Dear Chef,

I must say that this year has been a whirlwind of awesome.  Your career as a Chef is flourishing and you deserve every accolade you get.  You are by far the hard working man I have ever met.  And the fact that your family is makes up your drive is even more impressive.  Congratulations an all of your accolades in the press including the most recent one of Best Chef in the Cleveland Scene Best of Cleveland issue.  You deserve it.

Above all though, conratulations on becoming a man who I and many others have so much respect for.  You inspire the people who surround you to be better people, better employees, better chef, better friends, better wives, better mother, better friends, and better people all around.  Hell take me for example.  I am actually nice now.  Well…for the most part.

You are a best Chef.  You are the Best Chef.  But more importantly you are the best man.  The best father.  The best husband.  The best boss (remember I’ve seen you in action).   The best friend.  You are however, NOT, the best motorcycle rider driver.  Which is why you don’t have a motorcycle.  Obviously.

Love you more,

Wifey

 

 

Biggie Smalls, no longer small, pulls on my leg like she wants a pony

 

In honor of my favorite rockstar mom bloggers’ impending birth of her baby girl, I am participating in her online co-baby shower that she is sharing with another very cool ma’s blogger.  The task at hand for the Mo’ Baby Mo’ Baby Mo’ Baby shower is to write about the early days of mommyhood and babyhood.  A bit of a hard task for this moms as her baby girl will be turning the big ONE YEAR OLD on October 30th however any chance to write about Louisiana’s first days is always a welcome one.

The early days of Biggie Smalls life were so different than the early days of Catcher’s.  Because she was our second we kind of felt like we had a grasp on the whole parenting thing.  We were obviously drunk….(with excitement of course!)

Biggie came into this world and immediately went for the boob.  Seriously she popped out, the nurse wiped her off, the Chef held her, and the she was given to me.  She looked into my eyes with her big blues and nuzzled into my chest for the boob.  She immediately latched on and began to eat.  I was in shock.  And I think everyone else in the room was as well.  Catcher took almost two days to start nursing and this crazy girl latched on within the first five minutes of her life.  And that was it.  She had declared herself an eater. And eat she did.

My baby girl had fiery red hair (a full head) and a superwoman personality from day one.   She amazed me with every day.  It was easier in those first few months than Catcher had been.  Louisiana was picture perfect. She looked like a doll, she slept all night by month one, and she ate like my boobs could dry up at any second.  She even managed to amuse Catcher, something I had feared would not happen throughout my pregnancy.  She lit up (and still does) the Chef’s eyes every time he saw her, and most important, she made us the family we were always meant to be. {insert cheese here}  

My Biggie Smalls is about to be 1 on Devil’s Night.  Which is pretty bad ass in itself.  Bad ass birthday for a bad ass chicka.  I can’t believe how time flies with the second baby.  Catcher’s first year of his life was looooooooong.  Her first year was gone in 5.5 seconds.  Crazy.  C’est La Vie.

Happy Baby Shower Ladies!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chef, The Boy, Biggie Smalls, The Godfather, & The Booey

 

Dear WingZ,

I am not quite sure how we ended up spending an afternoon together but we did.  Your menu and bar were both large and overwhelming and void of any sustenance.  After moments of deliberation of which processed/ or genetically modified food would suffice I decided on the Macho Nachoz.  I look back now and wonder WHY God WHY?

My friend foe WingZ…I must inform you.  Nacho’s, spelled with a Z or an S should not come out of a can. Never. Ever.  Nachos are also made with vegetables like lettuce and tomato’s.  S or Z aside, they are made up of more than just canned beef and shredded cheese.  Leave it to Uncle M to lead us to the only place in the world that buys their beef canned.  Three days later and oh my!  I’ll leave it at that.

Love

CW

 

Let the fighting begin!  Thanks Radiohead.

The Chef & I have had a rough month of August.  It all began with a ridiculously awful fight (that was completely the Chef’s fault) at Radiohead and seemed to spiral out of control from there.  Let’s just say that the Chef was a Creep.  Insert groan here.  

We have had tough times before especially pre-Catcher and a little after Catcher’s birth.  It was a bit hard to go from NYC Chef & NYC Nightclubbing Chick to Mommy & Daddy.  But we did it and it worked immensely well for us.  The Chef opened my eyes to what a great parent was even before our babies were born.  And from there we morphed into the family that we as cherish everyday.  Plus we  I stopped staying out till 7am and that really helped too.

