[Nfbwv-talk] Master Chef

keri wvucountrygirl729 at gmail.com
Fri Oct 19 03:24:06 UTC 2012


happy birthday ED!
keri

"Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to 
say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak 
my heart."
--Robert Sexton

"For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there 
is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to 
receive it."
--Ivan Panin

Find that guy that will pick up every piece of your shattered heart & put it 
back together; Replacing it with a piece of his.

"there is a moment when all hope disappears, all pride is gone, all 
expectation, all faith all desire. I own that moment. It belongs to me." 
Michael Robotham
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karen McDonald" <karen at eioproductions.com>
To: "NFB of West Virginia Discussion List" <nfbwv-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 10:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbwv-talk] Master Chef


> Bre, I sure hope he enjoys it.  The cake I will make tomorrow will be one 
> I haven't tried but it looked good and it's easy but most important, I 
> have everything I need to make it, (smile.)
> Karen
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bre Brown <bre.brown24 at gmail.com
> To: NFB of West Virginia Discussion List <nfbwv-talk at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:30:21 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Nfbwv-talk] Master Chef
>
> First, happy birthday toEd.  I am sure he will enjoy his meal.
>
> I will take my steak done.
>
> It feels so good to be able to cook in the kitchen as a blind person.
>
> Bre
>
> On 10/17/12, Smyth, Charlene R <Charlene.R.Smyth at wv.gov> wrote:
> Feature Writer Alena Roberts - Interview with the Winner of Master Chef,
>
>
> Christine Ha
>
>
>
> I recently had the privilege of interviewing Christine Ha, the visually
>
> impaired winner of this year's Master Chef contest.  She was a pleasure
> to
>
> speak with and I hope that my questions shed a little more light on who
>
> Christine is and how we can learn from her example.  My questions below
> will
>
> start with the letter "A" and her answers will start with the letter
> "C."
>
>
>
> A: I know our readers would really appreciate some tips.  I myself am not
> a
>
> good cook, but I know a lot of us are.  Do you have some simple things I
> could
>
> write up on how we can feel safer in the kitchen and how we might be
> able to
>
> expand on our potentially simple dishes?
>
>
>
> C: Sure, there are some things I can come up with off the top of my
> head, and
>
> this is not just for visually impaired cooks.  I think it's really
> important to
>
> have sharp knives.  Spend some money on a good sharpening block.  Often
> times
>
> our knife sets come with that tool, it's actually a honing tool, that
> people
>
> think is a knife sharpener.  That tool is actually for honing after you
> sharpen
>
> the knife to get metal bits off.  The reason why it's so important to
> have a
>
> sharp knife is so you don't have to use as much pressure.  It's much
> easier to
>
> cut things and the slice is cleaner.  When you're slicing and using less
>
> pressure, there is less danger of the knife sliding out of your hand and
>
>
> causing injury.  So, contrary to what you might think, a dull knife is
> more
>
> likely to injure you then a sharp knife.
>
>
>
> Organization, I think, is also key.  I think that most vision impaired
> people
>
> know the importance of organization since that's one of the ways you
> gain
>
> independence.  So in the kitchen, being organized is also part of gaining
>
>
> independence.  Hopefully the people you live with will be respectful of
> your
>
> need for organization and put knives back where they found them, spices
> back
>
> where they found them, and other gadgets back where they found them.  I
> think
>
> that this is key to being a successful cook when you're a visually
> impaired
>
> person.
>
>
>
> For those who want to start expanding on their cooking it's important to
> note
>
> that I am pretty much self taught.  I started cooking from cookbooks.  I
> would
>
> read recipes straight through and follow them to the T.  So once you
> learn how
>
> to follow a recipe and understand certain techniques and how things will
> turn
>
> out, then you kind of start understanding the science behind it.  I think
> you
>
