Ina Garten Shares Adorable Throwback Photo with Husband for 48th Anniversary of Barefoot Contessa

For 28 seasons, Barefoot Contessa graced the Food Network. I remember being in middle school watching Ina Garten ask, "How easy is that?" and seeing her cookbooks line my aunt's kitchen counter. But before Garten became a chambray-wearing, cosmopolitan-sipping culinary doyenne of easy recipes, she was a 30-year-old nuclear policy analyst at the White House under Richard Nixon. Professional boredom and one chance classified listing in The New York Times changed that, and now, Garten is celebrating what is arguably the best life decision with the most adorable throwback photos to how it all started.

Garten shared a sweet sepia photo of herself and her husband, Jeffrey, on what appears to be a gloomy beach day. The two photos that follow are the original Barefoot Contessa specialty food store that the Gartens purchased in the Hamptons.

"Two months after I turned thirty, I happened to read the business opportunities section in The New York Times and spotted an advertisement for a tiny specialty food store for sale in the Hamptons. That store was called Barefoot Contessa—a quirky name with (as it advertised) 'unlimited possibilities.' I was bored out of my mind working in Washington. Jeffrey said 'Let’s go look at it!'" she recalls in the caption. Garten's first day of business was Memorial Dday weekend, 1978, and the first day's total take was $100.

"I thought I’d made the stupidest decision of my life!" she writes. "But failure wasn’t an option and, as they say, the rest is history!"

Though Barefoot Contessa concluded its spectacular 19-year run in 2021, Garten has stayed busy. She hosts a spin-off Food Network show, Be My Guest, where she cooks alongside a cavalcade of celebrity friends including Hoda Kotb, Jon Batiste, Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert and Bobby Flay. She is also releasing her first new cookbook in four years, Simply Ina, which is in book stores October 20.

All I can say is, cheers to the queen of "Store bought is fine."