00:06 S1
This is Studio 1 on Vision Australia Radio.
00:16 S2
Hello, I'm Sam...
00:17 S3
And I'm Lizzie...
00:18 S2
And this is Studio 1, your weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view - here on Vision Australia Radio.
00:23 S3
On this week's show...
00:25 S2
What are you like in the kitchen? Are you a maestro of gastronomy, or do you literally set the place on fire?
00:32 S3
We ask a few friends about their cooking skills and delve into some recipes of our own. Mm, that could be dangerous...
00:40 S2
It could be indeed. As we always say at this point, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experiences of any of the issues covered in this episode of Studio 1, or if you think there's something we should be talking about, you never know - your story and insight may help somebody else who is dealing with something similar.
00:55 S3
That's right. You can contact us via email at studio1@visionaustralia.org - that's studio number one at Vision Australia dot org. Or of course, perhaps you can drop us a note on our Facebook. Just go to facebook.com slash VA Radio network.
01:11 S2
And some changes could be coming soon. So keep an eye out.
01:15 S4
In the kitchen now I think I get around all right.
01:18 S3
You make good spaghetti.
01:19 S4
Yes, yes, yes, you have experienced. My pasta sauce is great. Yeah. Shameless plug. I even told Ashley the recipe, my support worker. And she does a good job of it, too. I got to tell you, oh, I think I do. Alright. In the kitchen. Make a bit of a mess when I make Vegemite sandwiches or honey sandwiches. I drop the honey on my bloody shirt. It's a bit of a bugger, but nothing a sponge doesn't fix. Cooking mishap. I made a curry one time. It was my first time cooking on my own. Okay, I made a curry, I did. I burnt the bum out of the pot and boiled the curry basically down to nothing. It was slop, but it was... it had to be eaten. So eat it, I did. Oh no. And... the mistake I made was not only that, but I bought a tin of Clive of India curry. I offended that entire tin into the pot.
02:14 S5
Oh, no.
02:15 S4
So, yes, you can appreciate that it did not end well. That was the one and only big cooking mishap that I had.
02:32 S3
Thank you Sean.
02:34 S2
Hello, Lizzie. Happy new year.
02:35 S3
Thank you. Sam. And how are you on this glorious day?
02:39 S2
I'm hot and I'm bothered. And I'm sweating in places I'd rather not admit to. Sweating.
02:43 S3
I think we all are.
02:44 S2
Anyway... yes. So, dear listener, last week's episode was actually recorded last year. Just because it... transpired had to be done that way for us to actually let it drop at the right time, as it were. So this is actually our first show for 2025. Where are our hoverboards and... Jetsons flying cars. That's what I...
03:05 S3
Yeah. I would love one of those.
03:08 S2
This week we are looking at... cooking, which is always an interesting... thing for people like ourselves. How are you in the kitchen?
03:17 S3
I'm decent. I can make sort of simpler recipes. I can bake fairly well because I can follow specific instructions. But as for things that I can cook, it's, you know, usually like veggie scrambles or... like spaghetti because, you know... it's kind of easy and straightforward, but I can't cook steak to save my life. I either overburn it or undercook it. And yeah. So I'm okay, but my husband is a way better cook.
03:49 S2
So we've already heard from Sean now. Well, I think it's one of your friends.
03:55 S3
Yes. This is Lily, a dear friend of the show.
03:59 S5
You know, I grew up in an Italian family. And hanging up the apron strings of amazing Nana and mum who could cook like nothing else, right? And so I learned to cook. And I can cook. Okay. As the vision started going, you know, I had to start using a bit of technology to think, um, but just the other day, I was going to put a sachet of electrolyte, you know, you know, the stuff we put in our water and the sachet mixed with a few carbs and stuff. And normally I'd just snip the top off, put it into the bottle, shake it up and off I'd go, and I'd do it without vision. I just grab it out of the cupboard, you know?
I don't even know what I'm doing. I feel my way around and, uh. And I put it in and I started shaking it and I thought, what is going on? And it's getting heavier and heavier, and, you know, you can hear the shake. You couldn't hear it anymore. And I actually put a protein powder sachet in there that someone had given me from a sample from something, and it was so disgusting and I didn't realise until I started trying to drink while I was on the trainer and went, Oh my God! Anyway, I had to stop the workout, get off, spit it all out, Chuck it all out. Oh, that was just such a silly thing to do.