> should then start venturing out.  For example you can take a recipe and
> start
>
> adding different spices and playing with the ingredients and being more
>
> experimental.  Once you're confident in turning a recipe that's already
>
> established into something that's more like your own, then you could
> step up
>
> to doing something like we did on the show with mystery boxes where you
> just
>
> mix up things that are in season or gather what looks good at the
> grocery
>
> store and then just come up with something.  That is something that
> definitely
>
> takes time and the desire to learn such a skill, but I think if you
> learn
>
> flavor profiles, what goes well with what, I think that helps with
> cooking.
>
> Sooner or later you got to let go of that cookbook.  There's going to be
> a lot
>
> of trial and error, a lot of bad food, but you've got to spread your
> wings and
>
> let go.
>
>
>
> A: I know that a lot of visually impaired cooks are fearful of
> under-cooking
>
> meat.  I myself have turned to using the crock pot as a way of ensuring
> that
>
> the meat is done, but there are only so many things you can cook in your
> crock
>
> pot.  I also don't want to overcook my meat.  Some might say that you just
> cook
>
> it long enough to make sure it doesn't hurt you, but then it might not
> taste
>
> good because it's overcooked.  So what do you do to ensure that you're
> meat is
>
> cooked properly?
>
>
>
> C: I myself have no problem with tasting my food as I cook it.  If it's
> raw
>
> then I'll spit it out and continue cooking.  It's important to use
>
> thermometers, especially when cooking meat.  I myself use talking
> thermometers
>
> in my kitchen.  When you're cooking steak, a rack of lamb, or other
> meats, it
>
> comes down to the temperature when you're determining if it's rare,
> medium
>
> rare, or well done.
>
>
>
> A: Are there things you avoid when cooking, or is everything fair game?
>
>
>
> C: There are definitely things I tend to avoid cooking at home just
> because
>
> it's messy or requires a lot of precision.  For instance, I'm not a big
> fan of
>
> seafood.  I will scale a fish if I have to, but I would prefer not to.
> When I
>
> was on Master Chef, though, I was open to everything.
>
>
>
> A: What was the overall reaction from your fellow contestants when they
>
> learned you were visually impaired? I know that I saw a number of
> episodes
>
> where there was a lot of negativity and bitterness.  I realize that this
> is
>
> reality television and that there's an editing process, but I'm curious,
> was
>
> there any point where you said to yourself that you weren't sure you
> could
>
> deal with the attitudes?
>
>
>
> C: I wasn't taken seriously at the beginning when there were still 100
> of us.
>
> I was come up to and asked things like, "Do you use a knife?" A lot of
> people
>
> thought I was going to stand on the sidelines and tell a sighted person
> how to
>
> make the food.  As the competition continued it got better, though.  I was
> often
>
> picked last for the challenges, which makes sense from the other
> contestants'
>
> point of view.  When this happened, though, I did my best to prove to
> myself
>
> and the other contestants that I wasn't a disadvantage to their team--I
> just
>
> had to do things a little differently.  I felt like I had to give my 200
>
> percent in comparison to the other contestants, but all in all I'm good
>
> friends with many of the contestants on the show and I have never felt
> pure
>
> negativity directed at me personally.
>
>
>
> A: Now that you've won the competition do you have any plans for your
>
> winnings?
>
>
>
> C: Since part of winning the competition is getting my own cookbook, I'm
>
>
> working on that.  As a writer I'm excited about the writing process and
> the
>
> narrative of the book.  I'm also gathering recipes that I want to
> include.
>
> Outside of that, I'm trying to finish my masters program since my other
> love
>
> is literature.  I'm working on my memoir.  My memoir won't focus on
> cooking, but
>
> rather dealing with my vision loss and my medical condition.  I'm also
> planning
>
> to write up a formal business plan to present to investors.  My hope is
> to open
>
> a gastro pub and an ice-cream shop in Houston where I live.
>
>
>
> We wish Christine the best of luck as she moves forward with her new
>
> endeavors.
>
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