Letter to Erin 20151209

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

Let me repeat myself regarding this matter, because it's important.  So you are super busy nowadays, but you must not miss your sleep.  Beauty sleep.  You will find that sleep doesn't coincide with free time.  Don't take drugs to stay awake or fall asleep.  Take as many naps as possible.  Don't force yourself to nap, but take a nap when you get drowsy.  Who cares what people think, trust what you feel.  Excuse yourself, find a chair, close your eyes, and dream.  Don't try to sleep first, go straight into the dream.  Say to people, "I've been working all the time lately so I'm a bit drowsy right now.  Please excuse me while I take a short nap."  I'll have to admit that it irritates me that people expect you to work and work and work without considering whether you or not you are weary.  I want you to take good care of yourself, because I love you and I need you.

I made a couple of pizzas for my parents today for their wedding anniversary.  Making a pizza at home takes much longer than on a pizza line in a restaurant.  The most important part of the pizza is the crust.  I had a good batch of dough, already portioned into tortillas, so each dough ball would make a good 8" pizza crust.  First I had to cook it on a flat pan to keep its shape, then I deep fry it to give it texture and color.  Then I put the sauce and toppings.  Today it's home made halal beef sausage and chopped basil, so I had to bake the pizza once to cook the sausage.  Don't precook the meat!  It has to cook on the pizza for it to taste awesome.  It's the grease oozing out on the bread that's tasty.  When that's done, then the cheese goes on.  This is because I'm only budgeted for sliced cheese.  Bake the pizza again, only to melt the cheese.  Cheese is important of course, but what to do when the cheese is cheap?  At least the pizza tastes good.  Alhamdulillah.