Inaugural Posting: I Ramble Sometimes

Well, I guess its about time I got around to posting something... I'm just a little bit of a perfectionist I guess. I had to make sure everything was set up the way I wanted it to be, before I even began to THINK about what I wanted to say in the first post. I'm just one of those people.

Being the more socially-productive half of a talented and dedicated Executive Chef isn't easy. Yes, its great that all your friends automatically become HIS friends as well, because he's too busy to go out and meet people and refuses to socialize with his employees. This means you don't have to worry about people liking you. Yes, its great that you have all these amazing and cool tools in your personal kitchen.  You might not know how to use them, but you could learn. BUT the fact that you see each other for about 2 hours a day, on average and never consecutively, isn't so easy.

One of my favourite Canadian poets is Shayne Koyczan, if any of you watched the opening/closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics you know who he is; he stole the show with his slam poem "We Are More" and the moment his mouth closed he had stolen my heart. In another one of his poems he brings up a complex set of feelings that I never understood until I fell in love with a Chef, he mentions that there is nothing like "... having to miss him at the same time you're with him. having him gone at the same time he's there ...". This sentence had floundered around on my tongue for years, and then I met the love of my life... and it all started to make sense. We like to think that just because we can shut work out of our lives, the ones we love can as well. This just isn't the case when you're involved with a Chef. There isn't any single moment in his life that won't be consumed by the thought of food. A night out at the theatre can easily be interrupted by a call from a panicked front of house manager, exclaiming that the oyster Chef just hurt himself and no one else can do his job except your man. An afternoon brunch with family can quickly turn in to your guy disappearing for an hour of two because he ran into another Chef he knows. Even time spent between the sheets is spent wondering, at least in part, about how service the next day is going to run and how much venison you need to have on hand... though I'm glad I finally figured out what a troubling line of prose means, part of me wishes I never had to find out.

The loneliness is hard to deal with sometimes, and the feeling of being second best isn't something any woman likes to feel. But I believe that for every action there is an equal, yet opposite, reaction. This situation is no different. For example, going out for dinner with a Chef is incomparable to going out with anyone else, especially if you're lucky enough to have an open minded and non-pretentious Cheffy like me! Every time we go to a restaurant, whether it be a fine dining establishment (ex. Violino's) or our favourite hole-in-the-wall pub (ex. Vinny's) I learn something new. Adam doesn't even have to say anything to me about food... the way he looks at what is placed in front of him, and watching his face as he tastes something for the first time is good enough for me!

The life of a Chef's wife is a tricky life, and you get very good at scheduling... but every second of heartache is worth it. Especially when he comes home, lays his head on your shoulder, and tells you how happy he is to be spending time with you, instead of being on a hot line cooking food for the general "I-know-best" Edmonton populous.

Remember, sharing is caring... and if there is anything a chef is good at, its sharing.

Patience and love,

Faith