April 6, 2025

Cooking Beyond Sight: Debra Erickson's Blind Kitchen Revolution

Send us a text

The kitchen transforms from a place of anxiety to a hub of independence in this revealing conversation with Debra Erickson, founder of The Blind Kitchen. Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at 28, Debra shares her remarkable journey from someone who barely cooked to becoming the only blind student in culinary school, and ultimately, an innovative entrepreneur revolutionizing cooking for the visually impaired.

What does adaptive cooking actually look like? Debra demystifies the process with practical solutions that work remarkably well. She explains how simple tools like cafeteria trays can contain spills, Lazy Susans can access items in the back of cupboards, and a quick tap technique can center pans on hot burners. Her talking thermometers ensure food safety while specialized measuring cups with tactile indicators eliminate guesswork from recipes. These aren't just clever workarounds—they're pathways to culinary confidence.

The conversation delves into the psychological barriers that often keep visually impaired people out of the kitchen: fear of making others sick, cutting or burning oneself, and the embarrassment of presenting messy or unappetizing meals. With each fear, Debra offers both specialized tools and mind-shifting strategies that have helped countless individuals reclaim their cooking independence. "I would challenge anyone who thinks they can't cook safely and independently," she says. "You probably can, you just don't know how yet."

Beyond practical advice, this episode captures the spirit of innovation born from necessity. Debra's vision extends to building community among blind cooks through possible virtual dinners and cooking contests. Whether you're facing vision challenges yourself or know someone who is, this conversation will forever change how you think about accessible cooking and the power of adaptive technology to preserve life's simple joys.

www.theblindkitchen.com

Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

00:00 - Introduction to Deborah Erickson

02:15 - Journey Into Blindness and Culinary School

07:10 - Birth of The Blind Kitchen

09:45 - Essential Adaptive Cooking Tools

14:42 - Kitchen Organization for Visually Impaired

19:00 - Overcoming Cooking Fears

23:15 - Future Projects and Finding Community

26:10 - Final Thoughts and Contact Information

WEBVTT

00:00:00.420 --> 00:00:08.390
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball, if you believe you can achieve.

00:00:08.390 --> 00:00:24.326
Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire.

00:00:24.326 --> 00:00:32.173
Today, we're going to be talking about adaptive cooking, as I am joined by Debra Erickson and a few guests that teach, motivate and inspire.

00:00:32.173 --> 00:00:35.518
Today, we're going to be talking about adaptive cooking, as I am joined by Deborah Erickson.

00:00:35.518 --> 00:00:44.899
Deborah is the executive chef and founder of the Blind Kitchen, where she uses adaptive culinary tools and other adaptive tools to be able to cook safely despite vision loss.

00:00:44.899 --> 00:00:53.350
Deborah suffers from RP, and we'll let her explain to you what that is and how she gets to cooking down at the Blind Kitchen.

00:00:53.350 --> 00:00:55.665
So, deborah, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:00:56.429 --> 00:00:57.835
Thank you so much for having me.

00:00:57.835 --> 00:00:58.496
It's an honor.

00:00:58.496 --> 00:00:59.479
I appreciate it.

00:01:00.060 --> 00:01:02.823
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

00:01:03.704 --> 00:01:21.578
Okay, I am the executive chef and founder of the Blind Kitchen, which is an online company that provides adaptive cooking tools and strategies for people with vision loss who want to cook safely and confidently and independently.

00:01:21.578 --> 00:01:39.900
I was also the only blind student blind student in culinary school, so that meant I had to solve a lot of problems and after culinary school, when I got the time, I organized all that information into different categories and that's how the blind kitchen came to be.

00:01:39.900 --> 00:01:50.052
I am blind, I have retinitis pigmentosa and very, very little vision left in one eye Not really anything usable, but I'm not completely blind.

00:01:50.052 --> 00:01:52.335
So that's kind of who I am.

00:01:52.335 --> 00:02:01.667
Well, explain to the listeners what RP is Resistant people no, just kidding.

00:02:01.667 --> 00:02:18.091
It stands for retinitis pigmentosa and it is eye disease where the first symptoms are night blindness and then a loss of peripheral vision and then eventually that vision just closes in and takes away your central vision.

00:02:18.091 --> 00:02:23.231
There's no cure for it at this point in time, but they're working on it.

00:02:23.231 --> 00:02:30.326
But I'm you know, I've just learned to deal with it and I was diagnosed at 28.

