Jennie Bovard hosts the monthly podcast Low Vision Moments. Part story time, part comedy, part awareness driven, Low Vision Moments present those funny, potentially embarrassing experiences that happen in everyday life when you are blind or partially sighted … like physical distancing with a post because Jennie thought it was a person.
Upcoming podcast topics include growing up with albinism, misadventures in employment and being ejected from a concert for being drunk … even though she wasn’t.
About Jennie
Jennie Bovard is a running, beer-drinking, thirtysomething with albinism. She loves trying all the things, making people laugh, and volunteering to create accessible sport and recreation opportunities in her community. Jennie, who has lived with partial sight all her life, has a diploma in film and TV production. Jennie lives in Halifax.
In Low Vision Moments, host Jennie Bovard presents those funny, potentially embarrassing, experiences that happen in everyday life when you are blind or partially sighted.
Jennie's favourite Canadian beer
In celebration of Low Vision Moments, hosted by Jennie Bovard, please enjoy a few of Jennie’s favourite things. These include a thirst-quenching cross-country tour of Jennie’s favourite Canadian beer, a recipe for her famous Anything-Chip Cookies, and the one item she can’t live without: her trusty baseball cap.
It was almost as much fun to list the most bodacious Canadian brews as it was to taste them. Obviously that’s not true, but stay with me…
BC - Granville Island Brewing India Pale Ale
This IPA has bold flavour, but won’t punch you in the mouth with hops.
AB - Big Rock Brewery Honey Brown Lager
One of only a few lagers I’ll give the time of day because it’s not boring.
ON - Beau’s Juiced Up New England Pale Ale
Essentially a dessert.
QC - Microbrasserie Dieu du ciel Rosée D’hibiscus Belgian Hibiscus
Tastes even more gorgeous than its pretty pink colour.
NB - Pump House Brewery Cadian Cream Ale
Trust me, it’s better than the blueberry one.
NS - Propeller Brewing Co. Coffee Porter
Coffee AND beer. Need I say more?
PEI - Gahan House Sydney Street Oatmeal Stout
Roasted rolled oat and chocolatey meal replacement.
Anything-Chip Cookies
Baking is a hobby my grandmother and mother introduced me to at a young age. I love everything about it, now that I own a dishwasher. The absolute best thing about baking is sharing the final product with others. So you can feel the wonderful feels I feel when I share baked goods with friends and loved ones, I’m generously unlocking my recipe vault.
P.S. Cookies may or may not work as bargaining chips…
Ingredients
2/3 Cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks) at room temperature
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 and a 1/2 to 2 Cups of your “chip” choice - some of my favourites are dark chocolate chips, pretzel chunks, dried cranberries, or chopped up leftover crunchy chocolate bunny
Method
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl until smooth. I use a hand mixer.
3. Mix eggs and vanilla extract into the butter and sugar
4. In a separate large bowl, whisk together well all of the remaining dry ingredients, except the “chips”
5. Add the wet mixture (butter, eggs, etc.) to the dry mixture. Mix well!
6. Fold in the “chips” with a firm spatula or wooden spoon.
7. Drop 1 tablespoon of batter for each cookie onto the lined baking sheet. (There should be 12 cookies.)
8. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes for softer cookies or 15 minutes for more of a snap.
9. Enjoy and share the cookie love!
Tips
1. Crumple up parchment paper and then flatten it out on the baking sheet. I straight up learned this by watching a baking competition TV show. It was like an epiphany and my life was forever changed for the better. The paper doesn’t float around the sheet or curl up around the edges!
2. Keep sugar and flour in sealed containers. After baking with a bag of sugar for a few months, my husband informed me there were countless tiny off-white bugs living in said bag of sugar. Apparently, these tiny are called flour mites. They may as well be invisible with my low vision and I had been feeding my friends and colleagues baked goods with a bit of extra protein. Nobody got sick and now I know…
3. Measuring Cups and Spoons. Measuring accurately is super important in baking, and there are actually a lot of great options out there! Talking and braille products exist, but colour-coded measuring cup and spoon sets from a dollar store have been the best solution for me. I know 1 Cup is yellow, for example.
