Managing short-term memory challenges
Every once in a while, I’m reminded about my short-term memory challenges. I manage this situation pretty well with using physical notes in obvious places and reminders on my phone. Other times there are visual cues as I keep things in plain sight especially by the front door if I intend to take the item out with me when I leave. If I don’t do these things, I simply forget for days or longer. The proverbial “out of sight, out of mind” expression is completely applicable to me and most of us affected by brain injuries.
Saturday night I made my favorite cookies: chocolate snaps. I don’t like cookies as a generally accepted truthful statement. I love cookie dough however. I have been craving these cookies for some time now and my energy level, time, and weather all synced up this weekend. I did struggle with sharpness and I had to measure the flour three times as I caught myself getting caught up in the therapeutic feeling of measuring flour and counting the cups without stopping myself at the required amount and going overboard. Once I realized my mental acuity was low, I had to pay extreme attention to each ingredient to ensure the proper amounts. Even with this acute awareness, I was measuring the sugar and had to use the ½ cup because I had dirtied the one cup with shortening. That’s when it hit me! I turned to the dry ingredients and realized I did not get the flour amount right. I had to figure out what I had done so I could ensure these cookies would turn out. I investigated and discovered I had used the 1/3 cup instead of the ½ cup so then I added the difference to the dry ingredients and continued on with my recipe. No harm, no foul.
These cookies require rolling into balls and then placing into a container of sugar and shaking sugar on each ball. Then I place the sugar-coated chocolate balls (envision a chocolate truffle) onto the baking sheet and bake them. The result is a perfectly round cookie with cracks running through them. The cookies are more than delicious, they are beautiful.
Perfectly round, beautiful cookies
Back years ago, before our family moved to the mountains, my neighbors Kelly and Cathy and I had an agreement. We wouldn’t return a container empty to each other. One time, I filled the container with these chocolate snaps and both of them told my then-husband Paul that I had put store-bought cookies in the container and that was cheating. Paul knew that did not sound like me so he inquired further and sure enough, they were the chocolate snap cookies, perfectly round.
Despite my mental sharpness issues, the cookies turned out perfectly this weekend. I bake as “kitchen therapy” and I share these goodies with my friends and acquaintances. Sunday, I took some of these cookies to Gates Tennis Center and shared them with the folks at the front desk as well as my friend Don, who skipped church to play tennis with me on a gorgeous Sunday morning when my ladder match cancelled the night before. I also gave a bag of cookies to a tennis pro who was on the court next to us. I find that cooking and baking for people allows me to share my love of giving and creating delicious edibles while brightening other people’s days.
New day, new thoughts
This morning, I was busy with my routine, which by the way, is extremely helpful to someone with a brain injury. I’m grateful I was disciplined before my injury because it’s really helped me as I journey through my recovery. Every morning I have my second breakfast between 9 and 9:30. My second breakfast consists of plain Fage Greek yogurt, with Colorado clover honey drizzled on top, with fresh blueberries and blackberries, topped with walnuts. This morning in between laundry loads, I opened the refrigerator and grabbed the berries and yogurt. I saw the fresh salsa out of place so I moved it to sit on top of the sour cream because in my mind, it’s natural to stack those two items together on the shelf. That’s when I saw it.
Hidden from plain sight and nestled behind that fresh salsa was a bowl of chocolate snap cookie dough I set aside for a treat another day. I said out loud to no one, “Oh! Cookie dough.” I grabbed it and set it on the counter to soften so I can enjoy as a delicious treat in a little bit—as long as I remember to return to the kitchen that is and see it on the kitchen counter waiting for me.
