Q and A: Answering the questions you asked from Instagram

I asked the question on my Instagram story what topics you guys would like to discuss and some interesting questions came up. You asked : What is my favorite things to paint? What is it like to relocate from New York to Italy? What is my favorite food so far in Italy? What it is like to be married to a chef? How does a artist and a chef make their relationship work? With follow up questions in regards to their hours, do I feel lonely being married to chef ? Have I gained a ton of weight while eating his food all the time, and you asked me what is it like to cook for a chef. Then last but not least you asked me what astrology sign I am, both sun and moon. I was really thinking subjects pertaining to world topics or art and was shocked to see the questions were of a more personal manner. lol In this post I will do my best to answer each of your questions to the best of my ability.

Question #1 : What is my favorite things to paint?

As of now my all time favorite thing to paint are hands. I love how hands gestures can express different cultures and moods. I like how hands reveal alot about a person such as their real age, their job they do everyday and even emotions. Hands can be very telling about an individual and show things that they may not even want to say out loud.

Question #2 : What is it like relocating from New york City to Italy?

As soon as the panic of relocating hit me and I had a full out break down in the most spectacular manner while in the airport, I knew I had made the right decision. lol It’s all about stepping out of the comfort zone, but that sounds easier then it actually is. I wasn’t planning on relocating to Italy, Sure I wanted to visit and see the sites. But to just pack up what I wanted to bring in a suitcase and relocate, I had never even imagined this possibility.

Needless to say I was not fully prepared. I did not know the Italian language, or the culture. At first everything was new and exciting and then the reality hit me. I can’t communicate with anyone except a few english speaking people. It is super frustrating because no one can know how funny or smart you actually are. I felt and still feel like a 4 year old child trying to communicate what I am thinking or feeling in Italian, but each day I study I get better and Rome wasn’t built in one day. So I try to practice being patient with myself.

All in all I truly love it here, I love the history behind each building and city. I love the people for the most part everyone is pretty chill and nice. A stark contrast to New York City. The food is EVERYTHING, I have never eaten such good food, Their coffee hands down is the best I have ever tasted. Their bread should be sang about in songs. lol Their seas are the most beautiful colors of blue one can imagine. The birds here are very vocal it’s like living in the jungle. The crazy thing is that they don’t have squirrels. I’ve been told that they have them in the mountains but I have yet to see one. I have learned the glorious joy of nap time. lol It is the perfect thing to do after you eat lunch. One of my favorite things is the art and the architecture. I mean it is every where you look basically. My ultimate favorite thing here in Italy has been how much people here respect their elders and love their families.

Question #3 : What is my favorite foods here in Italy?

I am a foodie and I have only eaten one thing that I don’t like here. Honestly I don’t like it anywhere and that’s LIVER. I eat my mother in laws food mostly and when my husband is not working I eat his food as well. She is a master mind in the kitchen and I can easily see where my husband gets his cooking skills from. The Focaccia here is something out of this world amazing, the cheeses you can’t stop eating, minestrone here is the real deal, their pizza here is not like American pizza it is both delicate and crunchy with a punch of flavors. Tomatoes here you can eat like an apple they are so good. And last but not least is my father in laws prosciutto that he makes himself. It is so good with some focaccia. These are just a few of my favorites

Question #4 : What is it like to be married to a chef?

First let me say this… being proud of my husband and his accomplishments is somewhat of an understatement. He is by far the hardest working person I have ever met. He can just work and work and work and even when he is tired he will still work and work some more. It blows my mind! He is always putting in extra efforts and putting in long hours to be sure everything is running smoothly in the kitchen. Always problem solving things that would make me rip out my hair. He deals with so much stuff all the time I am surprised that he holds his shit together as well as he does. But he does it and he makes it look relatively easy.

One of the things that I love about his job is that he is in many ways a creative artist, always creating and always willing to mix it up by trying out new ideas. He looks sexy in his chef jacket and he has introduced me to a whole new world of flavors. Before I met him I can honestly say that I just ate food to get fuel to live. Now I eat food to savor the flavors of the different foods. His food in particular is something out of this world amazing, but his Moms food is Top. In some ways she is the original chef of the family.

