First item off my bucket list

As promised, here is the awaited blog about Saturday's goings-on.  After the fun visit to Port Dalhousie, Mandy and I drove to Hamilton to pick up Niki and then head to Toronto.  We were going to experience dinner in the dark at O. Noir.  I highly recommend this!  When we arrived, we went down some steps and entered a dimly lit hallway which led to a still dim lounge area.  It was at time time that we were given menus and order our meals.  Niki was brave in trying octopus and I wanted to try the surprise options for both the appetizer and main course.  I was a little apprehensive about what might arrive on my plate, but I was definitely up for the challenge.  Once our orders had been placed, we were introduced to our waiter, who, like all the other waiters and waitresses there, was blind.  Victor instructed the first person to place their left hand on his left shoulder and everyone was to form a chain in following the same action with the person in front of them.  Line created, we followed Victor into a small passageway.  We could not enter the actual dining room until the door behind us had completely closed.  One by one, we were shown where we would be sitting and our place setting was explained to us.  We had our napkins directly in front of us, with a small plate to the right which held a small butter container.  The bread basket was directly to my left and in the centre of the table. I immediately went about trying to ascertain my surroundings by using the sense of touch.  Where was the end of the table?  Oh - I'm actually at 2 tables put together.  How close was Mandy beside me?  About half an arm's length.  How far away is Niki across and to the left of me? (I ended up poking her in the face when I tried that one!) What does my chair look like? Wooden with minute scrolling details where the seat and back intersect.  All these things would normally be deduced from a quick visual perusal of the area.  Not so easy when you are blind.


Taking a seemingly innocuous task like buttering a roll turned into quite the escapade.  Not only did I end up ripping the bread more than cutting it, but the butter that I had supposed to be on my knife had actually slid down on to my plate unbeknownst to me.  I took a bit bite of bread anticipating the buttery flavour to enhance my taste buds, but they were met with a disappointing doughy flavour.  I felt my bread to see where I might have mis-spread the butter and I couldn't feel anything resembling the pale yellow spread on my bread.  I felt for the container - nothing there!  That was probably the first time that night that I started to understand how vulnerable someone is who is blind.  I ended up finding the butter on my plate and using my fingers to ensure that my bread was evenly covered.  


When my surprise starter first arrived, I avoided the temptation of touching my food with my hands.  I wanted to use my sense of taste to determine what it was that I was eating.  I picked up something sort of slimy and warm and I was SO nervous that I, too, had received the octopus.  But once I put it in my mouth, I realized that the flavouring was closer to that of a vegetable of sorts.  I had fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and then varying textures of these warm vegetables on top.  The eating of this salad was really humourous as I must have brought at least a dozen empty forkfuls to my mouth thinking that it was actually laden with salad.  Upon completion of the salad, I was getting ready to put my utensils on the plate and give it to Victor.  However, when I went to pick up my plate, I noticed that there was a LOT of salad and other salad items that covered the circumference of my dish.  Oops!  Victor came to pick up our plates and I had to give very explicit instructions.  For example, I couldn't say, "Oh hey, Victor!  I've got the plates right here."  Way too vague.  Instead, I said, "Hey Victor, it's Kim.  I'm passing all three plates over my left shoulder."


When supper came, a similar pattern happened.  Victor informed me that the plate was hot and that it was coming over my right shoulder.  The food was fantastic.  I had roasted chicken with a mushroom sauce as well as steamed green beans and a baked potato.  Yum!  The beans were probably the trickiest to eat because I was never sure how long they were and I didn't want to eat with my hands.  I speared my cheek a couple times with the beans, but other than that, I think I did pretty well!


After we had all finished our meals, we left the same way we came in - single file, a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us and back into the dimly lit lounge area.  Even though it was so dim, it was a huge shock to our eyes as we had been in complete darkness for about an hour and a half.


We drove down to the waterfront (paying exorbitant parking fees) and strolled along the waterfront.  We saw some some guy doing a balancing act, part of a French portion of the Jazz festival and had quite a blast with a random boat on shore.  Enjoy the pictures! :)