What else have I done? Just, um. Oh, I've been known to put wrong ingredients in things just because I'm in a hurry, and I'm... putting sugar instead of salt... or vice versa. You know, I just... yeah, lots of little things where I just shake my head at myself and just go, God, pay more attention, lad. You know, I'm lucky I've never had any burns or anything like that. I've been pretty lucky in that regard. I'm pretty careful. I look, I've learned all the skills I know how to cut things, and contrast is a big thing for me. So I just make sure. Yeah. So that's... I've got a very well organised cupboard and fridge and all that sort of thing, but... yeah, just sometimes do silly things. Grab the wrong bottle. Yeah.
06:07 S3
What sort of technology do you use in the kitchen?
06:09 S5
I have a talking scale and a talking jug. They're the two talking things I have. So all the technology I have, I just then have... skills that I use. Oh, well, I have, you know, contrasting chopping boards and plates and things like that. I use all of that. Otherwise, it's just more down to how organised I am. I do get a big fat black texta and write, you know, the letter of something that's similar to something else on the top. And I can usually see that, I use my phone again... I use the magnifier in my iPhone to read labels. Seeing Eye will read labels to me, I voiceover actually when you've got magnified. Found this out the other day when you've got your magnifier turned on on your phone. I've got it set up that I triple... triple click the side button turns my magnifier on.
If you've got voiceover on at the same time, it actually reads what it's saying to you.
S3
Really?
S5
Yeah.
S3
I didn't know that.
S5
So it's sort of like saying I... but it's... yeah. So that that works. Okay. Yeah. I, you know, my coffee machine, I can't see the gauge very well. So I use again... the camera in my phone. I'll zoom in and just make sure the gauge is going to where it needs to. So I do use... magnification, quite a bit... yeah. Contrast and a bit of talking stuff.
07:35 S2
Thank you. Lily. Yeah. When in doubt, always get Lily to speak because she can fill up our time quite nicely.
07:44 S3
I like Lily. She's a great person, and she's got a lot to say. But interestingly enough, on one point that she said, right in the beginning of the piece about having an Italian nonna and mum, my papa is Indian and knows how to make pretty much everything. In fact, I don't think there's anything he can't make. So I always grew up learning how, like what spices went with what? And... how to cut certain things. He taught me how to cut fruit and vegetables. And, you know, he always let me experiment in the kitchen with him. And my dad also, was really good at cooking. And of course, I had no t come out when I was young. And so I learned all those skills.
08:25 S2
I think another thing that was, Uh oh, there's a few interesting things here to unpack here, but the... last year we talked to two ladies who had established some accessible hair products.
08:37 S3
Yes.
08:38 S2
And that basically meant that the containers felt different. Yep. And that things smelled different. Mm. Now maybe, just maybe we can develop or someone can develop accessible kitchen products so that yes, you're not adding sugar to things when you should be adding salt or vice versa, because the amount of times I've heard about that happening, or maybe it's just our own stupidity because we put things in the same containers. I'm not sure, but, yeah. And one of the problems I've had, though, and this is a slightly different thing, is I've got different jars of spices. Yeah. Now some of them unscrew and they've got a little sprinkly thing that you can sprinkle. Yeah. Others you pop the lid open. Yep.
09:28 S3
Same. But what I tend to do is just smell them. And that's how I can sort of tell what it is. And if I like the smell and think it'll complement the food, then I'll put it in. But it's funny you said about, uh, contrasting sort of containers and different feeling things. I don't think that such a product has been invented yet. However, we are already doing something like that in our household. Like we have a specific bowl for our sugar that is separate to the one for... salt or the little container that we use for salt. We also put the coffee and tea in different containers because we have tea leaves as well. So we already picked out when we went to Woolworths, we picked out different containers and then when we got home, we decided, this one's for this and that one's for that.
Because, you know, Braille labels, we could do them, but they get dirty and then they peel off. But at least if you've got different filling containers, it doesn't matter where the label comes off or not. You already know what's what.
10:22 S2
It's all fine and well. But I'm going back to my problem with the spices because I once forgot which one of the lids popped off and which one of the ones screwed off.
10:31 S3
Oh no. And oh yeah, I'm thinking, I think I already know where you're going with this.