From that point we have gone through some shit.  We got taken for a grand on our honeymoon (Thanks Newark-I fucking hate you).  Our apartment in Brooklyn caught on fire while the boy and I were at home.  Our renter’s trashed our house in the CLE.  We have moved three times in the past years.  We have gone from ZERO debt to $12,000 debt in one year.  And so on and so on…

But that shit doesn’t matter.  We will always have hard times.  There will always be fights.  I will drink too much vodka and say something stoopid.  He will drink too much Bourbon and I will hate dislike him for 24 hours.  He’ll giveaway appliances and I’ll buy new ones.  We will most definitely have parenting issues.  We will battle the role that toy guns have in our household.  I will always yell at him while driving and he will never pay attention to the road for more than two seconds at a time.  He will ALWAYS have a fucked up schedule.  I will always get pissed about said schedule.  But….duh duh duh…he will always be the man I love and the man I chose to spend the rest of my life with.  He is the man that my kids call dad and I melt a little each time I hear it.  No matter how strssed out he is I will still love him (even though I may want to seriously cut off his hand).

Marriage is hard.  And this month of marriage was a test for us.  It’s only going to get harder from here on out.  He is only going to get busier.  I too am getting busier with the kiddies, school, and my writing.  But no matter how busy we must talk to each other or some shit will go down like last month.  And that’s was no good.  

This what relaxation looks like.  Take a long look cause that’s our ration for 2008.

 

As you may be able to tell I am kind of crushing on the Chef today.  We had our two year anniversary (church wedding that is)last Tuesday  and I super surprised the Chef.  I arrange his days to get get switched around and then I secretely planned an overnighter at a local spa (that I wasn’t that impressed with).  I went to the restaurant on Saturday eve and his crew shoved him out the door and told him that the night was covered.  I was kind of worried that he would lose his shit seeing as he NEVER takes Saturday off but I think he was stoked.  He had no idea where we were going and kept guessing Cedar Point.  When we got to the spa I think he was happily surprised especially when he heard about the massages and the manicure and the super private grotto.  We did our treatments, ate some foods, drank some wines, and decided to go see The Dark Knight.  Both of us had wanted to see the film, especially because of Heath, however we just never had the time.

The Dark Knight was ok.  Kind of long.  But that Heath Ledger.  Oh man Oh man.  He could act.  His poor baby girl.  I see a posthumous Oscar in his the future.  He was insanely phenomenal.  

My iPhone addiction is quite out of control.  The Chef wanted to kill my ass as I was trying to get the perfect shot of The Joker.  Which I think I did.

After the movie we went back to the hotel ready to drink some really fantastic Champagne and take a giant bubble bath.  We did the bath.  And then we crashed.  Next thing I knew it was 7am.  Because that’s what happens when Chef’s go on an overnighter.  They fall asleep by 11.  And that’s ok because they need the rest.  Especially mine.  

We had a great and very much needed night.  We were able to put all our bullshit on the table and work it out.   It was amazing and fun and healing and I absolutely love that about us.  No matter how thick the sludge gets we still manage to put aside our issues and talk.  Sounds corny but it works and it makes me feel like I am in a brand spankin’ new relationship.

In some very cool Chef Crushin’ news, my Chef won a contest (that I entered him in).  The girls over at Chef Crush had a contest to find the two most adorable Chefs in the USA.  And that handsomely adorable chef of mine WON!  All you Chef’s out there who read this blog and know him MUST tease him incessantly about how ADORABLE he is!  Seriously though, the girls at Chef Crush are pretty cool and if you know of any handsome fellas or chicka’s who get their cooking on you should nominate them.  Good exposure for the Chef’s and totally fun for the rest of us!

Happy Monday Bitches.

The Widow Family Avatarded

I know these were the rage a few weeks ago but I just had to do something to take my mind off of the never changing same story fear mongering GOP.

The Chef, Biggie Smalls, & I lounge in Sandusky

This week has been a tsunami.  Sunday started the week with a bang.  The Chef & I worked a wedding party at Cento and about halfway through the Chef came down with a super virus.  When we got home (@ 4am) he was a wreck.  Monday morning rolled around and I let him sleep and picked up the kids to get ready to head up to the lakes (aka Sandusky).  When I got the kids, they were also sickies.  We decided to still head up to the lakes to hang with my family.  The Chef ended up sleeping for the day and the boy learned how to fish in between bouts of sickness and crankiness.  Biggie Smalls was generally angry the entire day although she did perk up when dinner was served.  Sickness or not my girl loves to eat.

Catcher fishes.                                                              Louisiana eats.

 

We drove home and everyone went to sleep before 10pm.  Something that rarely happens in the widow household.  I woke up at 5am for my 5.45am Boot Camp Class.  That’s right friends I am a nutcase.  The girl who never works out signed up for a class at 5.45am, two days a week.  Much to my surprise the class was fantastic and I was strangely energized.  After boot camp I raced home to get ready for the Young 3’s orientation at Catcher’s new school.  When I got home I found my family in shambles.  All three were miserable, coughing, sweating, and being grumpy asses.  I immediately called our Doc and made an appointment for the three of them to go while I was at orientation.  The Chef was none too happy about having to cart the kids and his sick ass to the doc’s but what can you do?  It happens and action needed to be taken.  Welcome to my world Chef.

