The Glamorous . . . and not-so-Glamorous Life of a Chef and his Family

The other day I was thinking about how truly amazing and glamorous it is to be married to a chef… all those fabulous meals he prepares for us at home each night, the romantic date nights visiting local restaurants with friends, our children being exposed to so many different types of food that they happily eat anything we place before them, the wonderful recipes and cookbooks I have access to, never having to pay for a meal when we go out to eat, owning the top of the line cookware and kitchen appliances… the list could go on and on…

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But I’ll stop there.

I’ll stop there because it’s not true. There might be some truth behind a few of those statements, but for the most part, for the majority of chefs and their families, they are pure fantasy.

I guess there is a part of me that understands this glamorous life of a chef that has somehow been portrayed to our society as truth. The fact that someone can create something so wonderful out of food, and do so for a large amount of people in a short period of time, is truly amazing. I get that. For some reason there just seems to be something glamorous, intriguing and mysterious about a man (or woman) in a chef coat. (more…)

Putting the Long Hours of a Chef in Perspective

My cousin was 5 years old when we got married 18 years ago.  She was an adorable flower girl in our wedding.  Most of our lives we have lived a few states away from each other, but when we moved up to the Seattle area, I got to know her a little bit better.  She no longer lives nearby, but I think and pray for her often.

It’s usually on the days when I’m really lonely and struggling with the long hours of a chef that I think of her and pray for her.  Her husband is not a chef (although he cooks very well), but is deployed in the Army.  So while I sit at home, lonely and depressed about my husband who is working long hours an hour away from our house, I am reminded of her and many others, who have husbands on the other side of the world who will not be home for months. (more…)

Help! We are Raising a Family AND my Husband is a Chef

When I started this blog a few months back, I started scouring the internet to see what other Chefs’ wives or significant others were writing about their lives, with hopes of finding I was not alone.  The first blog I came across (because she took the domain name I wanted (just kidding Kerilyn)) was MarriedToAChef.com.   It’s been so much fun chatting back and forth across the country with another chef’s wife!  Funny how we can live so far apart, never have met in person, but have so much in common immediately!

Today, I’m writing about raising a family with a chef over on MarriedToAChef.com.  I’m so excited to have this chance to guest post on Kerilyn Russo’s blog!  I hope you’ll take a chance to hop over there and read the post, comment on it, and then take a few minutes to look around her blog. (more…)

The Death of a Parent and the Chef’s Wife

Today would have been my Mom’s 66th birthday.  We lost her to cancer 12 years ago.

You would think after 12 birthdays, 12 of my parent’s wedding anniversaries, 12 Mother’s Days, etc., it would get a lot easier, but it really hasn’t.

There are so many things that come flooding into my mind on these types of days:  memories of being told she had cancer, seeing her suffer, seeing the helplessness in my Dad’s eyes, pleading with God to heal her or take her home to be with Him so she would no longer be suffering, feeling so alone and sad while home alone at night after she died, etc.

There are of course happy memories as well:  family vacations, playing the piano and singing together, doing puzzles, playing with play-dough in the kitchen while she cooked dinner, etc.

death of a parent (more…)

You Know Your Dad’s a Chef When . . . part 2

{This post contains affiliate links.}

. . . your list of “M” words for your kindergarten homework has “Modernist Cuisine” on it.

I don’t know about other parents, but I absolutely love kindergarten!! I could never teach it, but as a parent, I love it! It’s a year full of firsts. Every new thing learned is so exciting and it’s is so much fun to watch your child grow and change so much in this first year of school.

Kindergarten homework is pretty cute too. On top of all the reading, there’s activities that are silly and fun that enforce what they are working on in the classroom.

Draw a rainbow with the correct colors in order.

Jump from your bedroom to your parent’s room. Count how many jumps.

Practice tying your shoe 5 times.

Draw and label 5 things you can see in the sky.

Write 5 things that start with the letter M.

Modernist Cuisine

I wonder what cookbooks happened to be sitting near her as she was working on her homework?

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