I first met my husband on MySpace. Yes, yes, I know. Hush.
At that time, I was usually getting 10-20 messages a week from random menfolk – some illiterate, some skanky, other proclaiming undying love. Very very rarely did I write back to any, and even more rarely were they worth my time when I did.
But when I got that first message from Jack, my now husband, there were two things that piqued my interest and caused me to respond. First, he went to the same high school as my brother and judging from his age, probably graduated around the same time. Second….he said he was a chef.
Um? Score!
We wrote back and forth for about a month before finally meeting in person for our first date. (Dinner at Henniger’s on Bank Street in Baltimore – a restaurant I highly recommend!). For our second date, he made me dinner. And as time went on, and we got more and more serious, I thought I was the luckiest girl around.
But……life with a chef isn’t all caviar and foie gras (not that foie gras is all it’s cracked up to be). I remember the first time I was in his apartment by myself, the first thing I did was open all his kitchen cabinets, his cupboards, refrigerator….and discover he had NO food…..and very little in the way of cookware and equpment. The man lived off of Beef-a-Roni, eaten straight from the can. Blech.
This should have been a warning. But still, I loved being able to go to the grocery store, pick up whatever looked good and be able to bring it home and have him create something. It reminded me of that old show on Food Network, remember that? Ready, Set Cook! Guest competing chefs were each given five items to work with. Something like that.
But as time went by, he pretty much stopped cooking at home. He cooked his heart out at work and never had the energy at the end of the day. I don’t complain too much because I enjoy cooking and whenever I go into his restaurant he’ll make whatever I want, even if it isn’t on the menu. So there are perks.
But the other downside is that he’s worked with so many chefs here in Baltimore and there are a few that he just can not stand. To the point that he will not go to their restaurants. And one of them, Cindy Wolf, is one of the best chefs working in Baltimore today, with one of the best restaurants, Charleston. And I’d love to visit Nancy Longo’s tapas joint. But, just not happening, not with him.
Gonna have to rally my girlfriends, that’s all.