10:36 S2
And all spice is called all spice because it goes with everything. Not when you add a half a jar to something.
10:41 S3
All spice is called all spice because it goes all over the place, I think.
10:45 S2
Yes. So that was my... and yes, it tasted very, very clovey. So we had very, very clovey pasta that night, but it was different. It is, it was... yes, an experience. Anyway, we are talking next to, I believe, another friend of yours, Steven.
11:09 S6
And I'm a pretty good indication that the most interesting thing, probably David's favorite stories, would be what's cooking carbonara for me and a couple of our friends and stuff, and I just got her to serve up dinner, I made carbonara, I poured the pasta out into the sink and drained it and stuff, and then mix it all together and and then got Adele to serve the dinner. And there was a dish sponge folded into the into the pasta. And I strained it. So she pulled that out and put that back at the sink. But... luckily it was a clean sponge, so... that was probably the funniest one. But... when I first started cooking, I accidentally bought cucumbers instead of zucchini. I didn't know before. I try to make zucchini slice that there were cucumbers, but it didn't work very well.
12:03 S3
Yes I've done...
12:03 S6
I do not substitute there.
12:07 S2
Oh, zucchinis and cucumbers.
12:10 S3
You know what? I can see why people can't tell the difference. But generally, my thing is they have a knobbly thing at the end. Cucumbers don't.
12:18 S2
Yes, yes. I came so close to doing that once. Aha! I bought what I thought was a zucchini, and it turned out to be a very nice Lebanese cucumber. But I found out as soon as I chopped the thing up and it was, I was going to put it in a pasta dish again. Aha! Chop the thing up and thought, this is way too crispy to be a zucchini. So I went and ate a bit and it's like, yep, that's not zucchini. So that got put into the into a container and use the following day in a salad.
12:54 S3
Yeah. It's funny you should say that because the one and only time that I've made this one like this mistake. I went to make my veggie scrambles, and what I do with that is I grate zucchini up and... I remember grating this thing and thinking, this is just turning into complete mush. It's way too juicy because cucumber, like the centre isn't as hard as zucchini. And so this stuff was going everywhere. And in the end I ended up having like slosh instead of zucchini. And I didn't put it in because I realised that it was cucumber. But I thought, Oh boy, yeah.
13:30 S2
So you had what might end up being a useful paint or a glue or something like that, I'm expecting...
13:35 S3
I gave it to Lacey, actually, and she loved it. Oh, it was a nice summer because it was summer. It was a nice summer treat for her.
13:42 S2
When in doubt, give it to a dog. Or... Yes, I used to have a pet pig and, yes, she used to get everything, so. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, I am going to give you my award-winning or can't go wrong pasta recipe. Good. This thing is so simple, and I do thank my friend Roberto for this because it is the ultimate cheat's pasta dish. Aha! All you need is okay, said pasta. Preferably spirelli or something like that. Because frankly, I think that blind people should be banned from eating spaghetti in public.
14:19 S3
I do agree.
14:20 S2
Yes, it's something that the rest of the world should not be allowed to see. What people do when they're in the privacy of their own homes is their business, because no one else can see them. But no, you should, we should... all be banned from ordering spaghetti bolognese at a restaurant. Anyway, I digress. So pasta? Mm. Either half an onion or the equivalent of half an onion. Now what I found is in all your major supermarkets now you can get frozen onions. And these things are fantastic. There's no tears, there's no cutting stuff up. You just grab a handful of the stuff and fry it and away you go. A tin of tuna. Now you can either... you can have it in oil. You can have it in brine. You can have it in water. Doesn't matter. It just slightly changes the way that you cook this thing.
Okay. The last essential recipe is tinned tomatoes. Right. And we're talking either diced or um, or crushed or whatever. Just as I said, we're aiming for simplicity here right now. What I also tend to add is capsicum and... celery. But those are optional. So first things first, you cook your pasta. Right. So you normal thing. I will tend to actually boil the water in a jug first nowadays because it takes less time and apparently it's more energy efficient. So I'll put the pasta on first. Cook your onion. So if you have bought the tuna in olive oil, drain the olive oil. Use it to cook the cook the onion up right? Once the onion actually smells nice and has a smell to it, that's my indicator as well. So yes, if you're totally blind, you can do this as well.