00:02:30.366 --> 00:02:32.270
So I was driving and it came right out of the blue.

00:02:32.270 --> 00:02:35.185
There was no history of blindness on either side of the family.

00:02:35.185 --> 00:02:49.909
My parents were obviously recessive gene carriers and so I had worn glasses as a kid because I had astigmatism in one eye, and my older sister wore glasses and so did my dad.

00:02:49.909 --> 00:02:53.909
So about once a year we'd all get in the station wagon and go to our country doctor.

00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:57.669
Dr Korn Can't make this stuff up in Indiana, thank you very much.

00:02:57.669 --> 00:03:02.966
So when I was diagnosed we went back and retrieved the records.

00:03:02.966 --> 00:03:18.100
We went back and retrieved the records and we found there was a note in my medical record that said Deborah is showing signs of decreased peripheral vision, and that was at 17.

00:03:18.121 --> 00:03:20.042
So it had already been part of my life.

00:03:20.042 --> 00:03:20.882
I just wasn't aware of it.

00:03:20.882 --> 00:03:25.025
Well, talk to the listeners about what made you want to become a chef in the first place.

00:03:25.985 --> 00:03:26.846
That's a good question.

00:03:26.846 --> 00:03:28.086
Not because I like to cook.

00:03:28.086 --> 00:03:30.187
It was interesting.

00:03:30.187 --> 00:03:31.848
So growing up, I'm one of 12 kids.

00:03:31.848 --> 00:03:34.330
I have two brothers that have RP as well.

00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:37.812
They're both entrepreneurs as well, which is kind of fun.

00:03:39.213 --> 00:03:45.700
So growing up my mom had seven daughters, so we didn't get a lot of in front of the stove time with mom.

00:03:45.700 --> 00:03:48.045
She was basically distributing food.

00:03:48.045 --> 00:03:53.763
It wasn't a big gourmet meal, but she kept us fed and cooked and I'm very grateful to her.

00:03:53.763 --> 00:03:55.766
She was an amazing woman.

00:03:55.766 --> 00:04:05.411
But so my part of helping with dinner was to set the table, peel 10 pounds of potatoes and help clean up.

00:04:05.411 --> 00:04:07.174
So I didn't grow up cooking.

00:04:07.174 --> 00:04:17.144
And when I got married I had kids, and my youngest son is six foot five but I did not cook well for them.

00:04:17.144 --> 00:04:27.894
He grew that tall in spite of me not because of me and the way I would cook was to open cans and boxes and I'd follow directions or put something in the microwave because that's the only way I knew how to cook.

00:04:28.980 --> 00:05:05.836
And then I went on to teach as a professional career and when I had my vision lost, when the last part fell and I had to go to the Oregon Commission for the Blind to get my orientation and mobility skills Mission for the Blind, to get my orientation and mobility skills, I learned to read braille, learned to use adaptive devices, you know, with swipes and gestures and keypad keyboard commands, and I was taking a meal prep class and I she was teaching me how to cook and how to use an oven safely and stuff like that and a light bulb went on my head.

00:05:05.836 --> 00:05:08.745
I said I think I'd like to teach this.

00:05:08.745 --> 00:05:11.680
I'm enjoying myself right now and you know I'd love to learn.

00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:39.660
And then the light bulb went back off and I'm like but I don't know how to teach cooking, I don't really know anything about cooking, and so they, they and I'm very skills oriented as a teacher, and so they did allow me to go to culinary school and I was the only blind student there and the chefs were absolutely fabulous and there were a lot of problems to be solved and I didn't get everything right.

00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:53.889
I was always slower than the other students and you get points knocked off, because if you're in a restaurant and waiting for your steak and your baked potato and you know, an hour and a half, two hours pass by and you flag down your server and say, hey, where's my steak?

00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:55.966
Oh, the chef is blind.

00:05:55.966 --> 00:05:57.365
She's a little slower than other people.

00:05:57.365 --> 00:05:58.865
People don't want to hear that.

00:05:58.865 --> 00:06:10.115
There are certain standards that they are training you to meet, and if I couldn't meet that standard, it was not a big deal, and they always said if you can't finish on time, finish strong.

00:06:10.115 --> 00:06:15.108
And that was very helpful to me, and so I just let that part go.

00:06:15.108 --> 00:06:16.987
You know, I need to come out.

00:06:16.987 --> 00:06:25.428
It's more important for me to come out with a good product, an attractive presentation, seasoned well, than to get it to them quickly if it's not right.

