I use other cookbooks for inspiration. I must say I tend to cook from my own cookbooks for parties. Ina Garten Read Quote
I don’t like sitting at a table that’s too large, where everyone is too far apart. That’s a party killer. Ina Garten Read Quote
If it’s a cocktail party, I generally make five or six different things, and I try to choose recipes that feel like a meal: a chicken thing, a fish or shrimp thing, maybe two vegetable things, and I think it’s fun to end the cocktail party with a sweet thing. Ina Garten Read Quote
I learned that the hardest party to pull off successfully is Saturday night dinner. This meal is expected to be elaborate: appetizers, first course, dinner, dessert, and coffee. People arrive at 7:30 or 8 p.m. and stay for hours – definitely past my bedtime – and they all go home exhausted. Ina Garten Read Quote
There’s something really wonderful about a party where you help yourself. Of course, first you get what you really want. But ‘family style’ service also really encourages people to connect with one another. Ina Garten Read Quote
Creme Brulee is the ultimate ‘guy’ dessert. Make it and he’ll follow you anywhere. Ina Garten Read Quote
I worked for the Office of Management and Budget in the White House, on nuclear energy policy. But I decided it would be much more fun to have a specialty food store, so I left Washington D.C. and moved to the Hamptons. And how glad I am that I did! Ina Garten Read Quote
My mother would never let me in the kitchen. I always wanted to cook, but I was never allowed to. Her view of the world was, ‘Cooking is my job, and studying is your job.’ I think, in retrospect, she didn’t like the chaos. She was very orderly. It had to be her way. Ina Garten Read Quote
If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it’s really like making a large chicken. Ina Garten Read Quote
