Technology
Magic With Gadgets Is Back + Partially Sighted + The Air Fryer
In this episode of 'Magic With Gadgets,' Sam shares personal insights about living with partial sight and the challenges it brings, including her experiences during a summer road trip across...
Magic With Gadgets Is Back + Partially Sighted + The Air Fryer
Technology •
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Interactive Transcript
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Hey, it's Sam here from Magic with Gadget and I'm so pleased to be back and chatting to you on the podcast.
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So today we're going to be having a summer capture and a lot of you have been asking me questions
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about maybe impartially sighted and I've got quite a lot of followers now that are partially sighted or blind themselves.
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So I thought of letting you know how it all happened and give you the background story today.
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So it's a bit more vulnerable and a bit more behind the scenes of me, but you know this is a podcast and I just wanted to share this with you.
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Especially those that have been following me for a while and wonder why I'm so rubbish at looking properly into the camera.
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So should we get started?
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So first of all, how's your summer gone? Comment and let me know what you've been up to and what you've been eating this summer because it's so fascinating to learn and to think, oh, I haven't cooked that.
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I really need to cook that kind of thing.
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What we did is we went traveling this summer. So we did a six week road trip and we did France, Belgium, Holland, Germany.
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And we had an absolutely amazing time.
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We are very lucky because we live right near the ferry port, near the whole.
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So we're just jump on the ferry. It's an overnight ferry and then the next morning we wake up in Holland or the Netherlands.
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You know, as locals do tend to still call it Holland, even though it's proper name is the Netherlands.
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But as opposed to singers for weeks, I always say Germany, don't we?
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It's really Deutschland. So you know, similar thing. So we hopped off the ferry, waking up in Holland, absolutely beautiful place.
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And then we enjoyed a bit of Holland, traveled around Germany and then came across into France through France, Belgium.
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And then of course back to Holland, ready for the ferry back again.
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And we're cutting so close that the kids return to school the same morning that the ferry doctor back again in the hall.
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And we're like 25 minutes from home. So we didn't quite get them to school on time, but we weren't far off.
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I think there were about 20 minutes later, something like that. And we would have been on time if it hadn't been such a long queue, it immigration.
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And customs and everything because they were checking out the white van man, making sure he wasn't bringing anything into the country shouldn't have been.
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But we got them back to school on time and we had a love with summer and we tried so much great food whilst we were traveling.
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It's hard to say a favourite really of the food that we ate.
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We went to Savemont, Michelle and I had the muscles and the fritz there.
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We visited, I can't believe it, there's even such a thing. The Fritz Museum in Belgium, that was amazing.
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We also took the kids to the Limp Museum in Germany. And I think we ended up with about 12 different lengths as we were going around the factory tour.
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I mean, oh, they were so good. And then we finished off by going to the cafe and means to feel shared.
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The chocolate fondue, it had milk chocolate and white chocolate lint in there and the fruit to depend on.
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It was amazing and then the boys enjoyed some waffles, that was good.
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And we just enjoyed so many different food grits. It's hard to remember the model, it was just too many.
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But we also took our speedy with us. If you've not heard of the speedy before, it's that one there behind me.
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And it was brilliant because it doubles as a slow cooker, kind of like your cooking pot, so it's like a pan.
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It's an air fryer, it's a grill, it steams all in one six, perfect for that kind of travelling, which was really good for us.
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So we had a great summer, that's for sure. I love a road trip.
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And the last one we did was in 2018 and George wasn't even two when we did that one. And we travelled with the Instant Pot.
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So it's just amazing to be able to cook on the road and how cheap it works out at compared to like a two week old inclusive holiday in Spain or whatever.
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So it was a great for that as well.
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So I hope your summer went well as well.
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So let's talk about my rubbish eye, shall we?
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So there seems to be a lot of tick tock influencers coming about at the moment and they're all talking about their poor eyes, sight, what they can see and what they can do and that.
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And my first thought is, well, looking at the thing, why are they so good at looking into the camera when they're partially sighted offline because I haven't absolutely probably shot it.
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So sometimes people say, are you reading an auto queue? I'm really not because it looks like I'm kind of looking at an angle.
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And it's because it's me struggling to find out where exactly to look straight at the camera kind of thing.
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So I do struggle quite a bit with that.
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And I can also, I can't deal with small text either.
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So for example, when we were doing the multi cook a time and tent guide, I was away at the time.
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We were on holiday and I didn't have my laptop with me and I needed to check the PDF and see how it was coming together.
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So I was like, my publisher is like, you're over by so many words, which ones each off paying.
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So obviously I had to do it with a fine tooth count, go through it in great detail on side right, which ones are we keeping here, which ones are we ditching and whatnot.
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But I didn't have my laptop, which has a much bigger increase zoom size on it. So I had to use doms.
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So I actually sent it to the publisher and I think I wrote the text in font size 20.