So once it smells like cooked onion then you add your tuna and your tinned tomatoes. Give it all a nice big stir up. So the only thing you're actually cooking by the way is the onion. Yeah. Now if you're adding things like capsicum and celery you add those in before the... tuna and the tomato. But otherwise it's just simple onions, tuna, tinned tomatoes. Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the mix. Stir it all up together. Serve it. You have a tuna pasta dish.
16:39 S3
I mean, you do, but where's the flavour?
16:42 S2
It comes from the tuna.
16:44 S3
Well, I mean, like, you must be getting flavoured tuna then.
16:47 S2
No, I like I like the taste of tuna. And also, yes, I tend to add a lot of spices and things like that as well. That's the beauty of it as well. You can add extra things there, I do believe - Felicity, a friend of mine adds beetroot of all things in in there for some reason.
17:02 S3
I do like beetroot.
17:03 S2
So yes, you add whatever you want, you can put some olives in there or something like that. But that's my can't go wrong pasta dish. Do you have a I can't go wrong dish?
17:12 S3
I have veggie scrambles. Okay. So before we even start, my number one tip is have everything prepped before you go. Like before you introduce any heat source to anything. Because what I have done before is put some stuff on the heat and then had to get other stuff ready and it's burnt. Oh, so veggie scramble again. Simple onion. Capsicum. You can do so many things. Grated zucchini or... cut up mushrooms, if that's your thing. Cherry tomatoes cut in half if that's your thing. But just make sure that whatever you're putting in, there's not too much, because otherwise you're going to have a lot of veggie and not much scramble. So cut up everything.
Make sure your two eggs or three eggs are whisked together. I usually do three because I'm a pig. Make sure that's all. Whisk together. Put some salt and pepper in the eggs. I usually add olive oil, not butter. I know lots of people scramble eggs in butter, but I don't. So do the olive oil. Fry up the veg, make sure that it's got that cooked smell like you said, and that everything feels soft when you're mixing with the spoon. Then add the eggs. And now the important thing is when you put the eggs into the vegetables, stop using a wooden spoon and start using a fork, preferably the fork that you use to scramble the eggs with. So you're making less dishes and you cook it for as long as you like your texture. I like my eggs quite firm.
And voila, you've got scrambled eggs. Veggie scramble, very protein rich, delicious. Healthy. It's... apart from smoothies, it's like my go-to breakfast.
18:46 S2
Okay, but do not use on a non-stick frying pan, I presume.
18:49 S3
I actually use a pot. So I have a few smaller pots And I find it's a lot safer for me to use a pot, because then you can sort of gauge how much vegetables you've got versus how many eggs, and whether the ratio is going to be good or not. And also, if you do have grated cheese, you can add a little bit of that about 30s before you take it off the heat. And oh it's brilliant.
19:14 S2
So dear listener, I'd approach both with extreme care, but well, have fun.
19:20 S3
I'm gonna try your tuna pasta. I've been told time and time again through like coaches and other athletes, like, Oh, you should eat tuna. And I've never, ever been able to stomach tuna. But this this pasta dish you've given me, I've got to try it.
19:36 S2
It comes across quite meaty as well. Tuna is a very meaty kind of fish. Yeah. So? So. Yes. Anyway. But anyway, the next person we are talking to is Emma. And I don't think her in the kitchen get on pretty well. No, I don't think so.
19:52 S5
Oh my goodness. Cooking. I am terrible at cooking. I clean, I do washing, but cooking. Oh my goodness, I am shocking. But what I tend to do is I marked the oven, got an electric oven. So you put Velcro below the knobs and I've gotten someone to tell me which knob is what and the markings for the temperature. And then I remember it pretty well. So yeah, I can put a pie in the oven, put, um, kievs or schnitzels or bacon and stuff like that on the sandwich press. I think the sandwich press is an amazing invention. Oh yes. The microwave. When it comes to the stove, I tend to concentrate with feeling things with the spoon, the wooden spoon that I'm stirring with to see Thick. The stuff is on the stove.