00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:46.831
So yeah, so that was culinary school, and when I got out, all I really wanted to do was teach at the Oregon Commission for the Blind or perhaps another vision loss related, because I wanted to teach people with vision loss, because that's what I knew new, and I went to work for the commission in June of 2019.

00:06:46.831 --> 00:06:50.636
And in March of 2020, covid hit.

00:06:50.636 --> 00:07:00.776
So I was basically sent home for a year and a half to twiddle my thumbs, and that's when I started putting all the information together and organizing it.

00:07:00.776 --> 00:07:05.250
So, and that's how the blind kitchen ended up to be, and then I was doing both for about a year.

00:07:06.201 --> 00:07:30.565
I had once they brought me back in, but I was starting to drop balls at both ends and I knew I had to choose one or the other and I felt that my influence and my ability to help people was more in the blind kitchen than teaching one-on-one, which is a fabulous career and I would have done that forever and been fine with it.

00:07:30.565 --> 00:07:39.228
But when forced to make a choice, you have to look at the different parts that are playing and what the effect of this decision or that decision would make.

00:07:39.228 --> 00:07:41.403
And the blind kitchen.

00:07:41.403 --> 00:07:46.466
I have not regretted that decision, although I do miss in-person teaching.

00:07:48.461 --> 00:07:53.153
Well, what's the most important culinary tool you use whenever you're cooking?

00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:55.964
For me it is.

00:07:55.964 --> 00:07:58.011
Well, I'm going to do two.

00:07:58.011 --> 00:08:02.771
One would be the talking thermometer, so that I don't make people sick by undercooking the food.

00:08:02.771 --> 00:08:08.252
That's the only way I'm not going to be able to see if it's no longer pink in the middle or if the juices are running clear.

00:08:08.252 --> 00:08:12.449
So the talking thermometer, just in order to cook safely.

00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:21.392
But the most used tool in my kitchen is the work tray, and what they are is basically standard cafeteria trays.

00:08:21.392 --> 00:08:22.916
So they are.

00:08:22.916 --> 00:08:27.975
They have little raised edges, you know, like you've seen in school or a hospital they're.

00:08:27.975 --> 00:08:30.081
They're just those regular trays but a little bit bigger.

00:08:30.081 --> 00:08:45.009
And the reason they are are so helpful to me is if I'm doing something and even when I could see there were times when I would spill things, knock it over, move too fast or whatever, and I'm very, very careful, but it's going to happen.

00:08:45.009 --> 00:08:48.129
If you're going to be cooking, you're going to spill something every now and then.

00:08:48.129 --> 00:08:55.033
So let's say, I was measuring out a cup of milk on my counter and then I accidentally knock over the milk.

00:08:55.033 --> 00:08:59.010
Now it's running across my counter, down the front of my cupboards onto the floor.

00:08:59.010 --> 00:09:02.889
It's going to be a mess and that's no fun.

00:09:02.889 --> 00:09:23.807
But if I happen to spill something, an ingredient, wet or dry, and I'm working over a work tray, chances are that tray is going to be able to contain the spill, even to the point where I might, with a funnel, be able to direct the contents of that spill back into the jar or the box that it came out of.

00:09:24.770 --> 00:09:27.157
I also use those for cutting boards.

00:09:27.157 --> 00:09:29.381
I have never seen one cut through.

00:09:29.381 --> 00:09:32.951
We used them at the Oregon Commission for the Blind and we would.

00:09:32.951 --> 00:09:40.745
We had three cooking instructors with two or three or four students in one day.

00:09:40.745 --> 00:09:43.751
They went through a lot of washing and stuff and we never had one break.

00:09:43.751 --> 00:09:45.195
So I use those for a cutting board.

00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:47.304
People ask me does it dull the knife?

00:09:47.304 --> 00:09:50.251
I suppose it does, but so does a wooden cutting board.

00:09:50.251 --> 00:10:00.909
Anytime you're going to be putting a smooth blade against a surface, it's going to start to dull it, but then you just have a knife sharpener and you just sharpen it.

00:10:00.909 --> 00:10:13.969
So I would say the work trays and the other nice thing about them is a lot of my customers are people with age-related vision loss, so they still have some vision.

00:10:13.969 --> 00:10:20.349
They used to be able to be able to see and they were the cooks of their family, but now they don't know how to get back in the kitchen.

