“Be ready when luck happens” by Ina Garten: book review

Be ready when luck happens: A memory from Ina Garden

IYou might be surprised to learn that Ina Garten, the cheerful purveyor of famously comforting delicacies like “outrageous” chocolate brownies (a dash of instant coffee and less flour is key), the “perfect” fried chicken (look out for the sautéed… onions). and sugary muffins with coconut frosting (don't skimp on the almond extract) endured a chilly, decidedly unpleasant childhood.

Her father, Dr. Charles Rosenberg, was an imperious man whose own father ran a junkyard on the Lower East Side. Rosenberg regularly beat his daughter and dragged her around the house by her hair before retreating into the basement of their suburban home in Stamford, Connecticut, in bouts of guilty silence. Her tight-fisted, miserly mother was a practicing nutritionist who banned butter, mayonnaise, and many other delicious things from the Rosenberg household, and she sent Ina and her long-suffering brother to school with boxes full of sardine sandwiches for sustenance. along with portions of dry tuna and a few raw carrots.