Regina The cooking Whiz
© from the text Regina As de la Cocina: Eva Latonda © from the illustrations: Maru García
About deafblindness
Deaf-blind people can't see and hear like you do, they see and hear in a different way. It's easy to spot a deaf-blind person because they use a red and white cane so that they can be identified. Which doesn't mean they're all Atlético Madrid fans though!
Although it may seem to be the case, deafblindness isn't a combination of two separate disabilities, it's a single disability, with its own characteristics.
Some people are born with this impairment, whilst others have lost some of these two senses little by little. Anyway, what all deaf-blind people have in common is that they have difficulty in communicating and that's why they need the help of a mediator. Using their hands, the mediator communicates everything that's going on, whilst helping and offering advice to allow the deaf-blind person to better identify the feelings they are unable to perceive.
Regina is a deaf-blind girl who, despite the trouble she has in communicating, has managed to build a magical world around herself. Would you like to see it?
Hi guys, I'm Regina, the cooking whiz!!!
That's what they call me anyway. Do you want to find out why?
I live on a cattle farm in Galicia with my parents. Living somewhere like this is really invigorating because it's so full of life. The thing is that for some reason, my sight and hearing have become weaker over time. However, the rest of my senses have become more acute. My sense of smell, taste and touch...
I bet you've never stopped to think that the world can be smelt, tasted and felt.
Before losing my sight, I used to run around the farm whenever I liked. That's why I can now remember every corner of it, even though I can't see them.
I make the most of everything around me to learn, I feel connected to the world: the dew, the flowers, the snails' slime, the rain…
For example, the scent of the clean sheets my Mum hangs out to dry make me feel like I've got wings. I skip among them as the wind caresses my cheeks.
Another funny feeling is when I touch my Dad's working clogs, which are caked in mud and cow pats. I imagine that it's a Troll's bogey.
Communication is really essential. Most people communicate with words.
I use sign language and an alphabetic hand touch system (I mean, I spell out what I want to say with my hands). Agostiño is my mediator and was the one who taught me and all of my family to communicate in this way.
But, as I'm also very creative, I use cooking to express myself. That's why they call me the 'cooking whiz'.
My Grandma, Genoveva, was a cook and she taught me all about smells, tastes and textures. It's such good fun to get mixed up in flour, breadcrumbs, vegetables and oil…
When I'm feeling insecure I ask my Grandma to help me and I go into the kitchen and cook a Galician soup. When I'm feeling happy I make a traditional Santiago almond cake.
When I need to let someone know I love them, nothing beats Galician-style octopus.
When it comes to cooking, you have to have a lot of patience, a pinch of talent, all the love in the world and be pretty keen to work hard. As Grandma Geno used to say: "Eating without having worked shouldn't be allowed".
So I make an effort to keep on learning new recipes and then I post them on my blog. Did you know? I've got a Braille-adapted computer!
One day I'll be a well-known figure in the cooking world. Given my adventurous tastes, I'll travel the world in search of new flavours to share with my followers.
Did you guys know that they have crocodile hamburgers in Australia?
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