WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:02.863 (gentle music) 2 00:00:04.020 --> 00:00:06.180 Welcome to Hadley Presents. 3 00:00:06.180 --> 00:00:10.650 I'm your host, Ricky Enger, inviting you to sit back, relax, 4 00:00:10.650 --> 00:00:13.380 and enjoy a conversation with the experts. 5 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.860 In this episode, we discuss getting back into the kitchen 6 00:00:16.860 --> 00:00:18.180 after vision loss, 7 00:00:18.180 --> 00:00:20.700 and our guest is Chef Regina Mitchell. 8 00:00:20.700 --> 00:00:22.230 Welcome to the show, Regina. 9 00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:23.940 So glad to have you. 10 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:26.340 It's a indeed a pleasure to be here. 11 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:30.630 I am so excited to hear your story 12 00:00:30.630 --> 00:00:33.480 because I wouldn't say that I'm an amazing cook, 13 00:00:33.480 --> 00:00:36.300 but I learned a bit later in life 14 00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:39.330 and it's something that I've discovered 15 00:00:39.330 --> 00:00:43.200 that is a really enjoyable thing for me. 16 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.860 I get a lot of relaxation out of it. 17 00:00:46.860 --> 00:00:49.650 I get joy from feeding my family, 18 00:00:49.650 --> 00:00:52.110 and sometimes there's just something therapeutic 19 00:00:52.110 --> 00:00:54.270 about getting into the kitchen 20 00:00:54.270 --> 00:00:56.520 and doing a little experimenting. 21 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.060 So I am personally really looking forward 22 00:01:00.060 --> 00:01:04.770 to hearing your story and I know that others will as well. 23 00:01:04.770 --> 00:01:08.190 Why don't we start out by just talking a bit 24 00:01:08.190 --> 00:01:10.863 about who you are and what you do. 25 00:01:11.705 --> 00:01:14.820 I am a complicated, amazing woman 26 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:18.720 that has probably lived three lifetimes. 27 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:20.730 I can go back in my life 28 00:01:20.730 --> 00:01:24.240 and each of those segments amazes me 29 00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:27.450 that it's an amazing different chapter. 30 00:01:27.450 --> 00:01:32.010 Chapter one, I was born the oldest 31 00:01:32.010 --> 00:01:35.310 of four children to teenage parents 32 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:38.760 who were absolutely amazing parents. 33 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:43.754 But older in life, the twins, they were 14, 34 00:01:43.754 --> 00:01:45.750 I was just barely 15, 35 00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:49.350 and the youngest twin passed away, 36 00:01:49.350 --> 00:01:52.680 and he passed away from spinal meningitis, 37 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.620 which now is totally curable. 38 00:01:55.620 --> 00:01:59.490 And so my mother, of course, it just devastated her 39 00:01:59.490 --> 00:02:03.180 and she went into her room 40 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:06.240 and she didn't come out for quite some time. 41 00:02:06.240 --> 00:02:09.570 And so I stepped in as a older sister. 42 00:02:09.570 --> 00:02:13.380 I cooked, I cleaned, I got the kids, I even say now, 43 00:02:13.380 --> 00:02:15.930 kids ready for school. 44 00:02:15.930 --> 00:02:18.180 I did their lunches. We walked to school. 45 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:20.070 I helped them with their homework. 46 00:02:20.070 --> 00:02:21.600 The things that I didn't know, 47 00:02:21.600 --> 00:02:25.440 I called both of my grandparents, my grandmas, 48 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:27.450 and they guided me. 49 00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:31.020 And now growing older, I went to school 50 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:36.020 and I was a very lively, vibrant young girl. 51 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:40.320 I had so many activities to go to, cheer camps, 52 00:02:40.320 --> 00:02:43.020 and I was just all over the place. 53 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:48.020 And football games, basketball games, they called me Spirit. 54 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:50.910 That was my nickname on my letter jacket. 55 00:02:50.910 --> 00:02:53.910 And then growing, another lifetime, 56 00:02:53.910 --> 00:02:57.213 I met my husband in 1982-83, 57 00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:00.600 and we just fell in love. 58 00:03:00.600 --> 00:03:05.130 He asked me to marry him and I said, absolutely. 59 00:03:05.130 --> 00:03:06.600 We are living in Southern California. 60 00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:08.550 That's where I grew up. 61 00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:11.520 My husband was called to the ministry 62 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:16.320 and we decided to move to British Columbia, Canada. 63 00:03:16.320 --> 00:03:17.820 And then shortly after that, 64 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:21.746 I encountered a horrific situation 65 00:03:21.746 --> 00:03:25.053 that caused me depression, I would maybe say. 66 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:31.340 And then my husband said, "Okay, what are we gonna do?" 67 00:03:32.490 --> 00:03:35.130 And I decided to go to school 68 00:03:35.130 --> 00:03:38.407 and he said, "What do you wanna go to school for?" 69 00:03:38.407 --> 00:03:40.650 "I want to be a chef." 70 00:03:40.650 --> 00:03:45.060 And so he found an amazing culinary school for me to go to. 71 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:47.610 And so I found a school in Seattle, 72 00:03:47.610 --> 00:03:50.520 the Seattle Culinary Art Institute. 73 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:52.620 And that's where I went for two years. 74 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:55.274 My husband would visit me and we go back 75 00:03:55.274 --> 00:03:58.410 and forth from the British Columbia to Seattle. 76 00:03:58.410 --> 00:04:01.410 I graduated top of my class. 77 00:04:01.410 --> 00:04:03.930 And because of my accolades, 78 00:04:03.930 --> 00:04:07.470 I qualified for a British fellowship. 79 00:04:07.470 --> 00:04:10.860 And that was an 18 month fellowship, 80 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:15.860 which took me the first trip and stay was in Scotland 81 00:04:16.020 --> 00:04:21.020 and then to London, then there, Barcelona, Spain, 82 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:24.360 then Rome, Paris, 83 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:28.650 and then finished into Cannes at the film festival. 84 00:04:28.650 --> 00:04:30.900 And then back home 18 months later 85 00:04:30.900 --> 00:04:34.890 where I studied under more chefs. 86 00:04:34.890 --> 00:04:37.590 And then eventually had my own business 87 00:04:37.590 --> 00:04:42.590 where I did team buildings for Fortune 500 companies. 