00:10:20.941 --> 00:10:27.705
So the other nice thing about those work trays are that you can use them to organize, get all the ingredients out.

00:10:27.705 --> 00:10:53.374
If you're making cookies, you know, if I'm working with chicken which can grow bacteria quickly at room temperature, then all of those juices and stuff are going to be contained on that tray, and so we sell a white one and a black one, and that way, if you have some residual virgin left and you're going to cut a white onion, it'd be smarter to pick the dark cutting board so that you could it'll pop out at you more.

00:10:53.374 --> 00:11:05.015
Or if I'm cutting a red onion which is dark in color, I might use the light colored tray, because that's going to give me the maximum vision that I can get for that particular task.

00:11:07.160 --> 00:11:14.014
Well, give the blind people out there some tips for organizing their kitchen and their pantry.

00:11:16.344 --> 00:11:16.484
Yeah.

00:11:16.484 --> 00:11:23.745
So there's a couple of ways to do that and there's a library, literally the Blind Kitchen Library, full of information.

00:11:23.745 --> 00:11:40.331
So some tools that you can use to organize are a Lazy Susan, which is a platform that you can spin around, Because if I need a can of something or a box of something in my cupboard, it's going to be in the back every single time.

00:11:40.331 --> 00:11:45.216
Even if it's the last thing I put in there, it is going to magically go into the back of it.

00:11:45.216 --> 00:11:55.852
So instead of me reaching over the things in the front to grab that one item I need in the back and then pull my hand out of the cupboard while I'm holding, I'm going to knock a whole bunch of more stuff over.

00:11:55.852 --> 00:11:59.003
Now all I have to do, if I have them on this little.

00:11:59.003 --> 00:12:00.847
It's only a 10 inch Lazy Susan.

00:12:00.847 --> 00:12:04.523
You don't want one much bigger than that, because then you're layering things again.

00:12:04.982 --> 00:12:18.451
If it's a 10 inches, it's a nice for cans and most boxes and stuff, and all I have to do is use my fingertip to rotate it 180 degrees and now anything that was in the back of that cupboard is now in the front and I'm not going to be knocking things over.

00:12:18.451 --> 00:12:23.932
And if I've got it labeled in braille or whatever, now my fingers can much more easily access it.

00:12:23.932 --> 00:12:44.383
I also use a lot of bins, baskets, you know containers to put like things in, like my Asian related cuisine, like rice wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, anything that I think I might need If I have chosen an Asian inspired dish.

00:12:44.383 --> 00:12:51.605
I can just pull that out and I'll have all that stuff there without having to look through every single one of my bottles.

00:12:51.605 --> 00:13:00.023
So those are some ways to keep you know clean and organized, so that you know where things are at.

00:13:02.287 --> 00:13:06.817
What are the most common fears you get or you hear from visually impaired cooks?

00:13:08.085 --> 00:13:27.413
Okay, I absolutely have put thought into this and the way they come into basically four categories, and I've already told you one of them the fear of making friends or family sick by undercooking food that could make them sick, and the tool for that is the talking thermometer.

00:13:27.413 --> 00:13:30.274
But there's also different strategies you can use as well.

00:13:30.274 --> 00:13:38.610
The other fears are fear of cutting yourself, fear of burning yourself, and those are very real fears.

00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:45.254
You're standing in front of a hot pot or a hot stove, or you have a sharp knife somewhere near you and you can't see it.

00:13:45.254 --> 00:13:53.255
If you aren't afraid, you're going to be taken out of the gene pool pretty quickly because those are dangerous items that could cause you harm.

00:13:53.255 --> 00:14:01.774
But with the right tools, the right strategies, the right information, you absolutely can master using them.

00:14:01.774 --> 00:14:07.268
But you've just got to be very careful and know how to do it, and that's part of what the blind kitchen does.

00:14:08.190 --> 00:14:13.379
The other fear falls in the third category of embarrassing yourself.

00:14:13.379 --> 00:14:17.610
So, and that kind of falls into two subcategories.

00:14:17.610 --> 00:14:21.739
One is the fear of looking messy or disorganized.

00:14:21.739 --> 00:14:23.446
You know you're knocking things over.

00:14:23.446 --> 00:14:25.727
Oh, my gosh, I'm losing everything.

00:14:25.727 --> 00:14:27.750
My dishes are dirty.

00:14:27.750 --> 00:14:29.211
You know, I didn't see that.

00:14:29.211 --> 00:14:31.653
Or, you know, maybe I'm not going to be able to do this right.

00:14:32.553 --> 00:14:48.645
There are strategies and tools to help you get over that fear and to be very confident that you are organized and not looking messy, looking messy.

00:14:48.645 --> 00:14:50.149
And then the other fear of embarrassment is the fear I can't see.

00:14:50.149 --> 00:14:53.035
I'm going to prepare a plate for you or, you know, for people to feed them, and I can't see it.

00:14:53.035 --> 00:14:56.070
I can't see what's on the plate and I give it to you.

00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:56.932
You can see it.

00:14:56.932 --> 00:14:58.615
What if it doesn't look good?

00:14:58.615 --> 00:15:00.427
What if it doesn't look appetizing?

00:15:00.427 --> 00:15:10.365
But there are strategies that you can use to have beautifully presented foods in equal portions on different plates.

00:15:10.365 --> 00:15:12.289
It's creativity.

00:15:12.289 --> 00:15:13.974
It's part of the reason I love cooking now.

00:15:13.974 --> 00:15:20.456
It's because it forced me to consider creative alternatives, and that's what the blind kitchen has done.

00:15:22.905 --> 00:15:28.879
Well, talk about how a blind person can know if their pan is centered on a hot burner.

00:15:29.504 --> 00:15:30.549
Oh yeah, Good question.

00:15:30.945 --> 00:15:33.214
Especially with those flat stoves.

00:15:33.586 --> 00:15:41.960
Those are the hardest ones and they inspire the most fear, because you get the least amount of information from the flat top stoves.

00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:47.116
However, the strategy I'm going to tell you right now doesn't involve any special tools.

00:15:47.116 --> 00:15:53.847
It's just knowledge, and it applies to a gas top stove and it also applies to, like, an electric coil stove.

00:15:53.847 --> 00:16:12.397
So the principle that you need to remember in order to do this task with confidence and safely is that you can touch the top rim of a very hot pan for just a second and then literally a tap and pull your finger back and you're not going to be burned.

00:16:12.397 --> 00:16:24.544
You can't hold it on there for any length of time and you can't touch hot liquid or hot food, because if you touch hot liquid or hot food and you just tap it for a second, it's still going to come back with your finger and you can get burnt.

00:16:24.544 --> 00:16:32.529
So this only applies to a clean top rim of a pan, and that doesn't matter how deep it is or how shallow it is, it still applies.

00:16:32.529 --> 00:16:35.854
So let's say I'm standing there in front of my on my stove.

00:16:35.854 --> 00:16:48.287
What I'm doing, curtis, the most, is to tap the top of my pan, maybe at two o'clock, maybe at four o'clock, six o'clock, ten o'clock, you know, and that's what I'm doing.

00:16:48.287 --> 00:16:55.525
And if it is equally hot, each of my taps all around the pan are basically the same amount of heat.

00:16:55.525 --> 00:17:00.878
I'm going to know that that heating element, the heat source, is centered underneath the pan.

00:17:00.878 --> 00:17:06.388
But what if I'm stirring and I accidentally nudge the pan and I don't realize that I've done it?

00:17:06.388 --> 00:17:09.031
But what if I'm stirring and I accidentally nudge the pan and I don't realize that I've done it?

00:17:09.051 --> 00:17:10.613
The next time I go to check and see if it's centered?

00:17:10.613 --> 00:17:16.919
Let's say it's very hot at 10 o'clock, way hotter than 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock or 6 o'clock.

00:17:16.919 --> 00:17:29.134
What that is telling me is that the pan has moved and instead of that heat being trapped underneath the pan, it's traveling up the side of the pan at 10 o'clock.

00:17:29.134 --> 00:17:36.394
And so then I know I've got to nudge the pan very gently towards where the pan is hot so I can get it back over the heat source.

00:17:36.394 --> 00:17:39.675
And so I'll do it just a little bit and then I'll check again.

00:17:39.675 --> 00:17:44.969
Give it another minute or so, it's still hot over there by 10 o'clock I better push it a little bit more.

00:17:44.969 --> 00:17:55.086
And then I just keep doing it until I'm back on track again, with the pan being equally hot at the top, with my taps all the way around.

00:17:57.711 --> 00:18:02.768
Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you and your company are working on that people need to know about.

00:18:03.528 --> 00:18:04.270
Oh, good question.

00:18:04.270 --> 00:18:08.086
So we've got a couple of more products to put on the store shelves.

00:18:08.086 --> 00:18:09.990
I think we have 94 now.

00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:11.573
So that's a lot.

00:18:12.934 --> 00:18:17.491
But one thing is I'm writing a cookbook, I do my recipes.

00:18:17.491 --> 00:18:23.569
They're on the website as well, and they're done in a teaching version from the beginning of the ingredients.

00:18:23.569 --> 00:18:37.353
Like if you're making a peach cobbler, I talk about frozen peaches versus canned peaches versus fresh peaches, and so that gives you the information that you need to make what will work for you.

00:18:37.353 --> 00:18:44.451
And then the other thing I do is if it says you know, mix one cup of flour, one egg and one half cup of sugar.

00:18:44.451 --> 00:18:47.005
In the directions it'll often say mix the flour, sugar, one egg and one half cup of sugar.

00:18:47.005 --> 00:18:52.284
In the directions it'll often say mix the flour, sugar and egg, but that doesn't give the amount.

00:18:52.284 --> 00:19:02.856
So then we've got to navigate our way back up to the top to find out the three of them unless you're better at memorizing than I am, because I am not good at it, and I put those numbers right in the directions as well.

00:19:02.856 --> 00:19:06.490
So that's a nice helpful thing that saves us a bit of time.

00:19:08.093 --> 00:19:11.857
The other thing I really want to do is create a community.

00:19:11.857 --> 00:19:24.128
There's a lot of us out there, not a lot of blind chefs, but a lot of blind people who love to cook, and it's a bridge between people.

00:19:24.128 --> 00:19:25.912
Food is culturally storytelling holidays.

00:19:25.912 --> 00:19:33.549
Food is a very strong motivator and connector, and so I would like to.

00:19:34.211 --> 00:19:46.273
I know that a lot of people with vision loss because travel can be difficult to arrange, difficult to do, a lot of people don't get out as often as I think they would like to.

00:19:46.273 --> 00:20:01.439
So I am trying to figure out a way that I can connect people with vision loss who like to cook, maybe do cooking contests or maybe just have a virtual, you know dinner, I don't know.

00:20:01.439 --> 00:20:01.805
We've got.

00:20:01.805 --> 00:20:05.393
I've got to get the business up and running, for I mean, it is running.

00:20:05.393 --> 00:20:09.448
We've been open since October of 22.

00:20:09.448 --> 00:20:14.057
So we've got to keep the packages going out and stuff like that.

00:20:14.057 --> 00:20:32.707
But once we hit the tipping point where I can then focus on more things that don't generate income but generate a good community, that is, I am so looking forward to in some way building community, and so if anybody has any ideas, feel free to reach out.

00:20:32.707 --> 00:20:36.128
I'm juggling a lot of things around right now in my head.

00:20:37.490 --> 00:20:39.797
Speaking of reaching out, though, I should contact them for.

00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:41.201
Oh yeah, okay.

00:20:41.201 --> 00:20:43.057
So you go to theblindkitchencom.

00:20:43.057 --> 00:20:53.164
Make sure you include the word the, because Blind Kitchen is a TV show in Boston where they blindfold people that can see perfectly well and give them cooking challenges.

00:20:53.164 --> 00:20:54.255
So that's not me.

00:20:54.255 --> 00:21:01.894
We can talk about that, but go ahead and just put in theblindkitchencom and everything on the website.

00:21:01.894 --> 00:21:10.160
It's very clean, there are no pop-up ads, it's not cluttered, it's very screen reader friendly and very magnifier friendly.

00:21:11.021 --> 00:21:25.215
The other thing is, for every tool like, let's say, we talked about the work trays they would come to you in a package that is labeled both in large print and braille, and it reseals so you can put them back in if you want to, but with them.

00:21:25.215 --> 00:21:29.952
If you say, oh, I don't remember what she said, what all I could do with these, let me look it up.

00:21:29.952 --> 00:21:41.459
There's an audio described video on the website that tells you what the tool is and what it does, why it's blind friendly and how to use and care for it.

00:21:41.459 --> 00:21:46.546
Because I don't sell things that aren't especially adaptive for people with vision loss.

00:21:46.546 --> 00:21:49.460
I'm just not selling pots and pans or, you know, dinner plates.

00:21:49.460 --> 00:21:59.078
The things that you'll find on the store shelves address some challenge that is faced by people with cooking loss in the kitchen.