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They didn't complain at me. But yeah, I wanted to sit back when I was zoomed back in on my laptop, back at home.
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I thought, oh, that was so bad. That is embarrassing. But anyway, I sent it in.
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And you know, multi cook a cooking guide out soon.
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It's out on the 9th of October. It's really not long if you haven't pre-ordered yourself a copy yet.
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And back to my eyesight. So my problem areas is I've got what you call tunnel vision.
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So I struggled to see out the corner of my eye. So I'm moving my whole head when I'm looking at something.
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So for example, I'm recording this on my phone now. And if I look over at this stop start button, I'm like that.
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And if I'm working directly at the camera, I like that. So I really do struggle with getting myself in the central position.
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I'm always covered in bruises because I'm terrible at walking into things.
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So for example, when we were on holiday, we stayed at an Airbnb and it had a really narrow hallway.
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And that's where the toilet was in it. And I ban myself in the same place.
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The store handle on the arm about eight times, like really fun.
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I had a massive lump on my arm as well as this mega bruise. It looked like I'd been beaten up.
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Really developed bad. You know, and I've always got marks on myself where my spatial awareness is really, really off.
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So I do walk into people and into things because I'm looking up. I don't have a vision down at the same time.
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I can only focus on one thing at once. So for example, I've been known to walk into people in wheelchairs just because they're down there lower down.
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You know, and I'm terrible at doing that. So apologies to all wheelchair users in a fence now.
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But you probably wondering what the backstory is and why I've got such bad eyesight.
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Well, I always had it as a kid. I was always on the front row at school, you know, in the classroom.
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And even then, I struggled to see the blackboard properly. She has my age now where it's blackboard and not whiteboard.
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And the teachers would help me, but sometimes it wasn't enough.
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So my friend that sat next to it's school, I would copy what she'd written down off the blackboard rather than off the blackboard itself.
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If that makes sense because I really did struggle with it.
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But it was more distance rather than reading. And I think I'm a woman now of a certain age where the reading element also comes into it as well as the distance.
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So that makes it harder for me now. And I'm just trying to try to think of other things at school.
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Oh, yes. My friend that sat next to in class. I knew she wasn't going to be in a high up science group because none of us at school really liked science.
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So I faked my exam at school so that I'd be in the bottom set because I was too frightened of not having anyone to help me in science.
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I mean, they have all the teachers assistants there for it now, but back then I was worried.
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So you end up with when you're in the bottom set, you end up with all the trouble makers as well.
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Science was not good when I was at school. That's for sure.
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So there was that. And I think problems with my eyes and whatnot was picked up on in primary school.
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So they actually thought I was deaf and I have the most amazing hearing.
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You know, when I was growing up with my mom and dad were having an argument or talking about me three rooms away, I could hear it.
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I was really good with my hearing. So it's school. Be kept saying to my mom, we think she's deaf.
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And they kept sending me off the hearing test and whatnot when my mom's like no, she heard hearing is spot on.
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So in the end, they figured it out and I was sent to a neurologist.
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So they actually confirmed at that point that I was epileptic.
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And then I used to, I've never had a fit. I will say that now. I've never had a fit.
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But I used to have what they call petty mile, which is like staring into space.
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So like, like when you see someone staring at you, that was me.
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And that continued throughout school.
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And now my eyes are incredible sensitive that I end up losing my vision completely for a few hours.
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When my eyes are overtired or if I've been exposed to things that are set up epileptic triggers.
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So I've never been to a concert in adult heart.
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I have to stay away from strobe rights and things like that.
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For example, I remember one time it was the lights on bonfire nights.
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You know, when they have the rides on and things, that sent me off one year.
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I couldn't stay a concert one Christmas and organised for us to go to see the pantomine at Christmas.
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I think it was but in the bees.
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But anyway, I actually, because there was a ridiculous amount of strobe lights,
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I'd messaged them ahead of time and they told me there wasn't any flashing lights at all.
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So in the end, I ended up getting a refund eventually.
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And don't let the kids stay because they told them to.
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And I went around to my father-in-laws, because it was about 15-minute walk away from where it was.
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So I went there instead.
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But yeah, I have to stay away from things like that because of epilepsy.
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And then back in 2004, because I'm terrible on the ice,
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I'm the one that falls on my face in the ice.
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I'm the one that you don't have when it's icy.
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But ironically, being to that land, everyone else fell and I didn't.
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I don't know how that happened.
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So anyway, back in 2004, I had a bad fall on the ice.
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And I banged my head and I was knocked out.
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And because of that, I had to have a CT scan.
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So I had this CT scan.
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And they actually said to me that the reason I've got epilepsy and I have problems with my vision
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is because during my birth, I had a stroke.
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In 2004, I was like 22.
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So to banged out in the 20s, the reason why.
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And the consultant at the hospital was such a lovely guy.
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And I still remember him now.