88 00:04:43.290 --> 00:04:47.610 And then from there, I had a few articles written about me, 89 00:04:47.610 --> 00:04:52.470 I believe that is where MGM Grand connected me. 90 00:04:52.470 --> 00:04:55.830 They called and asked if I was interested 91 00:04:55.830 --> 00:05:00.830 for a position at the MGM Grand Skylofts Hotel. 92 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:05.070 It's a boutique hotel, non-gaming for 93 00:05:05.070 --> 00:05:07.830 what they call global nomads. 94 00:05:07.830 --> 00:05:10.740 High-end clientele, as a butler, 95 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:12.960 which is personalized service, 96 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:17.960 which would include culinary skills, also wine, 97 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:20.430 food, knowledge, just everything 98 00:05:20.430 --> 00:05:23.220 that a global guest would want. 99 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:24.990 And I said, absolutely. 100 00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:28.470 I was one of almost 4,000 applicants. 101 00:05:28.470 --> 00:05:29.970 They were taking 16. 102 00:05:29.970 --> 00:05:34.770 And so I moved here. And so I worked at the MGM Grand. 103 00:05:34.770 --> 00:05:38.430 This is quite a story so far. 104 00:05:38.430 --> 00:05:43.430 And now we get to the part where it's a different chapter, 105 00:05:43.470 --> 00:05:48.180 I think, where you lost your vision. 106 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:50.610 And as much as you're comfortable with, 107 00:05:50.610 --> 00:05:52.920 talk about how that happened. 108 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:56.160 Was it a sudden thing? Was it happening slowly? 109 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:58.050 How did that come about? 110 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:02.730 When I came, when I moved here to Las Vegas area, 111 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:05.790 I started working at the hotel and I was fine. 112 00:06:05.790 --> 00:06:07.680 I was very healthy. 113 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:12.680 The woman that trained us actually trains the royal staff. 114 00:06:12.990 --> 00:06:17.640 And so she trained us on everything, even how to walk, 115 00:06:17.640 --> 00:06:22.020 how to pack, unpack everything you can think of. 116 00:06:22.020 --> 00:06:26.970 And in learning how to walk, I mean really gracefully, 117 00:06:26.970 --> 00:06:31.560 that's one of the things I noticed, that my gait was off. 118 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:36.030 Another thing I noticed was when I would put down a cup 119 00:06:36.030 --> 00:06:40.980 on a table to serve my guest, it wasn't silent, 120 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:42.990 and you're really not supposed to make any noise 121 00:06:42.990 --> 00:06:44.820 when you're in their space. 122 00:06:44.820 --> 00:06:47.940 So I just became aware of some of the things 123 00:06:47.940 --> 00:06:49.620 that was happening to me. 124 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:53.520 We took a trip to Williams, Arizona, to the Polar Express. 125 00:06:53.520 --> 00:06:56.760 Some people know about the Polar Express, with my daughter. 126 00:06:56.760 --> 00:06:59.970 She was probably maybe eight years old at the time. 127 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:04.290 And I noticed on that trip I had started to get an eye pain 128 00:07:04.290 --> 00:07:07.590 and I just kind of thought, huh, oh, well. 129 00:07:07.590 --> 00:07:09.960 But, 'cause it came and it had gone, 130 00:07:09.960 --> 00:07:13.170 on the way back, it happened again. 131 00:07:13.170 --> 00:07:15.810 On that Monday, getting ready for work, 132 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:18.510 I went in to get ready in the bathroom 133 00:07:18.510 --> 00:07:20.610 and as I turned on the light, 134 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:24.630 it felt like I was hit in the eye instantly. 135 00:07:24.630 --> 00:07:27.120 Like I literally fell to the ground 136 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.823 and just screamed for my husband. 137 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:33.060 And he came in, he took me to the doctor 138 00:07:33.060 --> 00:07:35.700 and they referred me to an optometrist. 139 00:07:35.700 --> 00:07:37.470 We went to the optometrist. 140 00:07:37.470 --> 00:07:39.630 He did not understand what happened. 141 00:07:39.630 --> 00:07:43.410 My retina was fine, everything was fine. 142 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:47.040 He gave me some eye drops. It was just a little blurry. 143 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:50.250 But he said that it would be from the eye drops. 144 00:07:50.250 --> 00:07:53.430 Within the week, I could not see. 145 00:07:53.430 --> 00:07:57.750 I started having my coworkers to read things for me, 146 00:07:57.750 --> 00:07:59.460 'cause we were very close. 147 00:07:59.460 --> 00:08:01.740 I didn't want my manager to know. 148 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:03.840 So I struggled for about a week. 149 00:08:03.840 --> 00:08:06.570 And then I finally went back to the doctor 150 00:08:06.570 --> 00:08:09.600 and that's when they referred me to a retina specialist. 151 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:13.530 And he said that there wasn't anything wrong with my retina. 152 00:08:13.530 --> 00:08:16.200 Went back and forth for maybe two weeks, 153 00:08:16.200 --> 00:08:19.740 when one of the younger doctors said, "You know, 154 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.350 in my internship I was 155 00:08:22.350 --> 00:08:27.350 at the Jules Stein I Research Institute at UCLA, 156 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:30.180 and maybe we should refer you there 157 00:08:30.180 --> 00:08:32.310 because we can't help you here." 158 00:08:32.310 --> 00:08:36.900 There I saw an amazing doctor, Dr. Levinson, 159 00:08:36.900 --> 00:08:40.500 he is a uveitis specialist. 160 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:42.540 That's when he diagnosed me 161 00:08:42.540 --> 00:08:47.130 with bilateral panuveitis, coupled with, 162 00:08:47.130 --> 00:08:51.660 after taking a gallium scan of my entire body, 163 00:08:51.660 --> 00:08:55.530 another disease that's called sarcoid. 164 00:08:55.530 --> 00:08:58.170 So it's a very rare eye disease 165 00:08:58.170 --> 00:09:01.233 that you would have sarcoid in your eyes, 166 00:09:02.130 --> 00:09:04.260 and that in itself is bad. 167 00:09:04.260 --> 00:09:07.200 If you had it in your lungs, I'd be dead by now. 168 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:09.090 But it was in my eyes. 169 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:13.140 And it's a decalcification in the eye, coupled 170 00:09:13.140 --> 00:09:17.370 with the uveitis, which is inflammatory cells 171 00:09:17.370 --> 00:09:19.710 that's very active in the eyes. 172 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:23.970 And so that's where I see, it is very blurry, 173 00:09:23.970 --> 00:09:28.970 as well as looking like I see through 10 screen doors. 174 00:09:29.970 --> 00:09:32.970 And does that change over time? 175 00:09:32.970 --> 00:09:34.620 Does it stay pretty stable 176 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:38.250 or do you have days where you see a lot differently than 177 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:39.870 on other days? 178 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:40.703 I never know what I'm going to see when 179 00:09:40.703 --> 00:09:41.536 I wake up. 180 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:46.440 It could be totally like a white out 181 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.140 or I could have some imagery. 182 00:09:49.140 --> 00:09:51.330 So you just never know from day to day 183 00:09:51.330 --> 00:09:53.190 what you're going to encounter. 184 00:09:53.190 --> 00:09:57.060 And you know, that in itself had to be such an adjustment 185 00:09:57.060 --> 00:09:59.790 because you're trying to figure out, well, I don't know 186 00:09:59.790 --> 00:10:01.410 what I'm going to see every day. 187 00:10:01.410 --> 00:10:05.340 And so how do I figure out what's next? 188 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:08.100 Because I don't know what's coming next. 189 00:10:08.100 --> 00:10:10.020 I don't know what it's gonna be like when I wake up. 190 00:10:10.020 --> 00:10:12.720 And of course then you have your career, 191 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:14.940 you're a classically trained chef. 192 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:17.760 What were you thinking as you were going through this, 193 00:10:17.760 --> 00:10:20.790 where you're losing your vision, 194 00:10:20.790 --> 00:10:22.110 things are all over the place, 195 00:10:22.110 --> 00:10:25.170 and here's this thing that you've been trained to do 196 00:10:25.170 --> 00:10:28.290 and now it's a major struggle, 197 00:10:28.290 --> 00:10:30.900 I would think, so what were you thinking? 198 00:10:30.900 --> 00:10:33.030 Well, under my doctor's care, 199 00:10:33.030 --> 00:10:36.060 they did not allow me to go back to work. 200 00:10:36.060 --> 00:10:41.060 There I was at home and I can't see, I'm not working. 201 00:10:41.250 --> 00:10:43.470 So I had so many losses. 202 00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:45.420 It didn't take long 203 00:10:45.420 --> 00:10:50.420 before I sat here and looked around at my house 204 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:54.150 and said, "What am I gonna do now?" 205 00:10:54.150 --> 00:10:57.900 And immediately I said, "I'm gonna go to school." 206 00:10:57.900 --> 00:11:01.020 I made a promise to my husband years ago 207 00:11:01.020 --> 00:11:03.300 that I would get my bachelor's, so why not? 208 00:11:03.300 --> 00:11:05.430 Why not get it now? I can't go to work. 209 00:11:05.430 --> 00:11:08.160 I have time and I'm going to do it. 210 00:11:08.160 --> 00:11:11.520 And I applied here at the University of Nevada, 211 00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:13.890 Las Vegas, UNLV, 212 00:11:13.890 --> 00:11:17.910 and I got into their biological sciences program. 213 00:11:17.910 --> 00:11:22.910 Little did I know, my vision was gonna be a little problem. 214 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:26.370 And I like to say that my vision, 215 00:11:26.370 --> 00:11:30.930 my loss of sight was so sudden 216 00:11:30.930 --> 00:11:33.870 I didn't have time to think about it. 217 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:38.160 So I just kind of went into life like I still had vision. 218 00:11:38.160 --> 00:11:40.800 I gave it thought, but I didn't give it much thought. 219 00:11:40.800 --> 00:11:43.384 I signed up for all my classes 220 00:11:43.384 --> 00:11:46.140 and I realized I can't see the board, 221 00:11:46.140 --> 00:11:48.150 I can't even see my teacher. 222 00:11:48.150 --> 00:11:53.150 I need help. And I found myself getting behind. 223 00:11:53.280 --> 00:11:56.040 My books were not accessible. 224 00:11:56.040 --> 00:11:59.318 I didn't even know what the word inaccessible meant. 225 00:11:59.318 --> 00:12:03.780 I didn't even really know what accessible technology meant. 226 00:12:03.780 --> 00:12:06.930 So this was a whole new world for me. 227 00:12:06.930 --> 00:12:11.930 I had to learn for five years of going to undergrad 228 00:12:12.330 --> 00:12:16.950 with the help of amazing Disability Resource Center, 229 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:21.360 the first blind woman I ever met, that was my advocate 230 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.990 for disability on the campus. 231 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:28.050 My teachers, they were very understanding 232 00:12:28.050 --> 00:12:31.450 and helped me along the way because they saw my spirit 233 00:12:32.640 --> 00:12:35.490 and my tenacity to not quit. 234 00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:38.280 I eventually graduated and finished. 235 00:12:38.280 --> 00:12:41.190 But during those five years, even at home, 236 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:43.470 I didn't cook very much. 237 00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:45.630 I was very apprehensive. 238 00:12:45.630 --> 00:12:49.035 I would imagine so. I mean, this is something 239 00:12:49.035 --> 00:12:51.720 that you really loved and you trained to do 240 00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:54.180 and used to enjoy doing. 241 00:12:54.180 --> 00:12:56.142 And then suddenly, 242 00:12:56.142 --> 00:13:01.142 the way that you approached it had totally changed. 243 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:05.520 So I think at some point you must have said, 244 00:13:05.520 --> 00:13:07.230 there ought to be a way I can do this. 245 00:13:07.230 --> 00:13:08.490 I wanna cook again. 246 00:13:08.490 --> 00:13:11.130 And so what happened 247 00:13:11.130 --> 00:13:14.730 when you started to make that decision? 248 00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:19.560 How did you start cooking more than a taco or a salad 249 00:13:19.560 --> 00:13:23.910 and what were the people around you like when you decided 250 00:13:23.910 --> 00:13:25.800 that you wanted to go full throttle, 251 00:13:25.800 --> 00:13:28.830 'cause I'm sure you did. How did that all work? 252 00:13:28.830 --> 00:13:30.330 I didn't make the decision. 253 00:13:30.330 --> 00:13:32.073 Someone made the decision for me. 254 00:13:33.270 --> 00:13:37.080 I went into my disability resource advocate on the campus 255 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:40.530 of UNLV, into my senior year. 256 00:13:40.530 --> 00:13:44.430 And I went in crying profusely saying, 257 00:13:44.430 --> 00:13:47.490 'cause at the the same time I was also, 258 00:13:47.490 --> 00:13:49.980 not only was I a full-time student, 259 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:51.900 I'm still a full-time wife. 260 00:13:51.900 --> 00:13:56.820 I'm a full-time mom and I'm a full-time patient 261 00:13:56.820 --> 00:14:01.170 because I'm still going to see all my doctors. 262 00:14:01.170 --> 00:14:05.580 Now, I begin to have integrated care at UCLA 263 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:07.860 because I became, 264 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:12.000 I had many critical illnesses developed. 265 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.390 I had lupus, I developed lupus as well 266 00:14:15.390 --> 00:14:17.520 as chronic arthritis, 267 00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:22.350 and rheumatoid arthritis actually, coupled with my vision. 268 00:14:22.350 --> 00:14:25.110 And so that one of the ways that they could treat all 269 00:14:25.110 --> 00:14:29.850 of the symptoms was giving me a low dose of chemotherapy. 270 00:14:29.850 --> 00:14:33.510 And so I was in chemotherapy monthly based 271 00:14:33.510 --> 00:14:35.700 on my blood work. 272 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:38.280 And so I was doing that once a month, 273 00:14:38.280 --> 00:14:41.550 every month while I was still in school. 274 00:14:41.550 --> 00:14:44.880 And so you have the same side effects, you get nauseous 275 00:14:44.880 --> 00:14:49.880 and dizzy and sick, then I would have an exam or study. 276 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:53.790 So was still going through that whole process. 277 00:14:53.790 --> 00:14:57.390 And that's when I finally went into my advisor 278 00:14:57.390 --> 00:15:00.900 and I just said, you know, "I don't think I can do it. 279 00:15:00.900 --> 00:15:05.490 I think I need a break. 'cause my body, it's just a lot." 280 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:08.583 I think at that moment, wow, 281 00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:13.413 I realized I was blind. 282 00:15:14.490 --> 00:15:19.040 It took me almost four years to realize, 283 00:15:20.670 --> 00:15:22.683 Hey girl, you're blind. 284 00:15:25.170 --> 00:15:28.800 And she said, I have a place for you. 285 00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:31.860 I want you to go to the Blindconnect. 286 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:35.550 It's a mobility and orientation training center. 287 00:15:35.550 --> 00:15:40.473 You need to have blindness skills. And I did. 288 00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:46.147 And that had to be so hard to finally face that 289 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:52.340 because all the moving forward with life, 290 00:15:52.410 --> 00:15:54.735 and it's wonderful that you did it. 291 00:15:54.735 --> 00:15:57.840 You know, I'm sure you wouldn't change any of that, 292 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:02.400 but to just continue forward then to reach 293 00:16:02.400 --> 00:16:06.540 that point where you say, I've put so much into this 294 00:16:06.540 --> 00:16:08.940 and yet I'm blind. 295 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:11.070 I can't not face that. 296 00:16:11.070 --> 00:16:13.590 And then to hear, we can help you 297 00:16:13.590 --> 00:16:15.390 and there's a place for you. 298 00:16:15.390 --> 00:16:17.550 Yes, there's a place for you. 299 00:16:17.550 --> 00:16:19.860 And there's people just like you. 300 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:21.210 First of all, on the campus, 301 00:16:21.210 --> 00:16:22.920 there's no one that looks like me. 302 00:16:22.920 --> 00:16:25.020 Okay. I'm an older student. 303 00:16:25.020 --> 00:16:26.820 There's no one walking around blind. 304 00:16:27.660 --> 00:16:30.540 So there isn't anyone like me. 305 00:16:30.540 --> 00:16:33.840 Here I found a space. 306 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.710 I saw people that had canes and dogs 307 00:16:37.710 --> 00:16:42.330 and that was struggling and had challenges 308 00:16:42.330 --> 00:16:45.477 and learning on their iPhones. 309 00:16:45.477 --> 00:16:49.593 I'm like, what? You mean I can actually use my iPhone again. 310 00:16:50.670 --> 00:16:55.170 I can actually not struggle with my work, my homework 311 00:16:55.170 --> 00:16:56.460 and my schoolwork. 312 00:16:56.460 --> 00:17:00.330 And it was a whole, I mean, I can actually walk 313 00:17:00.330 --> 00:17:01.710 with the cane and get around 314 00:17:01.710 --> 00:17:04.950 and not feel like I'm gonna fall downstairs. 315 00:17:04.950 --> 00:17:09.090 And I could go wherever I wanted to go and read. 316 00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:13.950 And I could take in the sounds. 317 00:17:13.950 --> 00:17:17.640 Like I could hear birds, 318 00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:20.310 I could hear kids play, 319 00:17:20.310 --> 00:17:23.280 the things that I just never thought about before. 320 00:17:23.280 --> 00:17:26.250 It was a whole new wonderful world. 321 00:17:26.250 --> 00:17:31.250 A whole new community of people that embraced me 322 00:17:33.300 --> 00:17:35.100 and taught me. 323 00:17:35.100 --> 00:17:38.490 There was nothing that they wanted to hide from me. 324 00:17:38.490 --> 00:17:42.030 Everything that they had, they wanted to give to me. 325 00:17:42.030 --> 00:17:46.860 I had many cheerleaders that was very supportive. 326 00:17:46.860 --> 00:17:49.560 I didn't have anyone saying, oh, Gina, 327 00:17:49.560 --> 00:17:51.180 you shouldn't do that. 328 00:17:51.180 --> 00:17:52.860 Because they just knew me. 329 00:17:52.860 --> 00:17:55.710 They knew that there wasn't going to be anything 330 00:17:55.710 --> 00:17:57.300 that was gonna stop me. 331 00:17:57.300 --> 00:18:01.200 And so I had no pushback from anyone. 332 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.290 The only pushback, of course, was just my safety. 333 00:18:04.290 --> 00:18:06.510 And, you know, maybe I was, you know, 334 00:18:06.510 --> 00:18:08.253 maybe going too many places. 335 00:18:09.090 --> 00:18:11.250 Like you're on the paratransit again. 336 00:18:11.250 --> 00:18:13.530 Like, yeah, I'm on the paratransit. 337 00:18:13.530 --> 00:18:16.800 But no, I had great supporters, my husband. 338 00:18:16.800 --> 00:18:19.950 I'm a out of the box thinker. I've always been. 339 00:18:19.950 --> 00:18:24.690 And I like to say that he always stands by out of the box. 340 00:18:24.690 --> 00:18:25.890 And then of course, my mother, 341 00:18:25.890 --> 00:18:30.890 she's just such that great warm support, that nudge of, 342 00:18:32.760 --> 00:18:35.160 that's right, sweetheart, you keep going. 343 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:38.430 She's just that little, that cheerleader at the beginning 344 00:18:38.430 --> 00:18:40.560 and the end of the finish line. 345 00:18:40.560 --> 00:18:44.220 It's incredible that you've had people 346 00:18:44.220 --> 00:18:46.770 who were willing to support you. 347 00:18:46.770 --> 00:18:50.010 And I think it shows, I mean, 348 00:18:50.010 --> 00:18:52.410 you've been able to do quite a lot. 349 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:57.090 And so I do wanna talk about just a little bit of that 350 00:18:57.090 --> 00:19:01.500 and what happened in the kitchen 351 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:04.650 when you really started to get back into it. 352 00:19:04.650 --> 00:19:08.130 Were there things that actually weren't 353 00:19:08.130 --> 00:19:10.680 that different than you were accustomed to, 354 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:12.570 you just kind of had to get used to it again? 355 00:19:12.570 --> 00:19:16.320 And then were there things that were actually really hard 356 00:19:16.320 --> 00:19:19.620 that you really had to work at in order to feel safe 357 00:19:19.620 --> 00:19:21.873 and comfortable as you're cooking? 358 00:19:22.830 --> 00:19:27.720 When I entered the kitchen, it's sort of like 359 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.390 that friend that you talk to every now and then, 360 00:19:30.390 --> 00:19:33.030 just kind of say, "Hey girl, what's up?" 361 00:19:33.030 --> 00:19:36.090 And she's, "Oh, it's cool." 362 00:19:36.090 --> 00:19:38.190 That's kind of how it was with my kitchen. 363 00:19:39.420 --> 00:19:43.890 I wanted to let her know that I'm back. 364 00:19:43.890 --> 00:19:45.663 I had to get reconnected. 365 00:19:46.830 --> 00:19:50.520 I went into my kitchen and I just said, you know what? 366 00:19:50.520 --> 00:19:52.620 I'm just gonna make an amazing meal. 367 00:19:52.620 --> 00:19:55.890 And of all the meals I would make, it was moqueca. 368 00:19:55.890 --> 00:19:57.300 I wanted to go full on. 369 00:19:57.300 --> 00:20:01.590 It's a Brazilian fish stew, and I just wanted to go for it. 370 00:20:01.590 --> 00:20:05.400 That's lots of chopping. It's brilliant, vibrant colors. 371 00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:08.070 It's using amazing ingredients. 372 00:20:08.070 --> 00:20:12.840 It's sauteing, and simmering, and waiting, and processing. 373 00:20:12.840 --> 00:20:16.050 It's a lot. So I did. 374 00:20:16.050 --> 00:20:19.710 And plus I wanted to find out how my skills were. 375 00:20:19.710 --> 00:20:21.180 I wanted to test my skills 376 00:20:21.180 --> 00:20:25.530 and I wanted to test the accessibility of my own kitchen. 377 00:20:25.530 --> 00:20:28.950 I also wanted to test how well I navigated my kitchen. 378 00:20:28.950 --> 00:20:31.530 And so from that test, 'cause as chefs 379 00:20:31.530 --> 00:20:34.470 and as also as a scientist, 380 00:20:34.470 --> 00:20:36.120 because I did eventually graduate 381 00:20:36.120 --> 00:20:38.880 with a degree in psychology 382 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.910 and neuroscience, it's all about testing 383 00:20:41.910 --> 00:20:44.160 and seeing the data. 384 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:45.990 So I went in and I did it. 385 00:20:45.990 --> 00:20:48.930 I tested, I wrote down some things that I needed 386 00:20:48.930 --> 00:20:52.590 to help me to survive in my kitchen. 387 00:20:52.590 --> 00:20:55.230 And I did it. And I found that there was things 388 00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:57.720 that I was challenged in. 389 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.510 For one, it was my knife skills. 390 00:21:00.510 --> 00:21:05.510 However, I found that I still had that muscle memory. 391 00:21:05.850 --> 00:21:10.850 But what I now needed to do was to step back a bit 392 00:21:12.420 --> 00:21:14.400 because I was just chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. 393 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:17.460 Like that's what we do. We're done and it's over. 394 00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:20.940 But I had to find that, it had to be methodical. 395 00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:22.860 I had to think about my cuts 396 00:21:22.860 --> 00:21:25.623 and I had to be careful that I didn't cut myself. 397 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:30.870 The other thing I noticed in my kitchen was measuring, 398 00:21:30.870 --> 00:21:35.340 especially measuring wet ingredients, liquids, 399 00:21:35.340 --> 00:21:40.230 because we use a wet measure, not a dry measure. 400 00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:44.340 Totally two different elements of measuring something. 401 00:21:44.340 --> 00:21:46.800 As far as cooking, it is a science. 402 00:21:46.800 --> 00:21:51.630 And so I had to figure out how can I use my dry measure 403 00:21:51.630 --> 00:21:53.700 to compensate for my wet measure. 404 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:55.470 So I had to test that, 405 00:21:55.470 --> 00:21:59.070 and it's just simply by adding two additional tablespoons 406 00:21:59.070 --> 00:22:02.250 would give me my one cup liquid measure. 407 00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:06.000 So I had to do a lot of testing for myself to compensate 408 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:10.877 for my new found vision loss. 409 00:22:10.877 --> 00:22:14.610 Other things that I found was tools 410 00:22:14.610 --> 00:22:18.690 that I had to use in the kitchen to help me. 411 00:22:18.690 --> 00:22:22.800 I had to use indicator dots to help me 412 00:22:22.800 --> 00:22:25.230 with the microwave because the panel, 413 00:22:25.230 --> 00:22:27.270 it's a flat screen panel, 414 00:22:27.270 --> 00:22:30.690 the interface is just not, you can't see it. 415 00:22:30.690 --> 00:22:34.920 So just putting simple indicator dots in my kitchen 416 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:39.920 on my stove to indicate whether it was high, medium, low. 417 00:22:40.260 --> 00:22:43.860 So I had to organize my kitchen 418 00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:47.250 and make it accessible for myself. 419 00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:50.850 I had to clear off all my counter space 420 00:22:50.850 --> 00:22:53.280 because I found that with my vision 421 00:22:53.280 --> 00:22:55.960 and it's gradually decreasing, 422 00:22:55.960 --> 00:22:59.910 lots of stuff on my counter was too much for me. 423 00:22:59.910 --> 00:23:02.220 It's better for me to go 424 00:23:02.220 --> 00:23:06.030 and pull it out than to have it all on my counter. 425 00:23:06.030 --> 00:23:10.080 So for me, I had to just clear off all of my counter space. 426 00:23:10.080 --> 00:23:14.460 Another thing, I had to clear out all of my spices, 427 00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:18.450 all of my cupboards, and put them into bins 428 00:23:18.450 --> 00:23:22.500 where I could just pull from like all my spices, 429 00:23:22.500 --> 00:23:24.990 just put it in a nice bin, 430 00:23:24.990 --> 00:23:28.800 and then put it back in my cabinet rather than searching 431 00:23:28.800 --> 00:23:32.310 and trying to get way in the back of a cupboard. 432 00:23:32.310 --> 00:23:35.344 And then my spice drawer, I had to pull it out. 433 00:23:35.344 --> 00:23:37.320 It's a huge spice drawer. 434 00:23:37.320 --> 00:23:40.380 And I had to put it all in alphabetical order 435 00:23:40.380 --> 00:23:43.500 because I do have some vision and I can see it. 436 00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:45.030 I took a sharpie 437 00:23:45.030 --> 00:23:47.940 and I actually wrote on all of the bottles, 438 00:23:47.940 --> 00:23:52.530 like large print, like lemon pepper, I put an LP. 439 00:23:52.530 --> 00:23:55.783 For garlic, whatever, I put a big G. 440 00:23:55.783 --> 00:24:00.300 So I had to outfit my kitchen. 441 00:24:00.300 --> 00:24:02.520 And that's how it happened. 442 00:24:02.520 --> 00:24:07.520 I had to figure out a way to make things work for me. 443 00:24:07.560 --> 00:24:09.750 And then in cooking, 444 00:24:09.750 --> 00:24:12.990 because I can't see when something is done, 445 00:24:12.990 --> 00:24:17.990 now I have what I call the sounds of kitchen, 446 00:24:18.660 --> 00:24:21.660 intuitive cooking now. 447 00:24:21.660 --> 00:24:24.780 My listening, smelling, you know, 448 00:24:24.780 --> 00:24:27.150 because when you're baking a cake, 449 00:24:27.150 --> 00:24:31.140 she's gonna tell you, she's gonna send off a scent, 450 00:24:31.140 --> 00:24:34.260 a beautiful aroma. 451 00:24:34.260 --> 00:24:36.690 And food will talk. 452 00:24:36.690 --> 00:24:39.480 Food will tell you what's happening. 453 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:42.360 And I realized that with low vision, 454 00:24:42.360 --> 00:24:45.120 that I depended so much because I've always 455 00:24:45.120 --> 00:24:49.350 thought it has being a very visual concept. 456 00:24:49.350 --> 00:24:51.960 And now it's a non-visual. 457 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:55.320 I'm taking it into a non-visual world 458 00:24:55.320 --> 00:24:57.510 and I'm gonna make it work for me. 459 00:24:57.510 --> 00:25:01.590 The sounds and the smells of kitchen, 460 00:25:01.590 --> 00:25:06.330 getting in tune with those other sensory was very vital 461 00:25:06.330 --> 00:25:08.940 and it became my friend. 462 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:13.214 Just hearing the rumbling of eggs boiling, 463 00:25:13.214 --> 00:25:16.650 the beautiful caramelization of sugar. 464 00:25:16.650 --> 00:25:19.501 I know, I could smell it. 465 00:25:19.501 --> 00:25:22.320 I can smell when my sugar is starting to go 466 00:25:22.320 --> 00:25:27.320 from a simple syrup, into a caramelization, into caramel, 467 00:25:28.590 --> 00:25:32.880 I now don't have to see that, I can smell it. 468 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:34.890 And so that's what happened. 469 00:25:34.890 --> 00:25:39.890 I had to get back in and not be fearful of my kitchen 470 00:25:41.340 --> 00:25:46.340 and safeguard myself with the equipment and tools, 471 00:25:47.220 --> 00:25:50.760 like long gloves for my oven. 472 00:25:50.760 --> 00:25:53.520 Sometimes when my vision is really poor, 473 00:25:53.520 --> 00:25:57.840 I can use a food processor to chop up my ingredients 474 00:25:57.840 --> 00:26:02.610 and not be too proud to use some of those aids 475 00:26:02.610 --> 00:26:04.020 that's gonna help me. 476 00:26:04.020 --> 00:26:06.487 Although I'm a chef, I can say, 477 00:26:06.487 --> 00:26:07.950 "Look, I don't wanna cut today. 478 00:26:07.950 --> 00:26:10.320 I'm just gonna use my food processor." 479 00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:11.153 I love it. And that's all part of 480 00:26:11.153 --> 00:26:11.986 getting reacquainted 481 00:26:14.125 --> 00:26:16.170 with your kitchen 482 00:26:16.170 --> 00:26:19.560 and reacquainted with what you can do, right? 483 00:26:19.560 --> 00:26:23.100 Because as you said, you always thought, well, 484 00:26:23.100 --> 00:26:25.110 this is a visual medium 485 00:26:25.110 --> 00:26:29.250 and you didn't have a reason to think of it otherwise. 486 00:26:29.250 --> 00:26:31.800 But it took that, I'm going in, 487 00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:33.900 I'm gonna see what this is like. 488 00:26:33.900 --> 00:26:38.550 And by doing that, you were able to rediscover something 489 00:26:38.550 --> 00:26:41.100 that you loved and you were able to do it 490 00:26:41.100 --> 00:26:43.350 and discover different aspects it. 491 00:26:43.350 --> 00:26:48.270 I love as you're talking about using your other senses, 492 00:26:48.270 --> 00:26:52.590 because food really is a multisensory experience anyway. 493 00:26:52.590 --> 00:26:55.950 And so just using those things to make food, 494 00:26:55.950 --> 00:26:58.650 it's a beautiful description that you give, 495 00:26:58.650 --> 00:26:59.880 so I love that. 496 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:04.880 So not only are you cooking for yourself and your family, 497 00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:10.880 you are looking to share parts of this journey 498 00:27:11.010 --> 00:27:12.210 with other people. 499 00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:15.390 And so I wanna talk a little bit about that. 500 00:27:15.390 --> 00:27:19.530 I know that you do classes with other blind people, 501 00:27:19.530 --> 00:27:21.030 and you're also involved 502 00:27:21.030 --> 00:27:23.100 in something called the Holman Prize, 503 00:27:23.100 --> 00:27:27.905 which is three different people get ultimately chosen 504 00:27:27.905 --> 00:27:32.760 for some financial assistance, so $25,000, 505 00:27:32.760 --> 00:27:35.790 to make a project come to life. 506 00:27:35.790 --> 00:27:39.840 And you've created a video for this specific project 507 00:27:39.840 --> 00:27:43.565 that you're hoping will help the community 508 00:27:43.565 --> 00:27:46.980 and help other people on their journey 509 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:48.510 of getting back into the kitchen. 510 00:27:48.510 --> 00:27:53.400 So can you talk about just the things that you are doing now 511 00:27:53.400 --> 00:27:55.770 with other blind and low vision people, 512 00:27:55.770 --> 00:27:59.580 and also what it's like being a Holman Prize candidate 513 00:27:59.580 --> 00:28:01.860 and what you have in mind for that? 514 00:28:01.860 --> 00:28:02.693 In cooking, I realized that the more senses 515 00:28:02.693 --> 00:28:03.526 I use, 516 00:28:09.030 --> 00:28:11.673 the richer my world is around me. 517 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:15.300 What I wanted to do, 518 00:28:15.300 --> 00:28:18.870 because of the pandemic, everything was shut down. 519 00:28:18.870 --> 00:28:21.210 And shortly thereafter, 520 00:28:21.210 --> 00:28:26.210 some of the programming started coming about on Zoom. 521 00:28:26.250 --> 00:28:28.200 And so we started resuming, 522 00:28:28.200 --> 00:28:31.260 say like the support groups came back on Zoom, 523 00:28:31.260 --> 00:28:34.761 and the technology was on Zoom. 524 00:28:34.761 --> 00:28:36.840 And I thought, well, you know what, 525 00:28:36.840 --> 00:28:38.736 what about the cooking? 526 00:28:38.736 --> 00:28:40.080 How can I make this? 527 00:28:40.080 --> 00:28:42.060 And so I did some research 528 00:28:42.060 --> 00:28:45.990 and there really wasn't a model that I found 529 00:28:45.990 --> 00:28:47.640 that I could use. 530 00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:52.260 I did find a lot of discussion groups, which was, oh man, 531 00:28:52.260 --> 00:28:54.060 absolutely amazing. 532 00:28:54.060 --> 00:28:59.060 A programming of discussion groups that I tuned into, 533 00:28:59.130 --> 00:29:03.570 especially with Hadley, has an amazing discussion group. 534 00:29:03.570 --> 00:29:07.350 Then I said, okay, I want to do something 535 00:29:07.350 --> 00:29:10.890 that is live, real time, 536 00:29:10.890 --> 00:29:15.890 that I can have participants watch me do it. 537 00:29:16.470 --> 00:29:19.800 A blind chef, and they're blind 538 00:29:19.800 --> 00:29:21.660 so they can make a connection. 539 00:29:21.660 --> 00:29:25.830 And that I can do this, I know I can do this. 540 00:29:25.830 --> 00:29:27.810 And of course, some people thought, 541 00:29:27.810 --> 00:29:32.340 What, Gina, it's not gonna happen. 542 00:29:32.340 --> 00:29:35.040 And I just thought, you just watch. 543 00:29:35.040 --> 00:29:40.040 So I did, I talked to my colleague and mentor 544 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:46.680 and I said, "Hey, I think I'm gonna try this." 545 00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:48.990 And she said, "Do it." 546 00:29:48.990 --> 00:29:50.430 I thought, well, 547 00:29:50.430 --> 00:29:54.180 I'm gonna just do an eight week beginning course, 548 00:29:54.180 --> 00:29:57.450 and I'm going to take it back to 549 00:29:57.450 --> 00:29:59.700 when I was a culinary student. 550 00:29:59.700 --> 00:30:04.700 Everything was theory first, and then you started cooking. 551 00:30:04.800 --> 00:30:09.270 And I thought, I will teach them theory, basics, 552 00:30:09.270 --> 00:30:11.790 blindness skills in the kitchen, 553 00:30:11.790 --> 00:30:16.560 organizing your kitchen, safety, food safety, 554 00:30:16.560 --> 00:30:17.850 just those kind of things. 555 00:30:17.850 --> 00:30:21.990 And then eventually I would do just a little demo 556 00:30:21.990 --> 00:30:23.910 of non cooking stuff. 557 00:30:23.910 --> 00:30:27.600 Like we didn't even touch the oven or the stove. 558 00:30:27.600 --> 00:30:31.410 I just did like salads, vinegarettes, 559 00:30:31.410 --> 00:30:33.900 like pesto sauce, you know, things like that 560 00:30:33.900 --> 00:30:35.910 that they can do in a blender. 561 00:30:35.910 --> 00:30:37.410 And then eventually, 562 00:30:37.410 --> 00:30:41.550 my last two classes I did real cooking 563 00:30:41.550 --> 00:30:44.338 and that's when they were able to see me cook 564 00:30:44.338 --> 00:30:46.320 and got involved and they were just really excited. 565 00:30:46.320 --> 00:30:51.320 And then so into the new year, the series then picked up 566 00:30:51.360 --> 00:30:54.660 and it became like totally cooking. 567 00:30:54.660 --> 00:30:59.660 And I had a menu and send out recipes and it's just amazing. 568 00:30:59.901 --> 00:31:03.510 I have participants all over the United States now 569 00:31:03.510 --> 00:31:07.740 that tune in and it's just a beautiful concept. 570 00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:10.200 The one thing different about this product 571 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:13.620 that I present to my community is 572 00:31:13.620 --> 00:31:18.330 that it's not just a cooking show or a cooking class, 573 00:31:18.330 --> 00:31:21.330 but comes with it, it's a blind chef, 574 00:31:21.330 --> 00:31:24.180 but it's descriptive cooking. 575 00:31:24.180 --> 00:31:28.260 So I am actually telling you how to hold your knife, 576 00:31:28.260 --> 00:31:32.100 what tools to use, how to use your tools. 577 00:31:32.100 --> 00:31:36.180 Everything I do is descriptive so that that person 578 00:31:36.180 --> 00:31:38.310 that's sitting in that Zoom seat 579 00:31:38.310 --> 00:31:40.980 that has absolutely no vision, 580 00:31:40.980 --> 00:31:43.620 should be able to follow along with me. 581 00:31:43.620 --> 00:31:45.240 And that's the whole thing. 582 00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:49.020 That's what you're not going to get on a YouTube channel, 583 00:31:49.020 --> 00:31:53.250 because as we know, if I go to YouTube channel, 584 00:31:53.250 --> 00:31:54.780 I don't even know what they're doing. 585 00:31:54.780 --> 00:31:56.910 There's nothing descriptive about it. 586 00:31:56.910 --> 00:32:01.590 So that's what I bring to my community, 587 00:32:01.590 --> 00:32:05.880 is allowing them to be able to come into their kitchen, 588 00:32:05.880 --> 00:32:09.840 to be a friend with their kitchen and to step in, 589 00:32:09.840 --> 00:32:13.500 just like I had to step in, with confidence, 590 00:32:13.500 --> 00:32:18.500 with independence, and to cook and eat amazing food. 591 00:32:19.830 --> 00:32:21.420 There's no reason that 592 00:32:21.420 --> 00:32:25.140 because our sight is impaired, 593 00:32:25.140 --> 00:32:29.220 why we can't eat amazing food and cook amazing food. 594 00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:33.270 There's no reason why we can't use leeks and ginger 595 00:32:33.270 --> 00:32:38.270 and purple potatoes and all these amazing ingredients. 596 00:32:38.340 --> 00:32:43.110 There's no reason why we can't make our own vanilla extract, 597 00:32:43.110 --> 00:32:47.779 compound butter, simple syrups and infuse sugars and salts. 598 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:52.779 So I'm able to, as a professional, classically trained chef, 599 00:32:53.520 --> 00:32:58.520 bring them into a whole new world 600 00:32:58.770 --> 00:33:01.170 of amazing food. 601 00:33:01.170 --> 00:33:06.170 With the Holman Prize, herein lies my project. 602 00:33:07.950 --> 00:33:10.710 I thought, here's an opportunity 603 00:33:10.710 --> 00:33:15.450 for me to totally give back to my community 604 00:33:15.450 --> 00:33:17.010 by first of all, 605 00:33:17.010 --> 00:33:22.010 developing and publishing a cookbook designed by 606 00:33:23.670 --> 00:33:28.670 and written by a chef who is blind. 607 00:33:29.040 --> 00:33:33.690 I want to make it into braille, large print, 608 00:33:33.690 --> 00:33:36.960 and also an audible format. 609 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:41.250 In that cookbook will be descriptive language, 610 00:33:41.250 --> 00:33:45.030 meaning your techniques are very descriptive. 611 00:33:45.030 --> 00:33:47.970 Unlike any recipe you're going to find, 612 00:33:47.970 --> 00:33:51.900 along with the tools that you use. 613 00:33:51.900 --> 00:33:56.627 When you get a recipe, it says to combine gently. 614 00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:59.760 What does combine gently mean? 615 00:33:59.760 --> 00:34:02.310 What tools are you using? 616 00:34:02.310 --> 00:34:06.180 Well, this will say using a whisk 617 00:34:06.180 --> 00:34:09.000 in your right hand or dominant hand, 618 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:11.850 turning the bowl slightly upward, 619 00:34:11.850 --> 00:34:16.850 whisk until you can hear the patter against the bowl. 620 00:34:17.610 --> 00:34:20.760 As the egg whites are thickening, 621 00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:24.810 your whisk will become slower. 622 00:34:24.810 --> 00:34:29.550 So it's going to give them descriptive communication. 623 00:34:29.550 --> 00:34:33.060 Additionally, with that, I would like to do, 624 00:34:33.060 --> 00:34:37.440 with the recipes, audio descriptive, 625 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:42.440 five minute, how to instructive videos 626 00:34:42.630 --> 00:34:44.580 along with the recipes. 