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:

When Your 4 Year Old Finds Your Chef’s Sharpie

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Chefs and Sharpies…two words that go hand in hand.

Rarely will you find a chef without a Sharpie in their pocket, or at least near by.

I get it. They label things all the time and ask us to do the same at home, right????

Leaving Sharpies around the house and car isn’t that big of a deal unless one goes through the wash and the cap falls off (UGH!!!) or unless you have small children!

Our kids (12, 8 and 7) think a black sharpie is just like a regular washable Crayola black marker. I’m constantly scrubbing it off the table in our office and reminding them to please, JUST USE A REGULAR MARKER!

Anyways…

No More Chef Coats in the Closet

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We just went through my husband’s closet and threw all his chef coats in the trash.

I threw out a dozen aprons.

The ChefWorks chef pants are neatly folded up and up on the top shelf.

After two decades of having chef coats in the closet, they are gone.

The closet looks empty.

I Told Myself I Would Never Be “THAT” Blog…

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So the blog . . .

I hate it when I come across a blog I really love and find out they are not publishing posts any more. It makes me so sad because I just LOVE reading blogs of people I can relate to. I told myself I would never be “that” blog. I would stick to it no matter what.

Never say never….cancer doesn’t understand that word…jobs change…life happens. Somehow in the midst of treatments, Dr. appointments and healing from the treatments, I did manage to publish 15 posts the past year but not 2 a week like I had planned.

I had HUGE plans for the blog when my kids were all in school full time last September. 3 days into the school year, our lives changed forever and my corporate chef/husband started working from home to care for me during chemo. (That was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!)

You Know You’re a Chef’s Wife if…

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This might be my favorite post yet! Thanks to all those who helped compile this list. Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments below!

You know you’re a chef’s wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend if… read more…

Chef Wives, You Are Not a Single Parent

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I wrote the post below back in July, but never published it. Tonight I’m sitting on the bed, wishing my husband was home with us. It’s Cinco de Mayo – the busiest night of the year for his restaurants. We haven’t seen him all week and we miss him. I’m tired. The kids have been arguing while making Mother’s Day cards. (Really?????? I don’t want have to discipline for that!! Ugh!! I really wish he were here to deal with the Mother’s Day card arguing…)

Have you ever referred to yourself as a single parent because of your husband’s career as a chef?

They work a ton of hours. They are gone the majority if not all of the hours the kids are awake. Because of this, the parenting on the days they work (and sometimes even on their days off) falls on us.

It’s hard.

I get it.

I’m living it.

There are many days our girls do not see my husband because he leaves before or just as they are getting up and gets home just after they are in bed. Having a 1 hour + commute on top of the long hours of a chef is tough. My husband would have to leave work at 5 pm (and then sit in the car for 2 hours because of traffic) to be home to see them for an hour before they go to bed (which is not their best time of day). The mornings, it’s the same. If he doesn’t leave before 6 am, the commute can be almost 2 hours long. There’s really no option for a change of hours, so we find way to work with the schedule the best we can.