Mini-meal

There are always firsts at the Colorado Center for the Blind. For example, today Casey, a relatively new student, went on his first independent route to Romancing the Bean. Sure, he’d been there before, but not traveling on his own. And that’s what makes it a first.

Adia has been at the center since August, and last night she cooked her dinner party – for herself and five guests. This afternoon, Cody completed his mini-meal – it’s only for 15 people. He served Mississippi Pot Roast over smoked mashed potatoes and homemade bread.

What makes the pot roast “Mississippi?”

“A whole lot of butter.”

And this afternoon the CCB Student Association is hosting the first-ever pie contest. There are seven student entries, and Julie, Daniel and Vicki are the judges.

It’s a horse race, for sure. It started this morning with the announcement that Laura was about to go on her support drop with Daniel. She made it back about 11:30, no problem.

Mickey has been working on her mini-meal – for fifteen guests – for the past couple of days. At noon she served a penne spaghetti with meatballs to die for, and chocolate chip brownies big enough for your head stone. There were plenty of extras to go around, no sweat.

Julie has been excited all day about meeting 9-year-old Lexi to talk about Braille. Lexi’s teacher, Janet Anderson, brought her over to meet Julie and talk about ways to read Braille even faster. Lexi is an excellent reader and loves to read, so she and Julie have a lot in common!

Well, yes! And a geek who is blind can be too, as David describes how he’s come from being only able to warm up frozen French fries to making Shepherd’s Pie for fifteen people.

Tilapia and ratatouille were served to fifteen with flair for Ceci’s mini-meal, but that was no surprise!

Julie admits she’d barely cooked at all before coming to the Center, but now she’s cooked and served a meal for fifteen!

And no one left hungry … no one!

Chaz admits he was only a little above the average college student with respect to his cooking skills. Now he’s made lasagna from scratch and fed fifteen people witt it.

Well, the mini-meal is “mini” in comparison to the final Home Management assignment in our Independence Training Program …

And it’s an interim step toward that final goal of cooking for 60 people. See, the mini-meal is only for fifteen!

Here, Suzie, Parker, Ellen and Lyne put their meals in motion and on the table in early 2017. They’re learning how to “take charge with confidence and self-reliance”

CG admits she’d done very little cooking before starting her training at the Center. Now she enjoys it, enjoys sharing with friends. Watch how calm she is as she prepares her mini-meal for 15 guests.

Ryan admits he was pretty happy to be wearing sleepshades as he chopped the 18 onions it took to make his French onion soup. He is also now excited about cooking something other than “meat” since he came to the Center.

Shrimp and French bread … Brittany is cool and in charge of her mini-meal for 15!