5 Important Lessons I’ve Learned Since Becoming a Mom

September 18, 2014

1. Ask for help. Especially in those first few months, finding time to do anything at all except hold, sooth, and feed my child seemed like an impossible feat. Some days even the most basic human tasks like eating a meal or taking a shower were beyond my capabilities. Enlisting help from friends and family made a huge difference. But remember: People can’t read your mind or anticipate…

Gail Simmons is Momtastic's September Guest Editor. Gail is a trained culinary expert and judge on BRAVO's Emmy-winning series “Top Chef,” as well as head critic on “Top Chef Masters.” She’s also a judge on season three of CBC’s “Recipes to Riches,” a competition-style reality series featuring amateur Canadian cooks, as well as co-host of “The Feed,” an inventive series that’s part road show, part buddy comedy and part talk show on FYI, A+E’s new lifestyle network. Additionally, Gail is the author of Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater (Hyperion, February 2012), and she’s contributed to such cookbooks as It Must’ve Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten, Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City, and The New American Chef by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Gail moved to New York City in 1999 to attend the Institute of Culinary Education; she later trained in the kitchens of the famed Le Cirque 2000 and Vong restaurants. The new mom lives in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, with her husband Jeremy and eight-month-old daughter Dahlia Rae.