We can't remember what we had for dinner last Sunday, but we are sure it was good. We usually have something that can be made quickly because we get home from church between 1:00 and 2:30, and then we head back to the church for 5:30 so we can teach a mission preparation class. Last Sunday, we had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Ramamurthy Branch after our mission preparation class to say good-bye to Sister Pratheema Mathialagan. Usually, the settings apart and departures are on a Wednesday, but Sister Mathialagan's MTC began on January 21. She was called to the Canada Vancouver Mission, so she will be attending the Provo MTC. We enjoyed being at her setting apart. Elder Tiefenbach had the privilege of assisting with that setting apart. It reminded us of our own setting apart, and it brought back good memories. Watching her say good-bye to her family members also reminded us of the great difficulty we had as we said good-bye to our family. Leaving is exciting, yet it is painful to say good-bye.
We made a wonderful oriental chicken dish made with pineapple on Monday, but we didn't take a picture, so you will have to use your imagination about how it looked. We had no leftovers from that meal. On Tuesday, we made pizza. It was so good! We had gone shopping in Indiranagar the previous Saturday, so we were able to get some smoked turkey breast meat for sandwiches and for making pizza (we haven't found any place that sells luncheon meats near our new apartment). We made two pizzas like this one. We had pizza for supper (dinner) on Tuesday and for three lunches during the week.
Spaghetti was on the menu for Wednesday night. Of course, we made LOTS of it. After one more feast from it on Thursday, we froze the leftovers for meals next week. We had a lot of dishes to do after making the spaghetti. Mind you, the breakfast dishes were included in this pile of dishes. As you can see, we still use the basins that we used in the Indiranagar apartment for doing the dishes. One basin has hot soapy water with bleach in it (the one in the sink), and the other basin has purified water in it for rinsing the dishes. On days like this, we think fondly of our dishwasher at home in Canada.
We were invited out to our first dinner appointment in Bangalore for Friday. We went to the home of Saji and Reggi Isaac and their two daughters. Brother Isaac is not in the picture because he is taking the picture. Sister Reggi made pineapple rice (with cashews), which was delicious. It is a food that is served in Kashmir. Apparently, the people in Kashmir use a lot of fruits and nuts in their cooking. The family is not from Kashmir, but she likes to serve other types of food in addition to the typical South Indian foods. We also had a crisp flat bread (coriroti- sp ?????), chicken curry, a beef curry, and a salad made from corn and pomegranate. Dessert was on orange jellied custard type of dish. It was good. Usually, when we go to someone's house for dinner or lunch, we are served the food, and everyone else watches us as we eat. This family sat around the dining room table and ate with us. It was refreshing to share a meal with the family. We had some wonderful conversations while we ate.
Before we went home, Sister Tiefenbach ,Sister Isaac, and Sister Isaac's daughters practiced a song that we were going to be singing with a few other members on Sunday. The Isaac women all have wonderful voices.
Saturday was our preparation day. In the morning, we went to the store that outside our apartment building to pick up a few groceries for the coming week's meals. One of the things we look forward to when we return home is being able to drive to a large grocery store and drive home with the groceries instead of having to carry them. We definitely get more exercise walking to and from the store, but taking the groceries from the car into the pantry is much easier.
This is a wonderful bird of paradise in full bloom. We still marvel that we are in India! Although the weather this winter has been a fair bit cooler than the winter we spent in Coimbatore, we can still enjoy the outdoors without heavy coats and the flowers in bloom. We have to love India for that!
As we were out and about on Saturday, we also saw a group of people with cameras. All the cameras were larger, more expensive ones, so we are assuming this was a photography class out fulfilling an assignment. We think their assignment was to take pictures of a moving vehicle. Watching them suddenly lift their camera up as a vehicle neared and seeing them follow the vehicle as it moved was interesting.
On Saturday, we were invited to Brother Kumar and Sister Usha's home for lunch. Brother Kumar's mother lives with them and their two daughters. They served us biryani, onion curd, mutton curry (Sister Tiefenbach did not eat that), and vada. Yes, vada! Now, that was good. We had gulab jamun for dessert. Sister Usha did not make the syrup as sweet as we have had it in the past, and we enjoyed her less sweetened version. 
Brother Kumar traded places with Elder Tiefenbach so Elder Tiefenbach could be in the picture. After our visit with the Kumar family, we went to the church for a song practice. After the song practice, we returned home. Neither one of us felt like eating much for supper, so we had - - ice cream with bananas, chocolate sauce, butterscotch sauce, and bananas. Later, we had popcorn and A&W rootbeer. How is that for a nutritious dinner????? Our children may be shocked that we would have such a dinner. We loved it!
Today, we gave talks in Sacrament meeting, and Sister Tiefenbach sang "Lead Kindly Light" with several sisters in the branch. President and Sister Berrett attended Whitefield Branch today. Interestingly, we seem to suddenly get a bit more nervous about giving our talks when we realize that the mission president is attending the meeting. We see him in the office almost everyday and interact with him, but for some reason, when he attends a meeting that we are participating in, we get a little more nervous. We ended our Sabbath meetings with the baptism of a 16-year-old young woman. This evening, we will return to the church to teach another missionary preparation class. We haven't decided what to have for our dinner tonight, but we suppose it should be something more grown up than ice cream and popcorn. Hmmm....... that is sounding more appealing as we think of it.
These tomatoes and bananas will eventually perish if we don't eat them within a short time period. This food is not permanent; it is temporary, even after we consume it. In contrast, Jacob speaks of that which does not perish as he invites us to "come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted" (2 Nephi 9:51). Alma also reminds us of the Savior's invitation and promise concerning the food which perisheth not: "Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely" (Alma 5:34).
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