I’m curious what comes to your mind when you hear that word.
Do you think turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, time with family, etc?
Or do you think, another holiday by myself, can’t wait ’til January so I can see my chef/husband, etc.
All of those things above come to my mind as the wife of a chef.
Thanksgiving is actually one of our favorite holidays. God has blessed us with so much and we love talking about that with our girls.
We also love food! (Big surprise.) Brown butter mashed potatoes, maple roasted root vegetables, green bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, vanilla bean whipped potatoes, pumpkin cheesecake, rice imperative . . . and turkey (my least favorite part). Technically I’m making roasted heirloom turkey, according to my husband’s recipe, but even with the fancy title, I would be just fine if we left that out and just enjoyed all the sides and desserts.
I also like the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving as there is so much “food talk” with friends. We tend to get a lot of food questions from family and friends (thus the reason for this Preparing for Thanksgiving page from my chef/husband), but I love it! I love hearing about everyone’s favorite recipes. I LOVE hearing one of my friends tell everyone about how she broke down her turkey and how AMAZING it turned out last year. I love all the Thanksgiving crafts the girls bring home from school telling what they are thankful for. Maybe I should say I just love November. However, the Thursday that the majority of the United States celebrates Thanksgiving is not the highlight of my month.(more…)
I know that I’m not, but the times (like now) where my chef/husband has been working long hours for many days in a row are so hard for me. I miss him, I’m emotionally drained from taking care of the girls all day long, and I know I’ll wake up tomorrow and it will be the same.
I’m grateful to have this blog as out outlet to share what I’m going through. But sometimes it feels like I’m typing to the air. 🙂 No matter how great technology is, it just can’t replace a real live person.
A few weeks ago, I was leaving church and was stopped by a friend. We talked about the girls for a bit and then she placed her hand on my arm and said, “Jennifer, I want you to know I’ve been praying for you.” She then went on to tell me specifically what she’d been praying for.
She didn’t know what had been going on in our home as a couple, with our children or with my husband’s job. However, the things she had been praying specifically for our family were exactly what we (and I) have been struggling with.(more…)
I read a lot of articles online about chefs, restaurants, being married to a chef, etc. If they’re any good, I share them or pin them. Today I came across one that just keeps popping back in my mind.
I know that in some restaurants, chefs and line cooks get a portion of the tips each day. My husband has never worked in a restaurant that has done that. He has always been paid an hourly rate or salary.
What frustrates me, is the inequality of pay between a server and a line cook. (Neither of which apply to my husband so this post is not about me saying I think my husband deserves more money. Just clearing that up.)
It takes a very different skill set to be a server as it does to be a line cook. I will not get into a debate about which is harder as I think different people are good at different things. However, when a server walks out of the restaurant after working 6 hours making more money than my well paid Executive Chef husband who is on hour number 15 that day and still not ready to leave, does that seem right? (more…)
The traditional school calendar and the schedule of a chef do not emulsify AT ALL!! (Sorry I couldn’t resist the “emulsify” comment.)
While my chef/husband and I had a very nice date during the school day on Wednesday, he hasn’t been able to see the girls much at all because they’ve been in school for most of the day when he’s been off. 🙁
We have to sneak in family time any time we can get it.
Little requests like, “Daddy, can you walk us to the bus stop this morning?” are a big deal at our house, because it’s time with just Daddy.
Let me share what our house was like Wednesday morning before school. (Keep in mind the girls had not seen my chef/husband much the past few days.) We were all up and partially awake. Two out of the three kids felt something was terribly wrong and were concerned they could not go to school and needed to stay home. This left my husband and I to figure out if there truly was something wrong or if they were still waking up and just really wanted to stay home because Daddy was home. It was a rough morning all the way through breakfast. (more…)
