My name is Jennifer and I have been married to a chef for 25 years.
I blog about my life as a chef wife and how we combine restaurant and family life each day.
If you are new to my site, start here.
Recent Posts:
Health, Co-CEO position…No longer updating this blog…
October 17, 2019…It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. My husband has been out of the kitchen for a few years now and is currently the Co-CEO of a restaurant group up in Seattle. While the hours are still long, life looks pretty different than it did when he was running a kitchen every day.
While I haven’t been posting new content on this blog, I’ve been around, answering emails, chatting via Facebook and observing and occasionally commenting in our closed Facebook group. My blog continues to get visitors from people searching online about what it’s like to date a chef, be married to a chef, or how to clean a chef coat, and I’m thankful for that. Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t reach out thanking me for sharing my story or asking a question about their situation.
It’s a hard decision to make, but I need to take the blog off of my list of responsibilities right now. I’m going to leave this post at the top of the website and I’m going to set up an auto-responder on my email.
Here’s why…
We found out a few weeks ago that my stage 4 breast cancer has returned in a bunch of places. Also, with my husband’s move out of the kitchen, I don’t really have anything new to share.
While this blog is not a burden in any way, I just need to not worry about it. The blog pays for itself through Google Adsense and Amazon Affiliates. (Thank you to those of you who shop on Amazon using my link.) So for now, I will leave it up as a resource, but I will no longer be updating it or responding to any comments or emails. 🙁 Thanks for understanding.
I have loved getting to know so many people through this blog and have made some wonderful friends! I will still be around in our Facebook Group, but that will be it for now.
Thank you all for your support over the past 5 years as I shared about what it was like to be married to a chef. 🙂 I have loved being able to share my joys and trials with you and am thankful to have been an encouragement to others also walking this road.
Letter to a Young Chef Wife
{This post contains affiliate links. (In non-blogger language, that means I might get a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click on some of the links below.) Thanks for supporting EmulsifiedFamily.com.}
Dear Young Chef Wife,
This month my chef/husband and I will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. I’m not quite sure where the time went. (Update – We celebrated 24 years in July 2019! Woohoo!)
As I look back on our marriage, there are so many things I would have done differently as a chef’s wife, if I only knew what I do now.
I know you love your husband and would do anything for him. I also know that his career as a chef is tough on your marriage. I’m writing to you today to encourage you to not give up. It’s not easy. I’ve been there. Wait . . . I’m still there! I’ve learned so much in 19 years and still have so much more to learn in the next 19+ years to come.
I would love to sit down and talk with you, share with you, laugh with you and cry with you about what life is like being married to a chef. But since I have 3 young children, we would probably be interrupted (politely, of course) about 800 times during our chat. So for the moment, I’ve come up with 11 things that I really wish I would have known early on in my marriage to a chef. I would love to share them with you. You might have already figured them out or they might be something you never thought about. There’s even a chance you might not agree with all of them. Whatever the case, I hope and pray that they will be helpful to you in your marriage. read more…
You’re Dating a Chef? Please Read This!
If you’re new to my site, start here.
{This post contains affiliate links. (In non-blogger language, that means I might get a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click on some of the links below.) Thanks for supporting EmulsifiedFamily.com.}
If you just googled, “Dating a chef” and arrived here, welcome. Welcome to this crazy life of being involved with someone in the culinary industry.
I would guess the reason you googled this topic is because dating a chef is not exactly what you expected it would be. Perhaps you’re lonely, frustrated by the hours, struggling with finding time to spend together, or even time to talk.
Well guess what?
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!
WOOHOO!!
Don’t you feel so much better already?
There are tons of us out there, who are somehow connected to a chef . . . married, dating, parents, siblings, etc.
There are others out there who can relate to the crazy obsession with chef knives, things for the kitchen and cookbooks. Nice!! 🙂 read more…
What Chefs Really Eat at the End of the Day
{This post contains affiliate links. (In non-blogger language, that means I might get a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click on some of the links below.) Thanks for supporting EmulsifiedFamily.com.}
It’s common knowledge that chefs work long hours and are busy preparing food for others. There’s a ton of articles and TV shows telling us what chefs like to cook.
But are these meals that they “like” to prepare what they actually eat themselves?
At the end of a 12-16 hour day or a 70-80 hour work week, do they head into their kitchen at home and start making these meals they’ve told us about on TV and in magazines?
I wonder…
I am personally not a chef but am married to one. Obviously I can’t speak for all chefs in the world as I haven’t met them all. However, having been married to a chef for 18 years and having interacted with quite a few chefs and their wives/husbands and significant others, I think it’s time to be truthful about this topic and put an end to this myth about how chefs eat at home. read more…
Suicide in the Culinary Industry…Thoughts from a Chef’s Wife
Waking up this morning to find out that Anthony Bourdain had committed suicide was a shock for all of us. I can’t imagine the pain he must have been in to feel that suicide was the only option.
As an outsider, his life looked pretty great to most of us. He was a successful chef, writer and TV show host. He had a girlfriend and appeared happy in the relationship. He was the father of a young daughter. Media and Social Media made him appear so successful and happy.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
It makes me question why suicide, mental health issues, drugs and alcohol are all such problems in the Culinary Industry. read more…