Standing Up, Moving Forward

He's always standing, this husband of mine.  The whole day, he never sits.  On the rare occasion he does grab a chair, one foot will stay firmly planted on the ground with the other ready to spring up at a moments notice.  That's just how he does it.  To him, it's normal.  Why sit when there's so much to be standing for?

He's always moving, this husband of mine.  Moving forward even more towards a positive outlook on life, on his relationships with others, and on everything around him; he never slows down.  I consider myself an optimist, but Bill takes optimism to a whole new level.  Today after we finished putting together the daily soups I glanced over to the stove and saw something boiling away.

Wait, we already had our soups for the day.  I had seen him finishing them up earlier.  Our menu technically only calls for one daily soup and as it was he had made three.  Was he really adding one more?

"Well, one of our regulars called earlier.  He's super sick," he said, "So I'm making him chicken soup.  I have a little extra time right now and it should help him feel better."

Always moving.

From 5am to 11am Bill has already put in a full day of work before the lunch hour even starts, and he's still pushing to do more.  He never stops.  And this inspires me for everything in my own life.  His love of what he does makes me work harder and push myself further without even realizing it.  He has such a passion for not only his job but for his life, which motivates all of us here at Melt to constantly work harder.  To be better.  It is a goal most people, including myself, consciously strive for for on a daily basis.  With Bill, it just is who he is.  Living this adventure together with him is something I don't ever take for granted as I watch him stand up and move forward in this business and in this life. Every day.

Food vs. Bill

Over the holiday I found out something very important about my husband, our chef, Bill. Something that I have been trying to find out for the past four years and have never been successful in finding. It wasn't what he is thankful for, what makes holidays special for him, or even his goals or aspirations in life. Nope. I finally found, after all these years, a food that Bill hates.

And this for me, is a first.

Before I tell you what it is, I should let you in on a little background about Bill's relationship with food. He loves it. I don't even know if there's a word to describe how much Bill loves food. He became a chef right out of college, finishing top of his class at culinary school, then cooking gourmet food around the world and in his 5-star restaurants for the next 20 some-odd years. When Bill and I first started dating I used to pick up his copy of The Food Lover's Companion (basically a dictionary of every food term in existence) and randomly flip to a page to quiz him on his food knowledge only to find out there was not one word he didn't know.

I quickly learned all of this about Bill at the beginning, and as our relationship grew I realized that his love of food didn't stop at 'gourmet'. Bill loved all food. Packaged food? Give him a bag of Cheetos and 20min later they're gone. Canned food? Well of course no other ravioli could compare to Chef Boyardee. Anything and everything. This is what brought me to my quest to find something that Bill didn't like. He had eaten fish eyes with natives in Bora Bora, turtle meat in Florida, Soursop (a vegetable) in Costa Rica, and loved it all. But still, for four years, I had been forced to settle on the fact that there wasn't anything edible that Bill didn't like.

That is, until this weekend. I found a food that Bill hates. Hates the thought of, hates the smell of and don't even mention how they taste. Personally, I could take them or leave them, but Bill? He despises this food product. Well, what is it??

Pizza Combos.