I've lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.

I've lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.

I always have music. I love it to be very upbeat. When you're having drinks, I like something like Cesaria Evora. During dinner, I like the much more traditional - old Frank Sinatra and things like that.

My extravagance is my garden - it's the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.

I worked for the Office of Management and Budget in the White House, on nuclear energy policy. But I decided it would be much more fun to have a specialty food store, so I left Washington D.C. and moved to the Hamptons. And how glad I am that I did!

They say that gardens look better when they are created by loving gardeners rather than by landscapers, because the garden is more tended to and cared for. The same thing goes for cooking. I only cook for people I love.

I love Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats,' about the chemistry of food. It's really thoughtful.