Ina! Ina! Ina!

Elizabeth: INA!!!

Michel:  Elizabeth really loves Ina Garten, so in May when I saw that Ina would be speaking in Chicago in November, I bought tickets immediately.  For the intervening months, Elizabeth spent every waking moment plotting to use this event as an opportunity to become best friends with the Barefoot Contessa.

Elizabeth:  INA!!!

Michel: Shortly after we found our seats (front row center mezzanine), someone came by and said they were their seats, and we believed them.  We searched throughout the rest of the mezzanine for our seats only to find that we were right in the first place.

Elizabeth:  My friend, Lee, who knows my love of Ina told me that she hoped I was close enough to breathe on Ina...which is much sweeter and not as creepy as it sounds, I promise.  While not that close, our seats were pretty awesome. 

 Awaiting greatness

Elizabeth:  I was super calm and collected until Ina, introduced by that lady who does Check, Please! on WTTW, the local PBS affiliate, walked on stage.  Then I began making this uncontrollable and very strange half laughing/half crying sound.  She had arrived.

Michel: With every moment Ina spent on stage, I could feel from Elizabeth, intermingled with her uncontrollable giddiness, a sense of surprise that they were not yet best friends. 

INA!....INA, INA, INA!!!

Elizabeth:  The crowd was much rowdier than we were expecting, and there was a lot of audience response to pretty much everything she said.  Of course.  Because she's Ina, and she's amazing.

Michel: A surprisingly high percentage of the questions from the audience were asked by straight men.

Elizabeth:  You love her, too.  Admit it.

Michel:  No one besides Jeffrey loves her as much as you.

Elizabeth:  Perhaps I should explain a little why I love Ina so much.  In college, I would schedule most of my morning classes between 8 and 11, and often found myself decompressing in front of the tv for a half hour before lunch.  The Barefoot Contessa was always on at that time, and she was such a wonderfully soothing presence, particularly during stressful times at school.  I loved her show, and so did my friends.  Some of us would have a daily "Barefoot Contessa date" before heading down to lunch.  No matter how the day was going, watching Ina would make it better. 

 A picture of Ina, answering questions, untarnished by local television riff-raff

Now, that's why Ina as the Barefoot Contessa is awesome.  But let me tell you why else she is awesome.  Ina didn't get into the specialty foods business until her 30's.  Before that she married her high school sweetheart, Jeffrey (who is a professor of international trade, finance, and business in and former dean of the Yale School of Management), and she was a White House nuclear policy analyst for the Ford and Carter administrations.  Paraphrasing Ina, how cool is that? 

 INA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elizabeth:  Ina was absolutely lovely: friendly, practical, and funny, just like on her show.  And she gives really great advice on cooking, entertaining, and life in general.  I did not, however, succeed in my goal in becoming her best friend.  After the talk, Michel convinced me to get her new cookbook as a consolation.  It was, after all, the reason for the evening.  And Michel is clearly the best husband ever!!

Michel: I was surprised at all the profanity, frankly.

It's signed!  Ina!!!!!!!

Michel:  In the end, even though Elizabeth was not able to become best friends...

Elizabeth: INA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!