Banquet

Sorry about being delinquent in writing in my blog, but I had little access to a computer the last week. I also married off a son, and I got to walk the bride down the aisle! It was double frosting on the cake.

Today at the Center we had a run-through or practice of the meal that we will serve at the 50th anniversary of the Center. We had a local chef who directed the practice run. The meal consisted of a pork loin stuffed with sausage and various spices, a wild rice recipe, a very good soup with shrimp in it, mixed vegetables with tarragon butter on it, and finally for dessert we had two different kinds of cheesecake. With the help of another student who read the recipe which was in braille, we made the wild rice recipe and we also helped make the dinner rolls. The wild rice recipe consisted of wild rice, onions, baby portobello mushrooms, spices, and chicken broth. We had to mince the onions and mushrooms, sautee them, and also also mince some parsley that we added at the very end. The wild rice came out quite tasty. After everyone was finished cooking we had an elegant dinner. Most of the food was eaten up, but we had 23 pounds of pork loin and we could only eat about half of that. Many staff members were included in helping make the dinner and in eating it as well.

Tomorrow we will have a normal class schedule and I hope to buckle down on my computer and my braille. I've also stained my picture frame, and the next step will be to varnish it. And in Travel I'll be practicing going to Fareway, as today I went to the bus stops that I'll use to get to the food store. I have made it across the alley from hell many times and will probably quit calling it that name.

I almost forgot that last week I had my first real big solo trip traveling by myself (with my shades and white cane). I went to one of our favorite restaurants which I had to walk a couple of blocks to catch the bus, ride the bus to a stop near the restaurant, and walk the rest of the way to the restaurant. I made it without making any mistakes. Later about twelve other students met me at the restaurant and we had a very good dinner. The crowning glory was my meal which included chile rellenos and an enchilada, except that they were all meatless with cheese and it was the next day before I found out I received the wrong order and the vegetarian in the group got my beef enchilada! More later.