I got back from orientation and the Chef let me know that all three of them had ear infections and a virus.  Yippee!!!  Happy Anniversary to me (Tuesday was our 2 yr church anno)!! The kids and I headed to Border’s, bought the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a personal fave) and went home to snuggle and watch Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael kick some foot solider ass.

 

Happiness Is…

Wednesday, the kids still under the weather, was the first day of school for my boy.  The family packed into the Prius and headed south towards the valley.  The drop off was a bit emotional but my pride overcame any tears that I thought I would shed.  Catcher was so grown up about it and seemed genuinely happy to be there.  

His program is only three hours so the Chef, Biggie, and I went to Mustard Seed for some groceries and then drove around the valley looking at bad ass houses that we can’t afford.  We picked up the boy who was super HAPPY to see all of us and headed home for some much needed family time.  We played and ate and sang and climbed until I had to go downtown for my LEED class.  The kids seemed to be feeling better and the Chef actually had a little color back in his face.  Whew!

Celebrity Stylist D & J get down and dirty on Ev & Aren

After my class I headed home to get ready for our Wednesday night Haircutting party.  Some friends and stylist friends stopped by to drink wine, play with the kids, and cut hair.  Not in that order of course.  At 10pm we watched the Chef & the Iron Chef rock out Seder Supper on the new episode of Dinner Impossible.  If you missed it you should definitely check it out.  Totally great and entertaining.  The show is a HIT!  The Chef in a Yamika really does it for me:)

Yes I am totally THAT GIRL  You know the one who pauses TIVO to take a picture of her Chef on TV

This morning my ass was back in Boot Camp @ 5.45am.  I even had the privelege of finding out my fat:muscle ratio.  And it was awesome.  HA! I wanted to kil myself.  

5am gave me my fat ratio but it also gave me this beautiful sunrise

The Chef took the boy to school and Biggie & I snuggled with Potato & Vito.  After some much needed girl time we headed down to get the boy.  He was a little off and still kind of sickly.  I think today may have been a tougher day for him at school.

So basicaly my week was filled with the sickness, a wedding anniversary, a first day of school, 5 am boot camp, lno sleep, good friends, and some awesome Cantillon.  Can’t wait to see wha’s in store for next week!

Remember how we were celebrating last week?  Well this is why…

The Chef was honored with the title of Best New Restaurant for this month’s Northern Ohio Live.  He also received honors in 5 other categories: Best Pizza, Best Bar, Best Appetizer, Best Chef, Best Late Night Dining.

I am so so so so so so so proud of him. I just went to Borders and bought them out with tears streaming down my face.  Shit I’ve got tears streaming down my face right now.

He is such an amazing man.  Everything he does, his 15 hour days, his time away from us, it’s all worth it when something like this comes out.  He deserves every bit of it.  He works hard, he makes amazing food, he’s passionate, and he cares so much about the industry and the chefs in our fantastic culinary scene in the Cleve.  I absolutely adore him.

Everyday I am able to hang out with the two greatest people I have ever known. Lately the fun factor has been supercharged. Catcher is growing both physically and mentally. The boy is like an elephant, he never forgets. His words make him sound like a ten year old. His ability to imagine inspires me. I find myself playing make believe and being transported to a time when I ran through the woods in search of fairies and wood nymphs. We have picnics now in our backyard. With real food and sometimes with pretend food. Either one, my heart and life is full. I can look into his eyes and know completely that I was destined to be his mother. Louisiana confirms this fact even more. With her appetizing smile and chunk legs I can’t seem to put her down. She is an amazing little chiquita and I cannot believe that she is this close to crawling. She is an active little monster who is in love with rice cakes. Not that you could blame her. She never stops smiling and her hair is the color of fire. She is lovely.

I must have done something right in my previous life.

My family kicks ass in every way. My kids are beautiful, and smart, insane, and hilarious. The chef makes me laugh and loves me even though I am a maniac. My dogs make me smile constantly, even when they are being mischievous.

I am a blessed woman.

Our friend Mike Symon just announced that he is taking over the Food Network show Dinner Impossible.  And guess what?  My chef is gonna be on a few episodes.  They start filming over the next two months and his schedule is now becoming really insane.  I am so excited and I know he is totally stoked.  Yay!  Go Cleveland Chefs!!

Mike better watch out for me because while he is away filming I am gonna go hang out with his wife, drink lots of wine, and kidnap his new  bulldog Ozzy: