Cooking class builds blind people's kitchen confidence

By MONICA HAYNES
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Don Meyer stands at the kitchen counter and listens to the voice coming from the tape player: "One teaspoon margarine. One tablespoon milk. A two-cup glass measuring cup. A knife and fork."

The items have been placed on a tray for him by his instructor, Heidi Pierce, who stands next to him. He presses the play button and listens to the tape once more: "Place one teaspoon margarine in a two-cup microwave safe measuring cup," the voice continues.

Pierce goes to the refrigerator, retrieves the butter and places it on the counter. Her student scoops the butter into a measuring spoon and then scrapes it into the microwaveable cup.

On the other side of the kitchen at another work station is instructor Ann Nicholson and her student, Sarah Windmueller. Sarah, 17, aspires to be a chef and is also making scrambled eggs.

"I'm going to show you a second way to crack the egg," Nicholson says. The instructor tells Sarah to hold the egg in her dominant hand, crack it with a knife.

Sarah puts the egg into a measuring cup. Her instructor tells her to use her fingers to remove any shell fragments. "It seems kind of gross but it's an OK thing to do," Nicholson says.

At the other cooking station, Meyer places a cup inside the microwave and seeks the right button to push. He has to set it for 30 seconds to melt the butter. "When it starts to sizzle, then we're going to know that butter is melted," Pierce says.

She then asks him a question: "How would you know it was melted enough if you couldn't see it?"

Those are the kind of questions Meyer is learning to answers as a student in the Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh's summer program.

The 19-year-old from Gibsonia, Pa. has no vision in his right eye, some vision in his left but no peripheral vision.

"I was fine at birth but then my vision started to decrease" due to a rare genetic condition, he explained. "It was gradually decreasing since age 10 and then finally just got bad in October."

This is his first year in the summer program, which helps blind and visually impaired high school students and those who may be heading to college to be more independent. There are about 20 students in the program learning how to use the latest computer technology, such as talking software, for the blind and visually impaired. They also learn everyday household skills such as doing laundry, sewing, cleaning and cooking.

"I heard I was probably going to learn Braille, which I did in two weeks," said Meyer, whose career goal is to be a lawyer. "I learned mobility techniques with the cane, which was very helpful."

On this particular day, he is learning to cook scrambled eggs in the microwave. He also will toast a bagel and make hot chocolate in a Hot Shot, a cross between a hot pot and a coffee maker.

Answering the question about knowing when the butter is melted enough, Pierce tells him to stir the butter with a knife and feel for clumps.

These also are techniques she's had to learn. The 40-year-old substitute elementary teacher lost her vision completely last year.

"I had too much oxygen when I was a baby," she says. "Sometimes, it'll affect you right away at birth and sometimes, it'll show up later. Mine showed up later."

Pierce enrolled in the personal adjustment to blindness training in 2006, a 12-week program for adults that includes computers, Braille, check writing, how to balance a checkbook, household duties.

The married mother of three, ages 18, 13 and 12, enjoyed her personal adjustment classes so much that she began volunteering in the household arts kitchen. This summer, the organization asked Pierce, who has a bachelor's degree in social work and a master's in teaching, if she would help teach the summer program.

Nicholson, who's a full-time instructor, is also blind and was a client before becoming an employee. Her seeing eye dog, Heaven, a golden Lab, roams about the kitchen eating any morsels that may fall to the floor. Pierce's dog, Elaine, a black Lab, is younger and stays tethered while in the kitchen.

She said she and Nicholson meshed instantly. "We just absolutely work so well as a team," Pierce said. "I think it's just awesome, so much more beneficial to the clients."

It's not always easy. Sometimes the instructors bump into each other while heading to the refrigerator. Still, they're able to maintain a sense of humor.

"We're like bumper cars," Nicholson said. "Who let all these blind people in here?"

Monica Haynes can be reached at mhaynes(at)post-gazette.com