a copy of it, and they did. And I thought, well, it's a really lovely show, but that's Nigella. That's not me. And the Food Network knew the producer of Nigella's show and went to her and said, would you do a show for Ina. So she called

and said, just talk to the producer, just talk to her. And I thought, I'll just talk to her, but I'm not going to do this. And they ended up saying, I ended up agreeing to do 13 shows. And I thought, okay, I'll do 13 shows. They'll know it's not going to work out. And we'll be done with that. And that was, what, 25 years ago, I think. Yeah, yeah, just about. Thank goodness they kept coming back.

The highest compliment I can pay somebody who's on television all the time is that the same on camera as they are off, and that is most certainly you. So it's like you didn't... Correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like you didn't have to develop a persona. Like, this is who I'll be in the kitchen. You were just you cooking the things you love to cook.

When I first, before I did the first 13 shows, I actually hired a media trainer to teach me how to be on TV. I didn't know what I was doing, and I hated everything she said. She was like, you have to be big, and you have to be bold. And I'm like, no, you don't.

Right. I don't know why I knew that, but I just knew. I thought, no, I'm just going to be myself. Trusted your gut again, and you were right again. Yeah. I mean, you've had such success on TV. Is there your style? People always, I mean, there's been described a million ways,

that it's accessible, that you're a home cook, you're not a chef, all the things. You've never been professionally trained. How do you describe your style as a cook? I think I like really familiar flavors, but things taste better than you expect them to. I think seasoning is really important that roast carrots that aren't seasoned properly can just be pretty boring. You have to start out with good carrots and season them properly with good olive oil, and roasting is a great way to cook them. I'm always looking for something that you might like to eat anyway, but how can I make it even better and how can I make it easier?

to cook. So that's kind of what I'm the sweet spot of what I'm looking for. And the foundation is a nod is Julia Child which goes back to your trips to parents. What a great teacher she was. I mean if you just work through those books you will learn

everything you need to know about cooking. And yes it's a French slant but it's good for anything. You've cooked your way through all of her cookbooks over the year and that's how you've effectively trained yourself without that formal training right? And I love that she says okay, here's how you make a hollandaise the traditional way

with a whisk and a, you know, a, what's it called, a double boiler? But then once you know how to do it, once you understand how it works, here's how you can make a new food processor. So, I mean, I love that she made it easier. You do make it look easy, that's true, but it's not. It's not. It's not easy, right? So when you're, let's just take a favorite recipe of yours.

How long are you working that recipe before you're prepared to put it in a cookbook or put it on your show? Is it a long process? It's a really long process. So one of my favorite recipes is the French apple tart, which is just very simple, you know, pastry, sliced apples, butter, sugar into the oven. I might make it five or ten times until I get the right balance of flavors. I'm looking for layers of flavor that support each other, that one isn't really strong and one isn't really mild, that they're all equal in flavor.

And it's not complex. It's three flavors, pastry, apples, butter and sugar. That's four. And I'll make it several, you know, as many times as I need to until I get exactly what's in my head. And then I'll hand it to, I have two assistants. One's a better cook than the other. I'll hand it to both of them and say, make this and I want to watch you make it.

Because I want to see what people at home will do with a printed page without any instructions at all. And every single recipe, somebody who's working on it goes, okay, just stop. I want to know what's your question and what didn't you understand. And then I'll write that either in a side note or write it into the recipe. and then the last thing I'll very often do is make it for a dinner party because it's one thing to make it if all I'm doing all day long

is making an apple tart. Okay, that's easy. But you can't just make an apple tart. You have to make appetizers and cocktails and dinner and side dishes and salad and dessert. I mean, there's a lot to do for a dinner party. And so if it takes too long to make the dessert,

