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:

Where Do You Eat When You Travel With a Chef?

2 Comments

I don’t know about you, but when we travel, we always ask a local resident working at the hotel or grocery store, where the best place to eat in town is. We want to experience the food of the area we are visiting (and because my husband is a chef, we are a little picky about where to eat.)

While the internet is a great resource for finding local restaurants, it doesn’t tell you much about the quality of the food. And we all know that reviews on Yelp or another site like it, don’t necessarily represent what the restaurant is ACTUALLY like. This leaves us back to asking the locals where to eat.

Late last year, I found out about another option for dining out when traveling. read more…

How to Have a Successful Career AND be Married to a Chef – Part 3

0 Comments

Today, as we continue on in our series talking about how to have a successful career AND be married to a chef (oh, and don’t forget about kids), I’d like to introduce you to Amity Howard Reiss.

Amity is a wife of 10 years and has been together for 19 with a successful Executive Chef. Chef Joel Reiss has worked for some of the most well known establishments and Chefs in NYC. He is currently the Executive Chef for the S Prime Steakhouse in Long Island City, Queens. She is a full time school psychologist for a Nassau County school district and slowly starting a part time photography business. They have two amazing little boys, 4 and 5 years old, and reside in Oceanside, NY.

I’m so thankful for Amity’s willingness to share her thoughts on this important topic that many of you have expressed interest in.

A woman can do it all! That is how I truly feel. We can support our husbands in their career, honor our own path in our personal pursuits of interest and raise our children to be intelligent, compassionate and successful citizens. Now, how we manage to do this takes a strong path of conviction, not to mention a great amount of compromise and sacrifice at times.

How to have a successful career and be married to a chef? Let’s now add children to that equation? How to have a career, be married to a chef and raise a family…all successfully??

Let’s chuckle a little at that and be honest. It’s not an easy task and I would hardly admit that I am successful at any one area. Sometimes it feels like I am flying by the seat of my pants just near the precipice at all times. read more…

What is it like to Cook for a Chef?

8 Comments

“What is it like to cook for a chef?” Depending on who you ask, you’ll get very different answers.

If you ask one my friends, they will tell you they are very nervous to cook for my chef/husband.

If you ask the parent or sibling of a chef, I don’t think they would think much of it since they’ve always done it Although they might ask a question or two if the chef is around when they are cooking. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)

If you ask an aspiring line cook what it’s like to cook for an Executive Chef in an interview, they’ll probably tell you they were very nervous because they wanted to do well and get the job.

But what about the wife or girlfriend or a chef? (Or husband/boyfriend . . . you know I never want to leave you out, it’s just awkward to always say all types of people in one sentence.)

I do the majority of cooking at home since I’m married to a chef. Most of the time it’s because he’s not home. But what about the times he is home? What is it like to cook for him? read more…

I Want to Marry a Chef

2 Comments

Have you ever searched, married to a chef, on Twitter?

If you search #marriedtoachef, you’ll see all of us tweeting about our lives as chef wives.

But try searching, married to a chef, no hash tag, just the phrase.

It’s hysterical the number of people that say, “I want to marry a chef,” on Twitter because they think the chef would cook for them all the time!

Here’s an example.

The tweet in the middle is actually from a fellow chef wife (Hi Juliana!) writing about being married to a chef. (You can see the post here.)

But look at the other two. I have no idea who these women are. I’m sure they are very nice and just want someone to cook for them. I just think it’s funny and sad at the same time. People just don’t get it! read more…

How to Have a Successful Career and be Married to a Chef – Part 2

2 Comments

Today, I’d like to continue the discussion about having a career AND being married to a chef.

Last week, I shared my thoughts and experiences about this, but I totally left kids out of the equation, as I have never worked full time outside the home since we’ve had children. However, I know many of you work full time outside the home AND are married to chef AND have kids. So I decided to ask for some help on the topic. Today and next Monday, I’ve asked two of my fellow chef wives to share their thoughts and experiences about raising a family with a chef AND working full time.

Today, I’d like to introduce to you Nina Sargent. Her chef/husband Eric is a chef at Blue Moon Cafe in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. They have 2 boys. Here is her story . . .

Since the very beginning I’ve been a working mom while my husband has been a server then chef. There were times when I supported the family because he was between jobs. We have two boys ages 8 and 5. Each job that my husband has held has brought with it different demands and requirements. Some jobs required him to work 16 hour shifts 6 days a week and I was essentially a single mom. Other jobs have him working dinner shifts, allowing him to be with us in the morning as we get ready. Being a working mom and married to a chef is not easy. Heck, being a working mom is not easy in and of itself. read more…