Will, another blind veteran, plus members of the Portsmouth Macular Degeneration group spent some happy and productive hours with us. First, we had a team cook-in when everyone contributed their chopping and culinary skills to a delicious lunch of poisson Provençale with herb-infused rice followed by pear almondines and blackberry ice-cream.
The team helped me prepare mounds of vegetables (onions, peppers, courgettes, aubergines,) while another prepared the herbs and black olive garnish. I tossed the whole lot into a big electric wok, tipped in the tins of tomatoes and some dried ones before poaching the fish. Meanwhile, there were dramas underway in the kitchen where the indomitable Karen was holding the fort. Her helpers were getting distracted counting the rice and water scoops into the rice cooker. Then, massive disaster, the food processor committed suicide, and they resorted to a wooden spoon to beat the frangipane mix. All we could hear in the next room was the gales of laughter!
Lunch cooked, served and devoured (before we could take any photos!), the sous-chef regaled us with his bee stories.
All too soon, the taxi arrived to whisk the guests back to Portsmouth while we cleared up. A great success and they are making a donation to BVUK in appreciation of the experience.
It all proves that sight-loss doesn’t hold us back from having a great time, new experiences and fun. More donations would be welcome!
On a more miserable note, here is the pathetic evidence of our dreadful pear harvest: one single fruit. Will do better.