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And he said, not only my students have ever come across anything like this.
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Is it all right if they come in?
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So that meant I had about 12 students, plus the doctor, explaining to me.
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It's in my CT scan because like I said, they've not seen anything like it.
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They said it's a shadow on the brain.
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It's not going to get any worse or whatever.
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It's just a trauma during birth.
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And that is why you've got the problems you have.
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So just continue as normal.
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So that is why I am partially sighted.
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So for example, when I'm in the opticians, I can't read very far.
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Obviously, when they're doing it down the list, I'm partially sighted basically means that
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with glasses, it can't be fully corrected.
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But I'm not as bad enough to be considered blind.
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But it does mean that I do struggle a bit.
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So of course, cooking with kitchen gadgets is brilliant because I'm less of a danger to other people.
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It also means that I'm really, really slow at prep.
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So when I'm doing the prep on video, I often ask how to speed it up a bit because I'm just so slow.
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But Dom's a chef, so he can just quickly do some if I want to just have it ready for you off screen.
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But overall, I don't struggle too much.
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It's more that the gadgets really, really help me.
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So you could say I've learned over the years more to cook with gadgets.
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I've cooked more gadgets than I've cooked without them.
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And Dom always says that's why I'm always better at teaching other people how to cook with the gadgets
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because we don't have another one.
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And that's the only way I cook.
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So I've learned it to a such a big level compared to if I was just cooking at home.
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And there's quite a few that have jumped on the air fryer, bandwagon,
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and they're bringing out air fryer recipes because it's popular, it's trending, it's going to make money.
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But they're only using an air fryer for 10% of the time.
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And probably not even really that bothered for it.
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But me and proper passionate for it.
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And I've met so many people over the years that are from pastly sighted at my level all the way up to completely blind can't see anything.
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So it's so nice to see the difference between everybody and how these gadgets can help them.
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There's a lady I met a few years ago and she used to act, she was 100% blind.
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And she used to run classes teaching other blind people how to use the air fryer when the air fryer first came popular like 2017.
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And you know, that was fascinating to watch, you know, and she used to have me on her show every now and again.
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And it was, it was really, really interesting and learning where the buttons are and everything like that.
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It's just amazing because it gives the independence to those that are partially sighted and blind to have another option and that they can call, you know, it makes it easier for them.
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But yes.
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So I think the worst off is when it's raining, it's raining today.
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So, you know, trying to get myself to and from school is always a challenge.
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I'm about to try contact lenses again.
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I tried them a few months ago and I just couldn't get the intermediate vision good enough.
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But I will try again. I'm going to see if I can because I hate when glasses and you're probably seeming going like this on camera because they're always fully dominoes.
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But it would be nice to sort them out.
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But yeah, that is in a nutshell what's actually happened with my vision.
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But the majority of the time it really does a bother me and I just totally forget about it.
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As long as my laptop's great, as in it's zoomed into the right amount, dumb deserves a medal for how many times it cleansed my glasses a day.
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And how many times it's set on my laptops for me and made sure the zoom was right and it was working for me kind of things.
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You know, a big thumbs up to him there because he's an absolute sin for putting up with me, especially when I'm learning that I can't see my laptop properly.
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Or there's a mac on it that's bothering me because the slightest thing sets me off.
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So, I'm so lucky to have him and for him to help me the way that he does.
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But also, I do think I'd be doing what I do now if it wasn't for that because in my twenties, never wanted to hire me.
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I was looking for office work that kind of thing.
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Nobody wanted me because of my vision.
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And obviously I had to be careful as to where I went because I'd bright light some things.
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So this led me down a path for being self-employed and building our own websites and eventually bringing you where we're at now with kitchengatchitsclub.com.
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So, you know, it's interesting the path that it's taken as long.
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And, you know, it's also interesting to learn.
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Do you have any issues that have led you in the path of using air fryer or the instant pot or such like?
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I know there's quite a few diabetic people in our community as well.
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So it's interesting to see where we're all at and the issues we have.
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You know, it's just a fascinating journey isn't it?
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So that is me.
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That is where we're at and we'll be back to regular normal podcast episodes, actually.
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I just want to have a catch up and I've had a few comments where I said, oh, you're not looking at the camera properly.
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So I just wanted to let you know and tell you how it all happened.
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And, you know, that I do struggle looking at the camera, but I do try.
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And Kyle's repositioned my camera for me today.
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So hopefully I've done a better job of it today, but we'll see you work with.
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So thanks for listening.
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I'll watch it depending on whether or not you're on your podcast player, YouTube or whatnot.
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Thanks so much for listening.
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And you can find us on social media.
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We're on Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok and of course Instagram.
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And, you know, you can also subscribe to our YouTube channel or why not head over to kitchengagetheetsclub.com.
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Let's where we're going to, where detail about all our favorite kitchen gadget recipes, tips, tricks and resources.
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And a chal for now.