Backdated Log: Matt & Lorna

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Backdated like whoa. Lorna works with teaching Matt how to cook. Chopping is fun!



Lorna had set everything out for the one on one that she had starting in a couple of minutes. She was planning on having him cook a Chicken Marsala, which she thinking was a fairly easy thing to teach someone. Lorna tied her hair in a ponytail and put on a apron and washed her hands again, before going over to make sure everything they needed was out and counted for. With a nod, she was ready to roll. Looking up at the clock, still had a couple of minutes.

Entering the kitchen, Matt wasn't so sure he wanted to learn real cooking. Well, no, that wasn't true. He did want to learn, but that was also because he liked his food pretty bland and that was the best way to ensure it. It was a little scary though, real cooking. All his cooking prior to this had been of the instant kind. Just boil on the stove and done. Or scrambled eggs with toast. Even that cooking was back before his dad had died though, years ago. It had been a while and he was rusty at best. "Hi," he said, hearing Lorna's heartbeat and moving that direction, one hand sliding on the counter and the other holding his cane as he walked.

Looking up to see Matt entering into the kitchen, she smiled towards him. "Hello Matt. How are you today?" She asked, making small talk before getting into the lesson. Lorna wasn't the teacher at the school anymore, but occasionally she would teach some of the students, or staff, the art of cooking. It was one of her favorite things to do anyways. She got out an extra apron. "Here. It's an apron so you don't accidentally spill on your shirt." Handing him the apron, but touching his shoulder with it.

"I'm good," he replied, stopping when he got near Lorna. Not everyone knew how to interact with him due to his lack of sight, but his powers helped to compensate for some of that too. Taking the apron, he felt it until he found the loop to go over his head and put it on, "It's not the pink flowered apron, right?" he joked. While he could find Lorna with ease, his sonar giving him her approximate shape, details, like the apron, were lost to him. "How're you?"

"That is excellent to hear." Lorna laughed at his joke. "No, sadly that one disappeared from the kitchen recently. This one says "Kiss the chef.'" She teased, but it really said that. "I am doing well. Thank you for asking. Are you ready for your lesson? I have something yummy planned."

"You gonna kiss me then?" Matt asked, teasing her. "Or are you the chef?" He'd never kissed a girl and he wasn't too sure he wanted to start like this, but well...the offer had been made, even if it was a joke. "So, what am I making then?"

Lorna laughed and shook her head. "No and today you are the chef. I am just your helper." Looking at the food before them. "You are going to be making Baked Chicken Marsala. It is a fairly easy thing to make, and has simple steps." She took out a veggie chopper. "And here, I got something just for you. It's a veggie chopper." She put the chopper down on the counter. "Instead of using knives to cut the veggies. I got a couple around the kitchen, cutting your fingers with a knife is not fun, I know."

"They're all still attached," Matt laughed, waving his fingers up so Lorna could see them. He'd cut them before though when cooking, both when he could see and when he couldn't. Mostly, he tried to avoid knives in general, though that wasn't always possible. "Neat," his hands explored the chopper carefully, "So I just put it on top of the veggies and hit the button on top?"

"Not saying you don't know how to handle a knife, safety first when it comes to people in my kitchen. I don't want to explain to Dr. Grey on how someone lost their fingers when making a salad." Lorna nodded, "Yup. You hit the top and it cuts it, but the vegetable will be big in slices. And if you continue to hit the top it will make the vegetable smaller. Which will be perfect for this recipes." She turned so she was facing the counter with him. "Should we test it out? "

"Sounds good," he agreed, "Those squash?" he asked, sniffing the air. "Or am I smelling something else?"

"There is squash in the kitchen, but we are going to cut up some mushrooms first. Unless you would like to improvise and make squash and chicken?" Lorna was all for improving foods.

Ah. "I like mushrooms," Matt agreed. There was very little he didn't like. Sniffing, he found them and reached over, pulling the carton so he could de-stem them first.

"Well that is good." Lorna watched him as he started to get to work on the Mushrooms. She would let him do what he could and she would guide him in the steps of what would come next. "And once you are done with those you can put those aside, we'll add them later. We'll want to crush some garlic clove afterwards, since you can use that niffy chopper again."

Matt's biggest problem when it came to cooking was reading the recipes. Well, that and he had no idea what he was doing beyond mixing hamburger helper with the little sauce packet. "I like the chopper thing. It's pretty cool. Did you pre-measure stuff or what?" because measuring things was always a challenge unless he had the pre-sized scoopers or something.

"Yes. I did. If you want training on how to measure things properly we can do that another day. After awhile it comes very naturally, also you can feel the weight of the food in her hands and you'll know when you have enough." She said. "And what is neat about this recipe is that we have these zip lock baggies to put most of the stuff and shake it."

"Maybe one day," Matt agreed somewhat doubtfully. He had no doubt that it was a useful skill, but it wasn't something he felt some sort of pressing need to learn. There were measuring cups for a reason. "You thought out this whole cooking-while-blind thing, didn't you?" he asked, amused. Not that he would ever turn down ziplock baggie shaking.

"I did think about it all the way through. I wanted you to experience the joys of cooking...not the hardship...cause cooking doesn't have to be hard." Picking up a zip lock bag, "Besides...zip lock bags are fun."

"Well, I've been cooking for a while, so I know it's not too hard," granted what he had done wasn't much in the way of cooking, but he and his dad hadn't starved! "They are. They make a cool noise," he took them and pulled them open, putting the chicken and the seasoning in the baggies. "Awesome."

"Good. Cooking should always be fun." Lorna laughed at Matt's saying. "They do." Watching him take charge and putting the chicken and seasoning into the baggies. "If I was your teacher I would had given you an A right there. Knowing what you are doing." She said, watching the chicken being covered with seasoning. "After that, we'll put it in the pan and into the oven the chicken goes."

"Pan, pan pan..." Matt reached out to find the pan, then began putting the chicken in it in careful rows. "Well, clear instructions work. If you make it complicated or use funny French terms or whatever, then it's confusing. Why do people do that? Get all fancy with their terminology?"

"All the best cooking happens in France...and it makes it look more exotic." She laughed. "My teacher was a French Chef. Taught me a couple of French words, mostly the bad ones."

Matt laughed, "I'm taking Spanish. Yo quiero Taco Bell," he joked. "So, now we're about ready to bake it, right?"

"Impressive. More than I know." Lorna said. "Yup. The oven is all ready." She reached over and grabbed some oven mitts and handed them to him. "The oven is about your chest high and the rack is just straight in."

It took Matt a moment to get the oven mitts, he wasn't good at taking things from others yet. Those were smaller, most subtle movements that he didn't always catch with other people. Pressing things directly into his hands worked best still. Powers or not, he was still blind and still learning to use his powers, "Good to know," he agreed. Slowly he carried the pan in one hand and felt along the counters until he found the oven with the other. Once he was close enough to feel the heat it had been easy to find. Opening it up and sliding the pan in, he grinned, "There we go! What's next? Or is there a next beyond waiting?"
Lorna watched as he found the oven and put the chicken in. "Unless you want to make a salad with your meal..." She said to him smiling at his grin.

Pondering salad and the option of getting to use the nifty chopper thing, Matt nodded, "Sure. Chop, chop chop, right?"

Lorna laughed, "Yes chop chop."