Anyone who follows Jennifer Garner on Instagram knows the actress is an Ina Garten superfan, so when the the Barefoot Contessa celebrated her 73rd birthday this week, Garner had to go all out.
On Tuesday, the actor, 48, shared a cute video tribute to Garten for her special day, compiling funny clips of herself cooking at home using tips and tricks from the Food Network star.
“I promise I’m not obsessed with you, @inagarten,” Garner captioned the video. “But if today happens to be your birthday—I really really hope it’s a good one.”
In the video, Garner chats away to Garten as she cooks, addressing her affectionately as “Barefoot.”
“You know how Ina always says vanilla makes chocolate taste more like chocolate? That’s for you, Barefoot,” she says in one clip.
“Just as Ina would say, give it a nice, rough chop,” she says in another clip as she cut up what looks like parsley.
In other funny moments from the video, Garner worries that her chopping knife wasn’t up to the Garten’s standards (“Barefoot Contessa would never have a nicked-up knife”) and wishes her a happy Thanksgiving as the voice of a paper turkey.
Later on, she challenges Garten with a more philosophical question: “Dear Ina, how do you make an egg … one third of an egg?”
Garner has been documenting her love for Garten on Instagram for years now, and in 2018, she had the chance to spend time with her idol in person.
“I understand if this brings up big feelings for you 😬, but I spent the morning with @inagarten,” she captioned a selfie with the Food Network star. “In her barn kitchen, in her garden, having coffee...yes. It’s true. 🤗 I even got a sneak peek of the new Barefoot Contessa cookbook— #CookLikeAPro— it’s fabulous. Thank you for the perfect morning, Ina, you are beloved for a reason. I can’t wait to continue the conversation. ❤️, Jen.”
They apparently became fast friends because later that year, Garten shared a photo of them enjoying burgers together at In-N-Out, which is apparently her favorite fast-food restaurant.
“Only the best for my friend @jennifer.garner - dinner at @innout after my show in Costa Mesa, CA!!” Garten captioned the photo. “What a fun way to wrap up my fall book tour!”
Garten was blown away by Garner’s latest birthday video, writing to her friend in the comments, “O. M. G. That’s the BEST birthday present!! Looking forward to when this pandemic is over and we can cook together again!! Love you so much!!”
Watching these two cooking together is definitely a joy, and one fan spoke for a lot of us with her comment on Garner’s latest Instagram post: “If you two need a third wheel for this cooking date….a girl can dream.”