Jeffrey Garten’s proposal to Ina Garten wasn’t a spicy one, but she knew it was purée love.
The 76-year-old recalled the time between meeting the Yale professor, 77, and him asking for her hand in marriage.
In her new memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens,” (out Oct. 1), per People, Ina shared that when she was 16, she visited her brother Ken at Dartmouth College.
While on campus, her mother asked Ken to fix her up with a classmate.
“I’d dressed in my best blue skirt, my favorite blue-and-white wool and angora sweater, the new blue Pappagallos that I’d bought with my own money so my mother couldn’t refuse to buy them for me, and a blue grosgrain ribbon in my hair,” the renowned chef wrote in her book.
Of course, Jeffrey ended up spotting his now-wife of 56 years on campus, but soon found out there were other ingredients added to the mix that evening.
“At some point, I passed the library, a building right off the beautiful Dartmouth Green,” Ina continued. “I later found out that a Dartmouth freshman was inside, admiring me. As he tells the story, Jeffrey Garten saw me on the Green and, in an instant, was smitten! ‘Look at that beautiful girl,’ he said to his roommate, who recognized me [and said] ‘I know her. That’s Ina Rosenberg, and we’re going to the movies tonight.’”
The date with Jeffrey’s roommate didn’t turn romantic, so the Army vet asked if he could write to Ina himself. She shared the first of many letters he wrote her throughout their relationship in her new memoir:
Dear Ina,
… I have the impression that [my roommate] Roger’s attempt to get me a date with you affected you the wrong way. If you felt that he was trying to “pass you off,” you could not be more mistaken. Truth is … I saw you (but we were never introduced, unfortunately, when you were up here this Fall)…
If the idea of dating a Jewish freshman from Florida whom you have never seen doesn’t repel you, how about dropping me a note and we could work something out. If you are not at all interested, don’t even waste the stationery.
And of course, Ina gave it a shot. The couple started dating, visiting one another between colleges when the “Barefoot Contessa” star attended Syracuse University and Jeffrey was finishing up his tenure at Dartmouth on an ROTC scholarship.
“One spring day in 1968, when Jeffrey was about to graduate from Dartmouth and go off to fulfill his military service, and I was heading into my final exams, we went to our favorite German restaurant in Syracuse and ordered very large, very messy sandwiches,” penned Ina.
“Out of nowhere, between bites, Jeffrey said, ‘I think we should get married in December.’ What? Did I hear that right? Get married? It wasn’t really a traditional proposal with an engagement ring and Jeffrey down on one knee professing undying love, but okay! I knew how he felt, and I felt the same way.”
Ina and Jeffrey did indeed tie the knot in December 1968 at her parents’ home and are still as happy as can be today.
The Food Network vet told People they “really don’t fight.”
There was only one bump along the road: their separation and near-divorce in the 1970s.
“There were certain roles that we played, and I found them really annoying,” Ina told the outlet. “I felt that if I just hit the pause button, I would get his attention.”
“I thought about it a lot, and at my lowest point, I wondered if the only answer would be to get a divorce,” she penned in the book. “I loved Jeffrey and didn’t want to shock — or hurt — him, so I’d start by suggesting we pause for a separation.”
But Ina and Jeffrey worked it out, with the businessman going to therapy once for an hour and the pair putting in the effort to create a stronger, equal partnership.
“Thank God I did,” she wrote. “I think how crazy that was and how dangerous it was, but we wouldn’t have the relationship we have now if I hadn’t done it.”
“It changed him,” Ina added, “but it also changed me too.”