627 00:34:44.580 --> 00:34:47.970 So that way when you're in the recipe, 628 00:34:47.970 --> 00:34:50.010 you can click on a link. 629 00:34:50.010 --> 00:34:52.350 If you have an issue in that recipe, 630 00:34:52.350 --> 00:34:54.090 you can click on the link 631 00:34:54.090 --> 00:34:57.300 and there will be a short description 632 00:34:57.300 --> 00:35:00.420 with me doing that same thing. 633 00:35:00.420 --> 00:35:04.740 And so you'll have that instructional video. 634 00:35:04.740 --> 00:35:09.390 With that, a website, with those videos attached 635 00:35:09.390 --> 00:35:11.550 along with the YouTube channel, 636 00:35:11.550 --> 00:35:15.180 where that class participant 637 00:35:15.180 --> 00:35:20.180 and blind centers across the United States 638 00:35:21.120 --> 00:35:23.520 could have access to, 639 00:35:23.520 --> 00:35:28.050 in their home management and culinary programs. 640 00:35:28.050 --> 00:35:30.720 So that when they're teaching students 641 00:35:30.720 --> 00:35:34.470 in these culinary programs and their cooking classes, 642 00:35:34.470 --> 00:35:36.690 the basics of cooking, 643 00:35:36.690 --> 00:35:41.040 no matter where they are, a novice cook 644 00:35:41.040 --> 00:35:45.540 or someone who's in the program that has been cooking, 645 00:35:45.540 --> 00:35:50.540 that they can click on that video and show the students. 646 00:35:50.550 --> 00:35:54.780 And lastly, is that I would like to be able 647 00:35:54.780 --> 00:35:59.640 to present these to major food networks to let them see 648 00:35:59.640 --> 00:36:02.040 that this is a need in the community 649 00:36:02.040 --> 00:36:07.040 so that perhaps these can air on a public channel. 650 00:36:08.850 --> 00:36:10.290 I love this idea 651 00:36:10.290 --> 00:36:13.050 and I know that so many others will as well. 652 00:36:13.050 --> 00:36:16.290 It's something I can say from experience 653 00:36:16.290 --> 00:36:19.470 that would be incredibly necessary 654 00:36:19.470 --> 00:36:23.790 because when you are reading recipes, 655 00:36:23.790 --> 00:36:26.940 they always talk about, do this until it turns brown, 656 00:36:26.940 --> 00:36:30.150 or do this until you see, you know, 657 00:36:30.150 --> 00:36:32.760 something become shinier or whatever. 658 00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:35.280 And so they talk about these visual things 659 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:39.450 and I'm just thinking, how would I know? 660 00:36:39.450 --> 00:36:43.830 And so having these things described is going to be 661 00:36:43.830 --> 00:36:48.360 so helpful because it makes it accessible to the person 662 00:36:48.360 --> 00:36:49.193 who's cooking. 663 00:36:49.193 --> 00:36:53.820 It makes them understand this doesn't have to be visual. 664 00:36:53.820 --> 00:36:55.530 There are other ways to do it, 665 00:36:55.530 --> 00:36:58.020 and here's what those ways are. 666 00:36:58.020 --> 00:37:03.020 So we will have a link to the Holman Prize video 667 00:37:04.500 --> 00:37:06.990 that Regina has produced in the show notes. 668 00:37:06.990 --> 00:37:09.960 And if you wanna go on YouTube and like that, 669 00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:12.570 it does really help tremendously 670 00:37:12.570 --> 00:37:16.710 as she moves, hopefully from a Holman Prize candidate 671 00:37:16.710 --> 00:37:21.710 to a Holman Prize finalist and eventually winner. 672 00:37:21.750 --> 00:37:25.410 If you're listening to this beyond the time 673 00:37:25.410 --> 00:37:29.460 of this recording, so we're recording in March 674 00:37:29.460 --> 00:37:32.550 and up through April is when things are happening 675 00:37:32.550 --> 00:37:34.391 with the Holman Prize, 676 00:37:34.391 --> 00:37:35.730 but that doesn't mean 677 00:37:35.730 --> 00:37:39.330 that anything Regina is doing just kind of goes away 678 00:37:39.330 --> 00:37:41.880 after that whole process is done. 679 00:37:41.880 --> 00:37:44.550 So do you have a place 680 00:37:44.550 --> 00:37:46.920 where people can find out more 681 00:37:46.920 --> 00:37:49.500 about things like these Zoom classes 682 00:37:49.500 --> 00:37:51.630 that you were initially conducting? 683 00:37:51.630 --> 00:37:53.580 And if you're continuing those, 684 00:37:53.580 --> 00:37:56.940 where can people go to find out what you're doing 685 00:37:56.940 --> 00:38:00.990 and just get some ideas about what it is 686 00:38:00.990 --> 00:38:02.670 that you're sharing and doing? 687 00:38:02.670 --> 00:38:04.380 I have an Instagram. 688 00:38:04.380 --> 00:38:08.580 I post almost weekly, sometimes twice a week 689 00:38:08.580 --> 00:38:11.880 on my classes and recipes and pictures. 690 00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:16.200 And so it's Regina D. Mitchell. 691 00:38:16.200 --> 00:38:20.040 Awesome. And we'll have the link to that Instagram 692 00:38:20.040 --> 00:38:22.440 in the show notes as well. 693 00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:27.440 Regina, it has been amazing getting your story. 694 00:38:27.510 --> 00:38:28.620 I just love it. 695 00:38:28.620 --> 00:38:32.190 And as we wrap this up, is there one final thing 696 00:38:32.190 --> 00:38:34.680 that you'd like to leave our listeners with 697 00:38:34.680 --> 00:38:37.020 that we haven't yet covered? 698 00:38:37.020 --> 00:38:42.020 There is, and I will say to my beloved community, 699 00:38:42.330 --> 00:38:45.900 it takes time and we can get back in the kitchen 700 00:38:45.900 --> 00:38:48.270 and we can make amazing meals. 701 00:38:48.270 --> 00:38:50.130 But not only can we get back into the kitchen, 702 00:38:50.130 --> 00:38:52.830 but we can get back into our lives. 703 00:38:52.830 --> 00:38:54.687 We can navigate our spaces 704 00:38:54.687 --> 00:38:59.687 and we can show ourselves that we are amazing individuals. 705 00:39:01.500 --> 00:39:05.100 We can show others that we can eat 706 00:39:05.100 --> 00:39:08.370 and have great meals. 707 00:39:08.370 --> 00:39:12.840 And I just wanna say that we do not have 708 00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:16.860 to let blindness be our characteristic. 709 00:39:16.860 --> 00:39:20.910 It's just not. We are more than that. 710 00:39:20.910 --> 00:39:25.910 So get up, get into the kitchen and take it slow. 711 00:39:27.150 --> 00:39:29.010 Thank you so much for joining us 712 00:39:29.010 --> 00:39:32.580 and for sharing your story and your passion. I love it. 713 00:39:32.580 --> 00:39:33.924 Thank you. 714 00:39:33.924 --> 00:39:34.757 (soft music) 715 00:39:34.757 --> 00:39:35.790 Got something to say? 716 00:39:35.790 --> 00:39:39.540 Share your thoughts about this episode of Hadley Presents, 717 00:39:39.540 --> 00:39:42.360 or make suggestions for future episodes. 718 00:39:42.360 --> 00:39:44.130 We'd love to hear from you. 719 00:39:44.130 --> 00:39:48.540 Send us an email at podcast@hadley.edu. 720 00:39:48.540 --> 00:39:53.540 That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T @hadley.edu. 721 00:39:53.610 --> 00:39:56.283 Or leave us a message at (847) 784-2870. 722 00:40:00.420 --> 00:40:01.473 Thanks for listening.