00:22:02.631 --> 00:22:04.337
We'll close this out with some final thoughts.

00:22:04.337 --> 00:22:09.195
Maybe, if that was something I forgot to talk about, that you would like to touch on, or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

00:22:10.097 --> 00:22:14.117
Yeah, first of all, I'd like to say this can be done.

00:22:14.117 --> 00:22:46.792
Hundreds of us, not thousands of us, are doing it, and the blind kitchen part of the mission was to let you sit back in the comfort of your own home and take in the information on the website, whether it's the audio described videos, or if you use magnifiers, whatever it takes, so that you can find out where your challenge is, and there's so many challenges like measuring, picking out the one about centering a pan on the stove.

00:22:46.792 --> 00:22:48.717
I get asked about that all the time.

00:22:48.717 --> 00:22:51.261
How do I ground meat?

00:22:51.261 --> 00:22:53.212
How do I know when it's cooked?

00:22:53.212 --> 00:22:56.852
I can't use a talking thermometer for that, and so we have a video on that.

00:22:57.152 --> 00:22:59.136
How can you fry an egg or make pancakes?

00:22:59.136 --> 00:23:06.858
Because when you put liquid into a pan or a grill, it's going to go wherever the heck it wants if you don't have a way of controlling it.

00:23:06.858 --> 00:23:26.037
And so for all of these things I've talked about in measuring wet ingredients that can be a nightmare for people, and that we have a really nice set of measuring cups and spoons on the website that are also marked, but they're marked with their stainless steel and the handles.

00:23:26.037 --> 00:23:29.150
If it has four dots and they're part of the handle.

00:23:29.150 --> 00:23:36.104
They aren't bump dots, they're not tactile paint, they are actually part of the steel handle itself.

00:23:36.104 --> 00:23:39.798
Then you've got a quarter of a teaspoon or a quarter of a cup.

00:23:39.798 --> 00:23:48.181
If there's two, because two it's going to be a half, because two is on the bottom of that fraction, and if it's three, it's going to be a third.

00:23:48.181 --> 00:23:55.594
So you don't have to read Braille, you just have to be able to count and hopefully you have enough sensitivity in your fingertips to be able to count.

00:23:55.594 --> 00:24:06.156
So these don't work for everyone, especially if you have other conditions that might neuropathy and things like that that might affect your ability to feel.

00:24:06.238 --> 00:24:11.073
But I've had a lot of people say that this really has made a difference.

00:24:11.073 --> 00:24:17.972
So I would challenge anyone who thinks that they can't cook safely and independently.

00:24:17.972 --> 00:24:22.303
I would challenge to think that you probably can, you just don't know how yet.

00:24:22.303 --> 00:24:36.454
So that would be my message to people, and if you want to reach out and talk to me, you can write to info at theblindkitchencom and I would love to have a conversation with people and serve as kind of a consultant.

00:24:36.454 --> 00:24:45.163
If you're a baker, your needs are probably and challenges are probably going to be different than someone who cooks on top of the stovetop versus in the oven.

00:24:45.163 --> 00:24:50.281
We all have our different preferences and our different styles that we enjoy.

00:24:50.281 --> 00:25:00.240
So not everybody needs everything in the blind kitchen not by any stretch but there are some things that might absolutely make your life easier.

00:25:02.010 --> 00:25:02.393
All right.

00:25:02.393 --> 00:25:10.113
Ladies and gentlemen, theblindkitchencom, please be sure to check out everything that Debra's up to Follow, rate review.

00:25:10.113 --> 00:25:14.182
Share this to all your blind and visually impaired friends.

00:25:14.182 --> 00:25:16.116
Share it to as many people as possible.

00:25:16.116 --> 00:25:18.654
Jump on your favorite podcast app.

00:25:18.654 --> 00:25:22.416
Follow the show, check us out, like us, leave us a review.

00:25:22.416 --> 00:25:36.142
Visit our new website for living the dream, wwwcurveball337.com, where you can leave your feedback and leave comments and all that good stuff.

00:25:36.142 --> 00:25:38.711
Thank you for listening and supporting the show.

00:25:38.711 --> 00:25:42.000
Deborah, thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining me.

00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.230
No, thank you for having me.

00:25:48.230 --> 00:25:48.851
I enjoyed the conversation.

00:25:48.851 --> 00:25:54.954
For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit wwwcurveball337.com.

00:25:54.954 --> 00:25:58.616
Until next time, keep living the dream.