But one mishap I can seriously remember is porridge. A very simple meal, right? Porridge. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, what I what I did, like three times and the compost bin, cos I threw it away as compost got very tight with hard overboiled oats because I turned the stove up too high. Oh, no. And I was staring at it and it just kept getting thicker and sticking to the pan. I'm like, What is going on here? This isn't right. What's happening? You had sludge. Sludge? Or I'd say very hard, man. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, the compost bin was wedged tight with this hard cement over burnt bone. Oh my goodness.
21:52 S7
I know, I know.
21:59 S3
So I've actually got a tip regarding oats.
22:01 S2
Okay. Yes, I'm listening because porridge is one of my two worst enemies. Okay.
22:05 S3
I love oats. And my tip is this don't use the stove, use the microwave. But on top of that, prepare the oats the night before. So what I would usually tend to do is get... I use the Carman's oats sachets just because. Otherwise I have to weigh everything out and I can't be bothered these days. So I use the Carman's... no added sugar ones. And then I just add some milk or some water or whatever liquid of choice you want to use. And then like, just make sure the ratio is fine and that... you don't want it to be too watery because it will thick up overnight. So you just cover it up, put it in the fridge overnight, you come out the next day, you've got a creamy, gelatinous porridge ready to go, and all you have to do is zap it for a minute.
Don't do what I did and think, oh, it needs 2 or 3 minutes. No, it only needs a minute because the minute you put it on for too long, it turns to sludge again. So just a minute until it's warm. You just need to warm it through at this point because it's already softened up. And boom, there you go.
23:06 S2
I've never really been a particular fan of porridge, but I have tried it a couple of times to cook it, and it's always turned out, yes, as... some form of putty. So yes, it's... yeah. Have you got any foods that are your worst enemy that just refuse to work with you? I... well, I think you said once bacon was...
23:29 S3
Oh, yes. Yes. I can't do bacon. I mean, I don't do middle bacon or streaky bacon anyway. I don't eat it. I eat short cut. But even then, you've got the little bits of fat around the edge and they curl up, and then I can't turn it. And the last time I made bacon, which was sort of like in the middle of last year, I actually burnt my thumb really bad. It took two weeks to heal, And I said, I'm never cooking bacon again. If you want bacon, don't ask me. I will not make it for you.
23:58 S2
Well, my worst enemy as far as savory goes, is fish. I either undercook it or overcook it, so and I don't... again, I don't particularly like it myself, so I don't bother with it. If people want fish, they can have fish fingers. That's my philosophy. It can be made frozen. So anything that like that is, it can be done frozen. My other one is jelly. I can never do jelly.
24:21 S3
Jelly.
24:21 S2
Yeah, it's such a simple thing. But each time I've tried to make it or to, you know, follow the instructions and everything like that, it's turned out to be some bizarre, viscous cordial.
24:35 S3
Yuck. So too much water Sam.
24:38 S2
Possibly. I've actually been very specific about how much I've added, so. So I after a while, after about 3 or 4 attempts, I've just gone. No. Never again.
24:47 S3
Yeah, I don't eat jelly very often, but Steven... makes... you know what I don't... I will rephrase, I don't have any food that's my worst enemy. Because if there's anything I can't make, I just get Steven to do it. And he is an amazing chef. I can't believe how lucky I got. He's the best cook ever. Sorry, Papa.
25:09 S2
You've got to say that anyway. Next up, we are talking. Let's have a look at my little list of people who are naughty and nice. And both are. Well, they both are. In fact, we are talking to Carly. Are we?
25:22 S5
Okay. I've been banned from cooking steak. I'm only allowed to cook steak in open aired areas. Okay. Which is the barbecue out the back. And I've got it. And I've got to time it because I do like my, you know, I do try to do everything myself. Cooking at the moment. Look, I keep it simple. I use an air fryer for my son. He's very picky with his food, so it's usually chicken nuggets. An easy steak airfryer, everything. And I'm actually on Light and Easy at the moment.
25:57 S3
Wow. Okay.
25:58 S5
Yeah, yeah. So that for me being work and and just at this stage, I want to lose a bit of weight because I've got the event coming up soon as well. Yeah. Yeah. So just, it's easy for me to grab a bag and know what I'm getting because it is just me and my son living here and we eat totally opposite. So yeah, right here and now, with the next little loss of vision, I've gone back to Light and Easy. And I don't know where I'll go from here. Maybe summer I'll go back to just, you know, I love easy things like fish and salad. I live on that.
