Ina Garten's Hamilton Moment Is Dream-Worthy

Food & Wine recently dubbed Ina Garten a "pantry influencer," and literally no one was surprised. The Barefoot Contessa was sharing her spring cleaning routine via Instagram, and you could practically hear the thousands of clear plastic tubs, baker's racks, and crocks for cooking utensils being added to carts around the country.

As the feather in Food Network's cap and the author of a dozen cookbooks, she could probably influence anyone to do anything anywhere, including make cocktails in a snowstorm, or cook every single one of Garten's (over 1,000) published recipes. Luckily for the world, Garten tends to use her powers of influence for good: making the home chef feel more confident and capable in the kitchen and teaching people how to elevate their cooking skills through the scientific method of try, try again. 

But what about the things that influence Garten? That is to say, what lights her up? What stimulates her creative senses or inspires her to be the lady that fans know and love? Today illustrates that we might not know Garten as well as we might have thought. Did you know her last meal would be a hot dog? (A Parisian hot dog, but still.) Did you know that she once "laughed for, like, 24 hours after" Tony Bennett told her he loved her meatballs? And did you know that when she finally decided to check out "Hamilton" on Broadway, she lost the tickets?

Thankfully, according to Garten's interview with Today, Broadway can overlook a Barefoot Contessa blunder. "That was almost a disaster," Garten admits of the night she took her team to see "Hamilton," before realizing the tickets were nowhere to be found. "But they incredibly kindly let us in." And a good thing, too, because it turns out that "Hamilton" would turn out to be one of Garten's favorite things, and the night she took her team to see it would include not only lost tickets but an incredibly memorable moment during the performance, according to The New York Times.

Garten told the Times that she was skeptical of all the "Hamilton" hype, having rolled her eyes when she heard from pals that it was the greatest thing they'd ever seen. But then? "Within 10 minutes [of "Hamilton"], I was like, oh, my God, this is the best thing I've ever seen," Garten told the newspaper. And because Garten has given the universe so much, the universe decided to give something back. At intermission, the stage manager for the production asked Garten if she'd like to come backstage. When she naturally asked why, he replied, "Aaron Burr is in love with you." Says the chef, "I don't think I'll ever forget that."