Real living

I want to take all the people in the world who know how to live and gather them up to teach the rest of the world. This is what I felt watching the new Chefography series on the Food Network; it was the one featuring Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.

This woman has it going on. I already knew she was writing energy policy in the White House before deciding there had to be more to life. That resulted in her buying a gourmet food store in The Hamptons. What I didn't know was that she knew nothing about running that kind of store, had taught herself to cook and entertain after getting married because her mother never let her, and didn't know what to do with herself after eventually selling the gourmet store.

When her husband suggested she write a cookbook, she went about it reluctantly but it soon turned to fervently. Her books have sold like crazy. Her show is unique because the two producers who cooked up the idea of doing it in her home promised her it would be fun. And it is.

My favorite part of the show may have been when Ina laughingly said she's always felt if something doesn't keep her up at night it's not worth doing. I so relate to that thirst for a constant challenge.

For me it's the only way to live.