by Carly Eden Stokes | Apr 2, 2021 | Blog, News
VLANJ Board Member Ming Wu
VLANJ board member Ming Wu has a passion for improving the lives of people living with sight loss, and she often helps to raise awareness about related topics. She writes on her blog about how “…as a visually impaired woman, I find very few skincare and beauty products are designed with people like me in mind. I sometimes feel like the fashion and beauty industry has forgotten about visually impaired women.”
Click
here to read more about
Ming‘s perspective on this topic!
by Carly Eden Stokes | Mar 16, 2021 | Blog, News
The Starbucks logo and store sign reading “Starbucks Coffee” is featured.
Starbucks is now offering more options to make their stores and ordering experience accessible to customers who are living with low vision or blindness! Learn more by clicking here.
by Carly Eden Stokes | Mar 3, 2021 | Blog, News
We will continue to expand our free virtual offerings this winter, thanks to grants from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and The Grotta Fund for Senior Care. We’re so grateful to these foundations for helping us remove barriers, so people with vision loss can access programs and interact with peers and our professional staff. The grants allow us to run online classes, support groups, and educational and enrichment programs at no charge to adults with vision loss.
Delores ‘Dee’ Eliassen smiles and holds light weights.
Our free winter 2021 virtual sessions offer 13 weekly Beyond Sight wellness classes that run through April 9, plus several shorter skills training and enrichment opportunities for adults with vision loss.
While VLANJ plans to resume in-person programs once the coronavirus is no longer a risk, virtual classes will continue as a means to serve people who cannot get to VLANJ. Transportation has long been a challenge for people with vision loss, and we also simply want to extend our free and virtual programs to everyone we can!
For more information about enrolling or supporting VLANJ, contact VLANJ Senior Program Manager Linda Groszew at lgroszew@vlanj.org or (973) 627-0055, ext.1312.
by Carly Eden Stokes | Feb 10, 2021 | Blog
Looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day recipe? Look no further!
A slice of red velvet cake sits on a plate. Image via RecipeTin Eats.
VLANJ student and technology instructor Christina Brino recommends a recipe featured on Epicurious.com by Dora Charles: “Very Red Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Icing and Pecans.” Here’s what you need to make it:
INGREDIENTS
- Cake:
- 2½ cups cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1½ cups vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons red food coloring (from two 1-ounce bottles)
- Icing:
- 1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Here’s how to make it:
PREPARATION
To make the cake: Set the oven to 350°F and adjust the rack positions to the middle and top third. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans well with baking spray.
-
- Sift the flour with the baking soda.
- In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs well, then beat in the sugar, oil, and vinegar. On low speed, slowly add the flour and beat in well. Add the buttermilk slowly, then the vanilla, and then the food coloring.
- Pour the batter evenly into the pans and rap them on the countertop several times to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans from shelf to shelf so they bake evenly and bake until the tops spring back when lightly touched, about 25 minutes altogether. Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 15 minutes.
- Run a knife around the sides of the pans and invert the cakes onto the racks to cool completely. Once they’re cool, refrigerate the cakes for 20 to 30 minutes to make icing them easier.
- To make the icing: Combine everything in a medium bowl and mix well until very smooth. It’s best to use the icing right away, when it’s soft and spreadable.
- Put one cake layer upside down on a cake plate or cake stand and cover the top evenly with frosting. Add a second layer, right side up, and spread with more frosting. Top with the third layer, right side up, and spread the frosting evenly around the sides of the cake and on top; check for any places where you can see through to the cake. Finally, sprinkle the pecans evenly all over the top of the cake.
- Once the frosting sets, cut into slices to serve. This cake keeps for up to 2 weeks in a cake keeper, but once it’s ready, people want to dive right in.
“I sometimes like to mix the pecan bits right into the frosting. Don’t worry, they’ll stay crisp. You can make 18 cupcakes from this recipe. They’ll take about 25 minutes to bake.”
Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at VLANJ!
by Carly Eden Stokes | Feb 7, 2021 | Blog
February is Age-Related Macular Degeneration Awareness Month. Often called AMD or ARMD, it is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness among Americans who are aged 65 and older.
An image of an eye with wet macular degeneration.
In an episode of the
Hadley Presents: A Conversation with the Experts audio podcast, Dr. Tim Murray of the American Society of Retina Specialists is featured. Dr. Murray treats eye diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. He answers common questions and shares his insights into the future of treatments. Listen to the full podcast episode by clicking the link below!
by Carly Eden Stokes | Jan 3, 2021 | Blog, News
Brain activity is displayed in conceptual artwork.
Restoration of vision through a brain implant in those who are blind is on the verge of becoming reality. Recent discoveries show that newly developed high-resolution implants in the visual cortex make it possible to recognize artificially induced shapes and percepts. Click this link to learn more: https://bit.ly/restoringrudimentaryvision
