House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year

House Beautiful was sweet enough to invite me to the launch party for their Kitchen of the Year with the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, at Rockefeller Center Monday night. The kitchen was designed by Robert Stilin and will definitely be placed in my file for my future home design reference. It's the absolute perfect kitchen for cooking and gathering. It will be on display until Friday, July 24th and there will be lots of cooking demonstrations and tastings to attend if you are in town. (To see the schedule of events, click here.) If you're not in New York, you can see some of the photos here and also on the House Beautiful website.

Here is the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, with the editor of House Beautiful Stephen Drucker. She was super busy but was gracious enough to pose for a few photos and chat with me for a second. Of course, I had to compliment her on her fabulous necklace which she said was an anniversary present from her husband, the famous Jeffrey. She also suggested that I read her book, Barefoot in Paris, before my trip for ideas on where to go while in Paris.

Ina and Jeffrey were just as sweet and adorable together as they are on her television show!

One of the best parts of the attending the event was picking up the gift bag on the way out. I mean if you're going to break your diet for anything, I mean it might as well be for the Barefoot Contessa sour cream coffee cake! I cannot wait to make it! And I will proudly wear my new apron and use my new spatula while doing so! A big thanks to everyone at House Beautiful for allowing me to be apart of their evening!

Photos by Heather Clawson and Julian Wass for House Beautiful