Everyone knows that the best place to eat in the Hamptons would be at Ina Garten’s house, where we could look through her pantry for things like locally raised honey. But if you’re still waiting for your invitation to one of her famous parties — I assume the post office lost mine somewhere, like my Hogwarts letter — the next best thing to do is to shop at Ina’s favorite places.

Luckily Ina has done us all a huge favor and written up a list of some of her favorite places to shop and eat in the Hamptons.

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About five years ago my husband and I bought an old, decrepit house, and renovated it top to bottom. (My whole renovation story is here, if you want to see!) Part of that renovation included adding on an open kitchen that we outfitted with a semi-custom IKEA kitchen.

I loved designing my kitchen from scratch, and we saved a ton of money by doing most of the design and work ourselves. But let me tell you — when you go the DIY route, you do run the risk of missing details that can make a big difference. Here’s the biggest (yet surprising) mistake we made.

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The last grocery man to capture America’s collective heart might’ve been Mr. Hooper, the bow-tie wearing owner of Sesame Street‘s corner store — and that was in, like, 1982. But that all changed during the season premiere of The Bachelorette when we were introduced to Joe Amabile.

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In the past year, I’ve been to Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and have had at least a half-dozen layovers in the Reykjavik airport. I am obsessed with Scandinavia for a lot of reasons that aren’t limited to their unending supplies of both attractive citizens and attractive office furnishings. I also love the prevalence of Oatly-brand products, the oat-based milk alternative that was developed by an innovative, environmentally-friendly group of Swedes.

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Serving tender, aromatic lamb biryani for dinner (especially during Ramadan) just got easier, thanks to everyone’s favorite kitchen gadget: the Instant Pot. Because the popular electric pressure cooker releases steam at the end of the cook time, it mimics the traditional Indian “dum” style of cooking, in which a protein (in this case, lamb) is cooked slowly in steam.

The result is homemade lamb biryani ready in a fraction of the time, served with fluffy basmati rice that cooks right along with it.

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With all the summer parties and potlucks on the horizon, my slow cooker usage is about to be put into high gear. In addition to its regular spot in my weekly meal plan, it is my go-to for pulling together big-batch sides made for sharing.

Whether I’m the one hosting or I’m heading to a potluck, I use it for make-and-take sides that can be kept warm and served straight from the slow cooker. Here are seven of my top picks.

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If you’ve been on the hunt for a pork chop that is fork-tender, incredibly juicy, and full of flavor, stop right here. These onion gravy-smothered Instant Pot pork chops are everything you’ve dreamed of in a pork chop and more.

Using the one-pot power of an Instant Pot means these pork chops can be quickly braised in a rich onion gravy that makes for almost fall-apart tender pork chops that are anything but dry or flavorless. These smothered pork chops are dinner and a delicious sauce in one.

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Roast chicken is always a good idea. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted making it — especially never on a Sunday when I’ll have some that night for dinner and then plan for a week of meals that make the most of it. And if you’re not cooking your roast chicken over a bed of veggies … well, you’ve got something delicious to look forward to trying!

But one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about roast chicken comes from Ina Garten (if you haven’t heard — she’s got a way with chicken). This lesson is on what size chicken to buy.

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What’s the best remedy for two competing patterns of speckled stone in a kitchen? Sometimes the answer is a third, completely different material.

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In my Southern family, we grew up eating broccoli slaw that had raisins, peanuts, a sweet mayonnaise dressing, and toasted ramen noodles on top. It’s a delight. But every time I crave it now and look up a recipe, I’m turned off by the amount of mayonnaise or inclusion of the ramen noodle seasonings packet.

So I set out to modernize this retro slaw with a few fresh tweaks. The result is easy, lightened-up, and still oh-so-crunchy.

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