I'm not going to put it in a book. It has to be something I'm going to make for dinner party myself. And cooking's hard, isn't it? It's really, and entertaining's even harder. You've said many times and even recently despite who you are,

you still have terrible anxiety before every dinner party. It's still a nerve-wracking experience like it is for all of us. People are coming over. Everything's got to be ready at the right time. Yeah, it's hard. It's complex. And I'm always sure I'm going to overcook the meat, whatever it is. I don't know why,

but I'm always sure I'm going to do it. And Jeffrey knows when he comes to try and help, I'm like, don't, don't talk to me. Don't. And by the way, the expectations are through the roof. You're going to dinner and Ina Garten's house. Yeah, I mean. It is true. I mean, people always say, well, they don't want to invite me for dinner because they'd be

nervous cooking for me. It's worse the other way. Because their expectations are really high. Are you ever tempted to just throw out some chicken tenders and honey mustard? No. I'll just say, didn't feel like it tonight, guys. Do you know what I do? If I feel like making something simple as I make breakfast for dinner.

And everybody loves it. Like waffles and bacon. I mean, isn't that great? Yes. If you come over for dinner expecting like a really nice dinner party and it turns out it's waffles and smoked salmon and moscarpone, it's great. I love that. Yeah. Stick around for more of my conversation with Ina Garten right after a quick break.

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Ina Garten. One of the great pieces of wisdom I picked up from you somewhere in one of our conversations, which I think is helpful for this audience, is this. When you're going to a dinner party as a guest, do not bring a gift that messes with the plan of the evening. In other words, don't show up with chips and guack to a dinner party. So what do you suggest as an alternative of people are arriving at a dinner party? There are two things I don't think you should ever bring to a dinner party, and they're so common, is something that the host feels like they should serve.

I mean, starting with like jello salad. I like a jellon. What are you going to do with that? And don't ever bring flowers that aren't in a vase. Oh, that's the worst. You're there, you're like, everybody's arriving, and all of a sudden you've got these flowers, and you have to figure out what to do.

So what I do is I bring things that they can have for breakfast the next day, like homemade granola, or I'll bring coffee or even, you know, storebought granola, just things that are, you know, that you'd want to serve for breakfast the next day. Is that good advice? Is that good? Okay, good. Also, something I never thought, I have to stop bringing chips and guack to parties.

I just rip open the bag of tostitos. You can bring chips and guac to my house any time. It goes with everything. We've had, I mentioned we did a series of interviews, and I know this is your third time on the Sunday show. Is it? That's wonderful. Come to your house once. We had one during COVID where this tells me who INA is.

We were on a Zoom and we spoke for a while and then Jeffrey slid into the frame. And then my wife, Christina, slid into the frame. And we kept talking and then the interview was over. And then we just had a drink for half an hour. Speaking over Zoom, which was like a dream come true. We was having drinks with Ina. And then one of my other favorite experiences was last year. We were in Paris covering the Summer Olympics.

Ina was there. And we're out working and I get a text from Ina, let's have lunch today at her favorite little place. So you're going to Ina Garten's favorite little restaurant in Paris sitting in a corner booth with Kate. Unlike an Italian place, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. With my friend Kate Tyler. Kate, who's here tonight and is wonderful. So that was like dream come true stuff.

And I felt like I was a stand in for all of you getting to have a beautiful lunch in Paris with Ina Garten. Do you have, I know this is like favorite child stuff, a favorite go-to dish of yours? The Ina garden dish that you might say is like the quintessential Ina garden dish. If I have people coming for dinner that I don't know, I have this like getting to know you dinner that I just know I can nail every time. And I don't, I'm not so anxious about it. And it's in Bairford Contestantistiparties.

It's a rack of lamb and orzo with roasted vegetables. and it's just it's so great together it's I mean it's it never fails and so that's and recently I've been doing panacotta which is like a like a custard Italian custard that I can you can do with some salted caramel on top or with raspberry sauce and raspberries and you can make it in advance and it's ready whenever you're ready to serve it so that I just I know I can do that no stress we do the um christina the chicken with the orzo what's the The one we have once a week. Yeah.

