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:

Going on a Hot Date with a Chef

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My chef/husband has been off for 4 days!!

Sorry. I don’t mean to brag, but it doesn’t happen often. So when it does, I feel like telling everyone!!

While two of the days we spent as a family, 2 of the days were also school days!

You know what that means? We can go on a date without having to pay for a babysitter! Woohoo!!

As soon as I knew he was taking a few extra days off, I sent him a text telling him to save Monday morning for me. 🙂

Now I bet you’re wondering just exactly what we did for this hot date.

I hope you’re sitting down. It’s pretty great! read more…

The Struggles of a Chef Wife – Midweek Days Off

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For the majority of the time my chef/husband has worked in a professional kitchen, he’s worked on the weekends. With some jobs he has had Sunday off or at least Sunday morning off so he could go to church. But other than that, if it was a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, he was at work. No questions asked. read more…

The Taste Buds of a Chef

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Don’t you just love that you can ask your chef what ingredients are in a dish and they can tell you just by tasting it?

I love that when I mess up something that I’m cooking, he can taste it and fix it (most of the time. Sometimes there is just no hope and you have to start over.)

What’s even better is when you can describe how something tastes over the phone that is just not quite right, and they can tell you how to fix it without even tasting it. That’s just crazy!

My chef/husband’s knowledge about food and his ability to taste individual ingredients in food just amaze me. You would think that after 20 years I would be used to it, but sometimes he still surprises me.

His hyper-sensitive taste buds are definitely one of the perks of being married to or dating a chef! read more…

Julia, Child – a Book for the Chef’s Kids

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{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 your chef kids are anything like ours, they always want to cook like Daddy (or Mommy). They want to pick out their own ingredients and make up recipes (that we have the privilege of trying). I love their creativity and desire to learn.

The kitchen is usually a disaster afterwards, but at least that gives us the chance to teach them how to clean up after themselves, right? (UGH!)

In our home library, we have quite a few children’s books about food, cooking and even a few about being a chef. Our girls love to read and since our life revolves around food because of my husband’s career, we tend to read a lot of picture books that have something to do with food.

A few months ago, I came across the children’s book Julia, Child. It’s a sweet book about two friends who love to cook and end up coming up with recipes for adults to help them grow young. (They think grown-ups are too busy, hurried and worried.) read more…

The Struggles of a Chef Wife – Worrying About Their Health and Safety

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If someone asked me what the hardest part about being married to a chef was, I would say worrying about their health and safety.

The amount of hours they work in a very harsh environment are so hard on their bodies. I really struggle with worrying about my chef/husband’s health. I know he’s an adult and can take care of himself, I just hate to see him in pain. He will push through it and do whatever he need to do to get the job done well and provide for us. I am grateful for that. It’s just really hard to know he’s working in pain.

I loved this article which talks about an older chef and his need to move to a less physical role as a chef. It’s true. Not many people can work on the line for 40 years. Sure, some do. But I would bet they are in pain for much of the time. I’m thankful my husband has recently moved into a role that is less physical labor and seems to be easier on his body. (Although using a mouse and keyboard still cause pain in his elbow from repetitive cutting and other movements in the kitchen for many years.) I used to worry about how he’d be able to physically continue on in his career as he got older. read more…