I think if there was more people in the house, I would get, you know, the support worker. She's offered to prep, but I think right here and now. So I know how much I'm getting. And like I said, for the event, maybe after the event I will take her up on that offer and see what it would look like, because I do love to cook. But yeah, I've kind of put it in the too hard basket for now. The things on the cooktop like especially being able to gauge chicken I won't touch anymore... because that's foul. That was a joke. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Sorry, yeah. But, you know, it's just it's... I choose my battles.
I did have my daughter over here the other day, and I got the, you know, the... big fry pan, electric fry pan. And I did successfully under the bright light bolognese. But that was just make sure that the meat was cooked for half an hour. Chuck the sauces in and mix, you know, things like that. I did a bulk cook then. So, yeah, it's the kitchens. More will be revealed as time goes along.
27:51 S3
I feel like bulk cooking is the solution to so many problems too.
27:56 S2
Oh yes, but the thing is, it depends who you're living with. Yeah, because, yes, I used to do that all the time when I was living on my own. I'd cook up a whole lot of pasta or a whole lot of stir fry or something like that. Chuck it all in the freezer or fridge or whatever. But then all of a sudden, I was living with somebody else and, well, she was saying, We're not having that again, are we?
28:21 S3
Yeah.
28:22 S2
I was like, What's wrong with that?
28:24 S3
I completely understand because Steven and I are the same. Like, I will happily live on bulk stuff. I mean, when I was living on my own, Papa used to come over and... every Thursday, we would decide beforehand, like what we're going to make. They would get the ingredients on their way up, and we would prep, and then we would cook. So I'd have, like, stir fry and curry and but we wouldn't do the rice because frozen rice doesn't turn out so well. So I'd just get the Uncle Ben's brown rice. But then, yeah, I live with Steven now and he doesn't want to eat the same thing twice. So, if we do one pan dinner or like, spaghetti bolognese and there's leftovers, which usually there is, I'll just chuck a couple of containers in the freezer for me, and usually then I've got something if I want it. But he doesn't have to eat it. He can still have his steak every night or whatever he wants. No problems there.
29:13 S2
The other thing as well is when I that I used to do when I was on my own, especially when I was in full training, you wouldn't have a lot of time to do things necessarily. So, my most frequent dinner was a fried meat of some sort and a eat it as you go salad. Yeah. So basically what that meant was whether it be lamb chops or steak or something like that, I would cook the meat and then munch on a tomato, continue cooking the meat, eat half a carrot. Basically by the time the meat is cooked, I've eaten the salad stuff and all I just do is eat the meat afterwards. That seemed to do the job.
29:51 S3
Yeah, I mean, that's good. That actually works out really well. But also you can get the packaged salads, you know, you can get the... couscous or the... basil pesto pasta or the Greek salads or the bean salads or whatever you want to get, like... one of our favourite things to do is get like a rotisserie chook from the shop and then like those salad kits that you get in the bag. Crunchy Asian is our favorite. And like rotisserie chicken and salad, it's so easy. Or rotisserie chicken and rolls. Like there's barely any prep, barely any mess, barely any time. And Monday evenings when I have to... train later. It's one of our go-to meals.
30:30 S2
Well, herein lies the thing is that... when I was an athlete, I was constantly snacking on stuff.
30:36 S3
Oh. Of course.
30:36 S2
Yeah. So actually, having vegetables that were easy to get hold of meant that I would probably be... chomping on a stick of celery and maybe some peanut butter... as opposed to a packet of Tim Tams.
30:49 S3
Yeah, well, I mean, one is clearly better than the other.
30:51 S2
That's right. The packet of Tim Tams is obviously the better one. Yeah.
30:55 S3
Yeah, that's debatable, but, you know, that's for another day.
30:59 S2
Okay. So anyway, talking of athletes, we are talking to next to another former athlete.
31:05 S3
Is it Jodie?
31:06 S2
It is Jodie.
31:07 S3
It's Jodie.
31:11 S8
I'm an absolute shite cook. But but I don't think that's necessarily due to my vision impairment. I mean, I did cooking at school like everybody else did cooking at school. I went to a technical school back in the day, and then I was when I was training mum, I was still living at home. So, with my training and getting home late and stuff, you know... my dinner was sort of already made and ready to go. So I, when I met Neil and, and... started to... cook and stuff, you know, I was sort of behind the eight ball because I never really practised it or anything when I was at home, so I can't think of anything off the top of my head that it would be vision related.