The chicken. Do you really? Which one is it? Krispy chicken with the horsetau. Thank you, Christine. Yes. From the Queens balcony. The other one that's really great is the Tuscan Lemon chicken, which is a flattened chicken with onions.

Do you guys make it? Yes. I love that one. Yeah. So do you have things, I know, that you haven't done? That you, like, when you think about the scope of your career, you've done TV shows, you've done cookbooks. Are there other things out there that you'd like to do a new kind of food to discover or something? It's funny. I really don't have a long-term plan because if I had made a plan,

it never would have been what happened. So I literally kind of do the best job I can on what I have in front of me today. And before I go to sleep, I know what I'm going to do tomorrow. So I don't worry about like, what am I going to do tomorrow. I know what I'm going to do tomorrow. And I'm to do the best job I can on that, and just see what comes along. I literally don't even have a plan for more than, like, I have a book due in December. So that's the biggest plan I have. We'll get a paperback of this, right, I assume? I don't know.

There's got to be. It's a huge bestseller. Yeah, we need a paperback. Oh, okay. Let's get that out. The other thing I love about you, which I find fascinating, is you have had endless offers to endorse products to create a lifestyle brand and she's like

nope, core business. We're doing the crispy chicken with yours, oh, that's what I do. They want me to do things, that's why. I don't know. I mean, the craziest, I mean, somebody wanted me to do a line of clothing. I'm like, I wear the same thing every day. It would be a very small line

of clothing. By the way, it would be a home run. Wasn't there a line of fertilizer? Yeah, somebody wanted me to do a line of fertilizer. I'm like, why? Let me put my name on your s' I'm like I'm not

no it's not happening so so shit aside surely they've asked you have

had to have hands and spatulas and spoons and all that. And you've just said... I just don't want to do it. I want to get up in the morning and I just love saying, what do I feel like doing today?

And what I feel like doing is testing recipes and writing cookbooks and doing TV and I just don't like the distraction of other things. And I also love that when I recommend Nielsen-Messie Vanilla in a recipe, it's not because I'm paid to recommend it.

It's because I really like it. And I think people know that about me that I'm not, you know, I just don't get paid for that. I mean, I've had some products on my own, like Goldbelly. We make coconut cake and Beattie's chocolate cake, and you can order it and have it shipped. But that's my product.

I'm not putting my name on somebody else's cakes. I was just remembering. You're going to see a video for our next segment, a little video we shot at Eli's, on the Upper East Side. We were shopping. And a woman came up to Ina and said, I get your recipes on the New York Times app every day. And she says, great.

And then she walks away. She's, my recipes are on the New York Times app? Should we talk to somebody about that? Just you're everywhere. You're everywhere. I had a woman sitting next to me once a while ago, sat next to me. She's going, oh, I just love your cookbooks. I go to Costco.

I buy the book. I copy the whole thing, and then I return the book. I think that's called plagiarism or something. Really? Oh, yeah. So we're doing. We're going to get out of the way for just a moment, and they're going to set up a little display. While they do that before, one question I've always wondered, when you walk into a restaurant,

do you sense the scramble behind the scenes that Ina, that Ina Garden is here? No, I don't think so. Get your shit together? They do. You can't feel that. What? You can't feel that. No, I can't feel that.

Well, it's happening. It's happening. So we're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back in like 10 minutes. One of just to give you a little tease ahead, we're going to be making a Kier Royale, which is a beautiful, beautiful dream. We could all use a Kier Royale, right? And so they have Kier Royale at the bar for you guys for sale.

So we're going to take about a 10 minute break. We're going to step off and we'll see you back here in about 10 minutes. More with Aynne Garten in just a minute. My huge thanks to Aina for a great conversation. to the audience in the room that night. It was so special. And of course, to City Winery for hosting and sponsoring our Sunday Sitdown Live. Stay tuned in episode two of this conversation for more hosting tips and audience questions with Ina.

You also can get Ina's memoir. Be ready when the luck happens wherever you buy your books. My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow. so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC, where you can see these conversations with your own two eyes. I'm Willie Geist.

We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.