It's been quite the week. Since last week, this would be our week to kinda kick back and relax (whilst going to work) since next week we are going to Sarah's family reunion. However, we both got sick this week, starting with me on which day? The Fourth of July! Well, I was actually sick on the third. I didn't really think anything of it, until I came home after taking Sarah to work and I was just feeling hot and cold and really weak and dizzy. The funny thing is is that we had signed up for the elders and sisters to come over for dinner, and since Sarah was working, I was going to host them. I had decided to make them breakfast for dinner: eggs, hash browns, sausage patties, and pancakes. I didn't have to work all day on Wednesday, because this week has been a weird scheduled week. Well, Sarah had the idea to have them come over and have them cook most of the dinner. That wasn't the only thing that needed to be done, as we had a pile of dishes to get washed too. I asked the Elders to give me a blessing after the dinner, but they came over a half an hour early to help me with those tasks. I started feeling better when they came over. But after the fact, I was depleted of energy. Anyways, we started with washing the dishes that mattered. We cleaned the yellow potatoes, which I later found out were bought for another use, and went at it. However, I messed up with the hash browns, and the turned out super nasty. I felt bad for Sister Rusk, who's task it was to make them, but she was redeemed with the pancakes she made, all the while filming for her own personal vlog. The dinner was nice, and we barely had time to eat it when they had to go...it literally took until 7 minutes before they had to go, when the dinner was finally ready and everything was clean. And even after all of that, we still had to clean THOSE dishes.
Wednesday night I was tossing and turning from bedtime til about 3AM. I got up thinking that the whole night was done, and when I saw that it was only 3, I was super taken aback. Sarah got up and talked to me, telling me things to feel better emotionally, physically and spiritually. It must have worked, because I slept til about 6 or 7am. Well, somehow we were blessed to both get the fourth off, so, Sarah stayed with me and pretty much nursed me back to health. She had arranged to get two new bar chairs, and a really nice rug from our Good Neighbor Jackie France, and while they brought them, they talked about a lot of things.
I opted to stay home from work that Friday, but by midday, I was feeling up to cleaning the home. Well, I spent about 2-3 hours cleaning the dishes, vacuuming, and picking up after ourselves. While doing the dishes, I was watching the history of different Songs on the TV while Spotify played them, as put on by a program called Genius. I spent a good portion of the day chatting with my sister, Briana, through the cell phone app called Marco Polo. It was actually quite nice, as Sarah was away working hard for us.
Sarah and I spent ALL day of the Fourth in the home, except, Sarah did leave to get me things to take care of myself. We watched 5 of the 8 episodes of the newly released season of Stranger Things. We finished the eighth episode last night, actually, to tears (at least by my part). I really, really enjoyed the season. It is an amazing series. The stories are so great. And it is great how it all comes together.
The cool thing is that the whole day that I got sick, is the day that we meal planned to cook a Peruvian soup called Aguadito. And boy, let me tell you, Sarah is Peruvian. Haha, it's true. Sarah is practically any race she wants to be with her cooking. We have dedicated this month to cooking signature Peruvian dishes, since July is also Peruvian Independence Day (28 de julio), and Sarah is taking all the recipes and handling them like a Pro. The Aguadito tasted Authentic. And the cool thing is that we had put it down for Thursday, and that was the day that I got sick. It was well planned. We aren't cooking Peruvian Dishes every day, but we spread them out so each week we cook about two, all culminating with a Party that we're planning on having on Peruvian Independence day at the end of this month. We have invited the President of our branch, and our friends the Santos, and we're planning on having Lomo Saltado, with some Peruvian dessert, called Maza Morra, unless Sarah decides to make it sometime before. We went to the Ranch Market this Monday, and we found Purple Corn, the ingredient that Chicha and Maza Morra is made out of. We also got ourselves some Aji Amarillo (yellow pepper paste), which is a signature spice/paste that they use in a majority of the most beloved of Peruvian culture.
She began the week by making Tallarin Saltado, which is one of my favorite dishes. It is basically a spaghetti type of meal with a particular sauce and pieces of meat. I have never known anyone else to make it except for a particular Peruvian Restaurant called Luchos in California. But somehow, Sarah was able to replicate it to perfection. It calls for something that I have never even heard of called Oyster Sauce. Anyways, Sarah is great! She also did a great job making another Peruvian dish called Papas a la Huancaina, even without some of the needed ingredients.
Well, like I said at the beginning of the letter, Sarah also got sick this week, probably from me. Saturday and a lot of today for her has been sick. She went home early from church, and I've been doing my best to nurse her back to health.
Lastly, we were able to go to the temple this week together to do Sealings. It was a very nice experience. We went during the day, which was actually the day I came home sick. But it was nice to be in the Lord's house. Sarah also got to go to the temple to do Endowments with the branch on Saturday morning. Silly thing, that was the day she got sick. There is probably no connection there, haha :P
Hope you all had a great week and until next week. It will find us in LA after going to central Cali to witness the baptism of Melanie Trefflich, Enoch and Sonia's daughter, and niece to Sarah and me.
Love you all,
John