Although when... we... have a barbecue up here. I'm in Queensland, so we have barbecues reasonably often. We just, if my hubby's cooking, Neil's totally blind. If he's cooking on the barbecue, we generally get... steak from a butcher, and they know the thickness that we like. And... he'll generally just time it, cooks five minutes each side and job done.
32:15 S3
So which one of you is the the better cook then, you'd say with... your husband or...
32:21 S8
No. Probably me. I probably do the majority of the cooking. Neil pretty much just does anything that's on the barbecue. And I'll do the sort of the other more involved dishes.
32:35 S2
Thank you, Jody.
32:36 S3
Apart from Lily, why is everyone a terrible cook?
32:39 S2
I think everybody is with that... I think everybody assumes that they're terrible cooks, but they're not as bad as they think. All things considered. We all have our own specialty dishes that we stick to. And I don't know about you, but if there's something I'm not good at, I just don't cook it.
32:53 S3
Yeah. I mean, I find cooking to be quite therapeutic, but obviously because of time constraints and I often train in the evenings, I don't cook. And Steven's just got such a je ne sais quoi, you know, like, such a flair and and pizzazz for the things that he cooks. So I don't even bother arguing because honestly, his version or whatever would be better.
33:15 S2
I suspect that that's our household as well. Only in reverse. So... yes, that's, Heidi seems to, yes, leave it to me. And to the point where, Friday is her night to do stuff. Mm. So we usually get Uber Eats.
33:32 S3
Okay. Yeah.
33:33 S2
So that's... our household. Anyway, the last person we are hearing from is Sam Colley with his only final little piece of wisdom.
33:46 S10
I find chopping quite difficult because of my lack of depth perception. That's always something that's a bit, um, a bit fraught with danger. I'm not sort of too confident with that. Never really have been. But, I do love a good... airfryer. I've got a fantastic airfryer at my place that's... really made things, really... can cook up a lot of tasty quick things in that, but, eah, chopping vegetables and, that sort of thing. Not fantastic. But I do have a couple of sort of standbys I can go to, but yeah, nothing, nothing terribly complicated.
34:24 S3
I think the invention or not the invention, but the introduction of, like, frozen veg salads to go, cut up fruit. You can even get a Woolworths cut up fruit. And I love pineapple, but nobody knows how to cut pineapple, apparently.
34:38 S2
So how do you go cutting things up in general?
34:42 S3
I'm really good. I you know, I went to a, like a specialty school for blind students, blind and low vision kids. So we learned from day dot how to cut using like the knife guards or how to position your fingers so you don't cut yourself. And I've, you know, since I was about 5 or 6, I remember cutting things up and learning how to do that. So I'm not... bad at it. I actually kind of like it.
35:06 S2
Yeah. So the discovery that you can actually buy an actual guard to stop yourself from cutting yourself open is... pretty neat. I don't use them. No. Well, I've learned to do without them myself as well.
35:17 S3
But but they are useful for those that need them.
35:20 S2
And I think that's... the big thing. I think that's what stops a lot of people from cooking is the fear of sharp objects and and hot surfaces, which is like, you know what? Throw caution to the wind. Let's just get out there and have some fun and make a mess, as it were.
35:34 S3
What's life without a bit of risk?
35:35 S2
That's exactly right. Anyway, that is a wrap for this week. Big thank you to Sean. Lilly. Steven. Emma. Kylie, Jodie and Sammy C.
35:47 S3
And of course, a big thanks to you for listening.
35:50 S2
Next week we are joined by an old friend of the show - Matt Levy talks about his retirement from Paralympic sport, what he has been doing since then, and the two guidebooks he has helped to put out at the end of last year.
36:03 S3
But between now and then, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio 1, or whether you think that there's something we should be talking about, you never know - your story and insight may help someone who is dealing with something similar.
36:19 S2
You can email us: Studio 1 at Vision Australia dot org.
36:25 S3
Or perhaps you can look us up on our socials, whether that be Facebook or Instagram. Just look up VA Radio Network. We want to hear from you. Bye for now.
36:36 S1
Vision Australia Radio gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation for Studio 1.