In a nutshell for the most part it is pretty awesome. He has introduced me to foods that I litterally would have never even thought to try if left to my own devices. I get to travel with him occasionally and that is pretty cool. His food is amazing and I get to taste test most of it. When he is home he cooks the most delicious foods without me even having to ask. I view restaurant staff with admiration, I always knew they were hard working but the sheer amount of BS that they out up with gave me a new and healthy respect for then. Some of what I have witnessed or heard by the staff would have made me loose my cool immediatly. This is how I can honestly say that I now fully realise that I am absolutely not cut out to be a waiter. They are all super strong to do the jobs that they do and all the while smile for the guests.

Question #5 : What are his hours and days off?

This question is complicated because in general it depends on the season and if there are holidays. He can easily work 6 or 7 days a week and on average usually 12 to 15 hours a day. Way too many hours for me. I would cry if I had his schedule. I honestly don’t know how he does it.

Question #6 : How does an artist and a chef make their relationship work?

Ok so I can’t speak for every artist or every chef, but for us we don’t “make” it work, it just does work. I can sum it up like this…as an artist we tend to obsess over our work, so does he as a chef. As an artist I can get so wrapped up in my work that I can forget to eat and the hours just pass by without me even knowing. It is the same for him as a chef. So it is easy for me to understand if he doesn’t call me all day because they are super busy or if he had a really long hard day and comes home and falls asleep fast.

We have alot in common and this helps as well .We can talk for hours about what we created or are going to create on canvas and in the kitchen. We both have a healthy respect for each other and our crafts. As creative people we are intuitive and aesthetically aware, we are mind full and soft. We have built something beautiful and bright together. We understand each other even our most difficult parts of ourselves.

Question #7 : Do I get lonely?

Lonely no not at all, but this is simply because I’ am an introvert who truly doesn’t mind spending time alone. Even when I have been alone for days at a time I don’t get lonely. I have too many things I can do and I can amuse myself easily. As well as his family is everything pure and good in this world so if I do find myself with a tinge of feeling lonely , I can easily spend time with them. Do I miss him when he is away so much? Yes, I do but this is different than feeling lonely. In some ways though I think it is ok because when we are together we have so much to talk about and catch up on. We don’t get tired of each other which for me is something unheard of. I get tired of everyone, even myself. lol

But as the saying goes…” Every rose has it’s thorns.” It’s like this, if you are not ok with being alone 75% of the time I would say to you in in a very big sister type of way, RUN. Because it takes a certain tenacity to be married to a chef. You have to be ok with doing things by yourself most of the time. You have to be ok with sleeping alone when they are traveling. You have to be ok with the long hours that they work and understand that when they are home they are usually so exhausted for the first few days that all you can do is just give them time to rest and recover. You have to be ok that even when they are home they are still on their phones dealing with work issues. You have to in general be an independent type of person who has a great deal of understanding.

Question # 8 : How do I not gain a ton of weight being married to a chef?

In all honesty between his cooking and his mom’s cooking I have gained weight. This is the reason I have been working on getting back on track with working out. Being consistant with my work outs will hopefully help me out . I don’t care to be skinny, but I do want to be healthier.

Question # 9 : What is it like to cook for a chef?

By the time he gets home from work he is so desperate for any food that doesn’t come from the restaurant that he will eat just about anything. lol …Is my cooking as good as his absolutely not. However I think he appreciates it just because he didn’t have to cook it himself after a long day of cooking for everyone else.

Question # 10 : What is my astrology sign for both sun and moon?

As many of you guessed correctly I’am indeed an Aquarius sun. I was a little bit shocked that so many of you asked this question as well as responded to each other with such accuracy. Is it that obviouse? lol My moon is in Leo and apparently most of my astrological chart is in Leo as well. Fun fact: My husband is also an Aquarius. lol In his chart he has mostly Aquarius so in essence we are the same yet polar opposites.

Thanks for taking the time to ask these questions and I hope I have answered them well enough for you guys. Thanks for reading my posts and leaving your sweet comments. I appreciate the emails and all the interaction with you all. When I first started this blog I didn’t imagine recieving so much love and support from you all and I just wanted to let you know how much I deeply appreciate it.