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:

Can a Chef be an Introvert?

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Introverts are people who are energized by spending time alone.

I don’t understand this at all because I’m an extrovert – completely the opposite.

However, my chef/husband is an introvert.

This is one area where we are nothing alike.

Looking at the definition of the word introvert, it doesn’t sound like that fits very well with the career of a chef, does it?

Not at all.

Put my chef/husband in a social situation and he’s very quiet. He usually won’t go out of his way to talk to people. If someone comes up and talks to him, he’s fine. But he’s not a big fan of small talk. (Too much to do, too little time . . .) He would just rather be at home instead of around a group of people. Being around a large group of people is not relaxing or energizing for him AT ALL! read more…

My Chef/Husband Took My Favorite Knife to Work and Won’t Bring it Home

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The title pretty much sums it up.

My chef/husband took my favorite knife to work and will not bring it back home.

It’s the perfect knife. It truly is. I never knew I could come to love and use a knife that much.

But like I said, my chef/husband took it to work and will not bring it home.

Now in all fairness, he does use it a bit more at work than I would at home.

But still, it’s not very nice of him to have this amazing vegetable cleaver at home for a few weeks between jobs, allow me to fall in love with it and use it for practically everything, and then take it to work and not bring it home. read more…

A Day in the Life of a Chef Wife – October 2014

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Every month on the 10th day, I grab my camera and capture my day with 10 pictures.

I was debating whether or not to even post the pictures today . . . wondering if it went along with my purpose for this blog.

I write about trying to combine restaurant and family life. (Or maybe I should say fighting to combine restaurant and family life. It’s so hard!!)

Yet again, my chef/husband went to work early and got home late. So he is not in any of the pictures. 🙁

So should I share my day?

I decided yes. (Obviously.)

As a chef wife, I have a lot of time by myself (and by myself, I mean with 3 children.) That is the reality of being married to a chef who works 60, 70, 80+ hours a week. So if I leave this day out, I’m leaving out reality. This is my life as a chef wife.

My chef/husband has been working from the minute he wakes up to the minute his head hits the pillow for what seems like forever. It’s been a long stretch without much time off.

He drove away as we were walking to the bus stop this morning and said, “You’re not going to take my picture, are you?” So no picture of him in his car driving away.

I guess we’ll start at the bus stop . . . read more…

The Lonely Chef Wife

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My loneliness as a chef wife seems to come and go.

My chef/husband can work 80 hours one week and 80 hours the next, but one week I’m fine and the next I’m not.

Why is that?

Right now I’m sitting here in a quiet home with candles lit, looking at pictures from the day. (Ok, actually I’m typing this post right now. But right before that, I was looking at pictures.)

It was a great day, full of projects and time with friends. But through it all, and now in the peace and quiet, I think of my husband and miss him. I wish my day had been full of time with him. It’s been a long time since we’ve had an entire day together. read more…

Connecting with Other Chef Wives and Significant Others

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Today’s post is from one of my readers, Tiffany Ewigleben, who has some great advice about connecting with other chef wives and significant others.

I don’t have many close female friends, or female friends in general. The ones I do have are my friends because of an understanding and commonality in our lives- mainly to do with our husbands or significant others.

I’m a wife of an executive chef, a man who is just starting to make a name for himself in our Midwest town. I’m also a mom of 2 boys-one a newborn. I don’t have to share with your readership the daily stresses and joys of being ‘married to the chef’. I’m sure they are quite familiar with that.

What I want to talk about is the wonderful luck I’ve had connecting with a strong, wonderful group of women who are also married to or dating someone in the industry, and how having a support system helps make the hard days a lot easier. read more…