I’m sure you’ve seen cooking shows on TV that talk about mise en place (I had to look up the spelling.) it means getting everything ready before you begin to cook. Even before my stroke, my husband did this when he cooked and I thought it was a big time waster. In fact I thought he was crazy when he bought little bowl to put spices, etc. in when preparing a meal. Well, that was before aphasia. I tried to cook my own way for months after and was frustrated by the process. Now thanks to mis en place I am able to follow recipes and be successful. Sure it does take longer, but that’s for most things I do after my stroke anyway.
Besides this strategy, I have also learned to rewrite directions for recipes ensuring success. Even with measuring ingredients first, I had to go back to the list of ingredients to be sure that I had the correct measurements. Sometimes I feel like having aphasia is a lot like having ADHD. So now I read the directions a few times before doing the mise en place and add notes to the directions. For some recipes that include many steps in the same paragraph, I rewrite the directions to make them more clear for me.
These adaptations I made really have made the difference. This Christmas I was successful in making 5 different types of cookies, when last Christmas was a disaster. We had to throw out most of them. What a difference a year makes!
Garlic Parm Zucchini rounds. Delicious!
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