a mixture of one liquid with another with which it cannot normally combine smoothly (like oil and water); an atypical combination of two things
After a year of blogging on EmulsifiedFamily.com, I have come to love the name “Emulsified Family” and feel it’s the perfect way to describe our family (and probably many of yours.)
Why?
I’m so glad you asked!
Let’s start off by looking at it from a culinary perspective. Emulsifying is a delicate process. It needs to be carefully prepared. It requires ideal conditions (temperature, balance, interaction, etc). It won’t hold together forever unless it’s cared for, but can be repaired if it breaks.
Have you ever tried to make mayonnaise? If you just throw all the ingredients into the blender it’s not going to work. (Maybe it would work with a Vitamix. But in my Oster blender . . . no way!!) But if you take your time and carefully follow the correct procedure, you’ll get something that is far better than what you started with. All the ingredients on their own are fine. But together, they can be AMAZING.
Do you see what a perfect term this is to describe the family of a chef?
I would love to know how many chefs and their families get invited over to other people’s houses for dinner.
Anyone?
Anyone?
Neither do we.
I will admit that there is a chance that we don’t get invited over for dinner because no one wants to hang out with us. That could be the case. Maybe we are truly obnoxious and no one wants to be around us and everyone is just too nice to tell us they can’t stand us.
I will also admit that with my chef/husband’s crazy and ever changing hours, it could be difficult to find a time to have us over. However, if someone really, really, REALLY wanted to, we could make it work. Sure we might have to reschedule a few times, and they would have to listen to me apologize a million times about rescheduling, but eventually it would happen.
However, I think it’s far more likely that people are TOTALLY FREAKED OUT AND SCARED to cook for a chef. (At least that’s what I’m told by others.)
Is that really true? Is my chef/husband really that scary and intimidating? (more…)
As a chef, my husband is often asked questions when he’s in the grocery store during the work day with his chef coat on. I guess if I was looking at an ingredient in the store and saw a chef walk up, I would probably ask a question too.
“Excuse me. Are you a really a chef or is that just your Halloween costume?”
No. I just went to all the trouble to have a restaurant group logo and my name embroidered on a coat. AND I chose to embroider Culinary Director instead of Chef.
Haha!
That was apparently the question of the day as he was out and about running errands on Halloween. He obviously didn’t respond that way, but it’s pretty funny if you think about it. (more…)
I read a lot of articles online about chefs, restaurants, being married to a chef, etc. If they’re any good, I share them or pin them. Today I came across one that just keeps popping back in my mind.
I know that in some restaurants, chefs and line cooks get a portion of the tips each day. My husband has never worked in a restaurant that has done that. He has always been paid an hourly rate or salary.
What frustrates me, is the inequality of pay between a server and a line cook. (Neither of which apply to my husband so this post is not about me saying I think my husband deserves more money. Just clearing that up.)
It takes a very different skill set to be a server as it does to be a line cook. I will not get into a debate about which is harder as I think different people are good at different things. However, when a server walks out of the restaurant after working 6 hours making more money than my well paid Executive Chef husband who is on hour number 15 that day and still not ready to leave, does that seem right? (more…)
Why?
