Barefoot Giveaway!!!!



I am a huge fan of Ina Garten, a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa.
I own her first 2 books and really love them. The original Barefoot Contessa is my favorite of them all. Her simple recipes always deliver and become part of my cooking repertoire.

My husband and I met Ina last year while eating lunch at E.A.T. on Madison Ave., Eli Zabar's excellent luncheonette, where a delicious egg salad sandwich will set you back $17.

I stalked Ina and grabbed her mink coat arm and said "Ina, what are you doing here? I just watched you this a.m. on Food Network making a pear clafoutis!!".
What an idiot I am. Couldn't I think of anything better to say?

She was most gracious, came over to our table (she had no choice, with me holding onto her coat sleeve) and chatted with us for a few minutes and was SO NICE! She was beautiful and genuine. She is definitely the queen.

Well, I was lucky enough to receive her 6th book, and I looked thru it, and it is very nice. Great photos, as always. Very basic, hence the title "back to basics".
I have made a few of these recipes already, without having to consult a cookbook.
So, I decided I don't need to add yet another cookbook to my collection, so I will have a pre-holiday giveaway.

Leave me a comment as to why you would like this book, and the most clever comment will win! Please submit your comment by Wed. 11/26. Winner will be announced on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving!
Have a great weekend!


Comments

SarahB said…
ina has amazing recipes. My first Ina book was, by odd chance, a gift from my brother in law. And in it I found the recipe for our FAVORITE turkey meatloaf!! We make it all the time.
Bluebird NY said…
We entertain a lot in the summer and Ina's original cookbook is my bible for salads and tasty sides. You turned me onto Ina, Sta! Simple is best; that way the gorgeous flavors of your fresh ingredients can shine.

Your picture is beautiful, as usual.
Anonymous said…
Well, let's face it, I never trust a skinny cook, and Ina is a full bodied woman that loves her cooking! My kind of girl! Also that fact that she is called the barefoot contessa! Ohhh, got to love that, a woman with taste and humor. I can't believe you met her! Lucky dog! I'll take that book off your hands anytime you want.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dana Zia
A New Twist on Sweet Potatoes
Anonymous said…
Having moved something like 5 times since May, I've had to pare down my cookbook collection. However, I'm settled now, and I'm called upon somewhat often to bake for my boyfriend so that he can make friends of students, professors, and TAs.

When baking for myself, I don't always care if things turn out right, if things taste AMAZING as long as they're good. But for people giving my boyfriend study guides? For them, I don't want to reach for any recipe but one of Ina's!
Giff said…
It is a little known fact that I am known as the Barefoot Count, usually on Sunday mornings, by which I naturally mean afternoons, when the help can always be relied on to make a thrashing good bloody mary and by which time evening dalliances have shown the good form of leaving via the side door (not the back door, mind you). You didn't really say pear clafoutis while holding an egg sandwich did you? How marvelously coarse of you, and by marvelously I mean shabbily and by coarse I mean sober, which is a tragic thing of Greek proportions, for an afternoon is a terrible thing to waste. Sherry. Tootaloo!
What a great giveaway - the reason I need this book is because I am not that creative cooking wise and I need to plagiarize from her to make myself look good when I entertain... Giving her all the credit in the end of course!!
I love Ina, and I want her life! Living in the Hamptons in that amazing home, cooking from her glorious kitchen, and all that entertaining, with her fabulous friends. All in a days work!!!
Anonymous said…
I read cook books like some people read fiction, I always have my head in a new book and it has been like that since I was a wee little girl! I do not, however, have a huge cookbook collection because they are so darn expensive! I have a constant flow of books from the library and from there make myself a wish list of the ones that are good enough to buy someday. I do have two Barefoot Contessa cookbooks thanks to my wedding registry (that is an acceptable thing to ask for, no?) and I think she is absolutely fabulous. She is one of the few food network folks with recipes I actually trust - because I have tried them (mind you) and they work!
Katrina said…
I too love Ina! I really love to cook, I just don't always know the proper techniques. I have a few tried and true recipes down but my family is a bit tired of the same ol' thing. I would love a chance to win this book as I don't think Costco will let me go visit it much longer!
Anonymous said…
Ummm, I am so not clever so I don't know what to say, except, I lerve her too!
Ilva said…
This is not a clever comment but just the truth: I would like to have that book because I've read so much about her all over that now I am very curious to read the cookbook and try her recipes. But it is close to impossible to find it over here so I set my hope to you!
There once was a woman named Ina,
Who's cookbooks delight every diner,
Her food is so good,
I most definitely would,
Love to sit down and dine with her!
Oops, I hit send too quickly... I forgot to mention that I love her show... TiVo every episode (reruns included)... and wish I either worked for her or be her neighbor. I'd love to win her book because I never win a thing. I already own this book, but I like her so much another copy would be just fine (I don't have her Parties! book and wouldn't mind trading with someone should I win this book).

There once was a woman named Ina,
Who's cookbooks delight every diner,
Her food is so good,
I most definitely would,
Love to sit down and dine with her!
Anonymous said…
Because November 21st, the day this contest began, is my birthday, and what a great b-day present that would be for me!! ;o)
Anonymous said…
I should definitely win the cookbook because, as you well know by now, I am your biggest fan and have made more of your posted recipes in my kitchen than any recipes of Ina's (so I should start to branch out, right?)! And, until you have your own show on the FoodNetwork and published recipe books I'll just have to settle for (not-too-shabby) seconds!! (Okay, I might not win the cookbook, but I definitely win the suck-up award for November 2008!) LOVE YOUR BLOG!!

