Jeffrey Garten's proposal to Ina Garten wasn't spicy, but she knew it was pure love.
The 76-year-old woman recalled the time between meeting the 77-year-old Yale professor and him proposing marriage to her.
In his new memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens” (published October 1), PeopleIna said that when she was 16, she went to Dartmouth College to visit her brother Ken.
While on campus, her mother asked Ken to introduce her to a classmate.
“I wore my best blue skirt, my favorite blue-and-white wool and angora sweater, the new blue papapagallo that I'd bought with my own money so my mother wouldn't refuse to buy it for me, and a blue grosgrain ribbon in my hair,” the famed chef wrote in her book.
Sure, Jeffrey saw his wife of 56 years on the premises, but he soon discovered there was more to the mix that evening.
“One time I walked past the library, a building right on the beautiful Dartmouth Green,” Ina continued. “Later I learned that a new Dartmouth student was inside, admiring me. As he tells the story, Jeffrey Garten saw me on the Green and in an instant, he was captivated! 'Look at that beautiful girl,' he said to his roommate, who recognized me (and said) 'I know her. She's Ina Rosenberg, and we're going to the movies tonight.'”
Jeffrey's date with his roommate didn't turn romantic, so the Army vet asked if he could write the letter to Ina himself. He shared the first of many letters he wrote during their relationship in his new memoir:
Dear Ina,
… I think (my roommate) Roger's attempt to get me to go on a date with you rubbed you the wrong way. If you think he was trying to “pass” you, you couldn't be more wrong. The truth is … I saw you (but unfortunately, we were never introduced) when you moved here this fall …
If you don't like the idea of dating some Jewish freshman from Florida you've never met, write me a note and we can work something out. If you're not interested at all, don't even waste the stationery.
And of course, Ina gave it a try. The couple began dating while the “Barefoot Contessa” star was attending Syracuse University and Jeffrey was finishing his stint at Dartmouth on an ROTC scholarship, meeting each other between colleges.
“One spring day in 1968, when Jeffrey was about to graduate from Dartmouth and complete his military service, and I was preparing for my final exams, we went to our favorite German restaurant in Syracuse and ordered very large, very messy sandwiches,” Ina wrote.
“All of a sudden, in the middle of dinner, Jeffrey said, 'I think we should get married in December.' What? Did I hear that right? A wedding? It wasn't exactly a traditional proposal with an engagement ring and Jeffrey getting down on one knee and professing his love, but that's okay! I knew how he felt, and I felt the same way.”
Ina and Jeffrey married at her parents' home in December 1968 and are still very happy today.
The Food Network veterinarian told People that they “don't really fight.”
There was only one hitch in the way: their separation and almost divorce in the 1970s.
“We played certain roles, and I found them very disturbing,” Ina said. Shop“I figured if I just hit the pause button, I'd get his attention.”
“I thought about it a lot, and when I was at my most vulnerable, I wondered if divorce was the only solution,” she wrote in the book. “I loved Jeffrey and didn't want to shock or hurt him, so I suggested we wait until we're separated.”
But Ina and Jeffrey worked it out, the businessman went to therapy for an hour once a year and the two worked to build a strong, equal partnership.
“Thank God I did it,” she wrote. “I think about how crazy and how dangerous it was, but if I hadn't done it we wouldn't have the relationship we have now.”
“It changed him, but it changed me too,” Ina said.