Your #1 Fan!!
I'm usually very clever but my mom passed away last night and I have nothing - but I love Ina Garten. This won't win but I wanted to enter.
My husband would definitely appreciate me getting "back to basics" as I've been making him try all sorts of weird things! When it comes to basics, Ina is the Queen!
ssomerville said…
I should win this cookbook because I definately need to get back to basics! I spend way too much time in the kitchen cooking, and getting back to basics, will definately lighten my load and allow me more time to read your blog!
Anonymous said…
The way Ina Garten shops at Dean & Deluca, and has dinner parties on the beach, and florist friends who deliver her the most beautiful flowers to help her decorate an event they're invited to... it makes me wonder, what does she consider basic? Because I've been to Dean and Deluca and that place is expensive. And when I'm on the beach, the only thing I want is a cold drink and when my friends come over to my house, all they make is a mess.

I want the book because I have a feeling that although Ms. Garten and my definitions of "Basic" may be different, her recipes will still make me want to live it up.
Yvette Wang said…
This would be a great book for my mother. She is a huge Ina fan and has converted me as well. Food has always been my passion, but it has always been difficult to put into words the intrigue and delight one gets from eating a perfect meal. Ina however, does this perfectly. She not only knows how to cook the food but understands how to treat the ingredients properly and bring out its best flavors. I read Ina's books as a way to understand remember why cooking and food is so important, and of course how her recipes to this. This will be something that my mother and I can share together as we get to spend more time in the kitchen.
janelle said…
I adore INA! I bought her first book a million years ago and it suffered so much back-spatter and drips and olive oil stained pages that I finally had to replace it:). I own all of her books... except this new one! It looks lovely! Oh and I stood in the longest line in freezing cold rain with kids in tow just to shake her hand and have her sign a book:).

Happy to have found your blog!
Anonymous said…
I love Ina Garten, and as a young adult/college student, I don't have many cookbooks. However, I LOVE cooking and would love to have one by the wonderful Ina to add to my little collection!
Anonymous said…
My dear mom just entered the nursing home with Alzheimer's. She was an avid cook and cookbook collector. She spent hours in the kitchen teaching me before her body and mind gave out. She watches Ina all the time on Food Network. That channel goes constantly in her room. She can't cook now but she loves to read the recipes and look at the beautiful pictures. I am hoping to be able to present her with the book and cook her some goodies from the book to steer away from the bland nursing home food. Many many blessings for all of us (my family included) if I could give her this book for Christmas. She would be absolutely elated.
I am about to cook dinner and I'm IN-A bind. Know of a cookbook I could use? Oh, how I would love to be barefoot and in the kitchen.
RecipeGirl said…
Love Ina! I need this book in order to reach my goal of having exactly 162 cookbooks by Christmas.
Topher said…
Clever eh? Well I'm a college student who's poor and can't afford to buy it and my siamese kitty needs her weekly intake of homemade food and I think this cookbook's recipes would help me solve that problem

zekks at yahoo dot com
Anonymous said…
After 6 best selling cookbooks and a TV show, can't she finally afford some shoes?

--Marc
katylinvw said…
i would love to have this book! i have found that i am in something of a rut lately wiht my cooking, and i love barefoot contessa! :)
Brianne Chase said…
U-Haul rental for cross country move - $1900
Complete stocking of my very first single girl cupboard/fridge - $260
Cheap-tastic cookware for my very first single girl kitchen - $50
Proudly displaying my very first single girl cookbook on my very own kitchen counter and slaving over my very first single girl meal - PRICELESS :)

For some single girls there is carryout ... for me there is Ina Garten!
Brianne Chase said…
U-Haul rental for cross country move from Michigan to California - $1900
Grocery trip to Safeway to stock my very first single girl cupboard/fridge - $300
Cheap-o cookware for my very first single girl kitchen - $60
Preparing and cooking my own dinner in my very first single girl apartment and then proudly displaying my very first cookbook on my empty kitchen counter - PRICELESS :)

... For some single girls there is carryout - for me there is Ina Garten!
amycaseycooks said…
Why I should win --

1. I have meet Ina (we are on a first name basis - at least I am with her - too bad she doesn't know my name).

2. I have made every recipe in all of her cookbooks.

3. I have stalked her at the New York Fancy Food Show.

4. I make my kids watch her show every week day at 5 p.m. - even if they don't want to.

5. I bought the same canisters for my flour and sugar that she displays in her kitchen - you too can get them at Target.

6. I pretend like I live in the Hamptons.

7. I named my dog Jeffrey
Peter M said…
I am an Ina fan, made many of her dishes and I just woke up from a dream of Stacey grabbing my arm and urging me to come to Jersey to collect my free Contessa book.
AB said…
How generous! I recently bought my first home. One aspect that has warmed the home is cooking. For the first time I have kitchen all my own. Thankfully a friend of mine gave me just "the essentials" for cooking when I moved. I have yet to find "the" cookbook,but hear this Barefoot Contessa is a must see! I've been excited about cooking alot of dishes for the first time. . I would love to make Barefoot Contessa's recipes part of the housewarming holidays!
Patsyk said…
A clever comment, huh? I'm not sure how clever this is but...

Ina puts so much care and love into what she prepares for family and friends that I would love to have a peek into her world via her recipes. As a bonus, I'm also married to a Jeff(rey). :)
Anonymous said…
I love Ina & find her recipes amazingly simple. Her life does not seem complicated when she entertains & that is so unlike mine. I'd love to know how she does it.
Terri said…
Wow, what a great giveaway. I was going to ask for this for Christmas. Maybe I won't have to wait that long!
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mariaa Garcia said…
What a great giveaway. I love to eat but don't know too much about cooking.