Terri

In our high care dementia unit, we often wash and dry the dishes together in a small group around a table. We have a clean picnic set and a washing up bowl for this purpose (no one has noticed yet that the dishes aren\'t actually dirty).

Occasionally, I\'ll also pick up a 99c bag of carrots and a few spuds when on special at the supermarket and we\'ll sit around a table and peel them \"for tonights dinner\". Recipe books and supermarket catalogues are placed nearby and are a great conversation starter. We\'ll often discuss what we should have for dinner while we are peeling and make a shopping list. *Suitable vegie scraps can be distributed to staff who have guinea pigs/chooks or a compost bin.

Until now I had never thought to prepare a vegetable soup. I\'m not sure on the food handling regulations but we could probably discard the ones the residents have handled and use vegetables I have discreetly prepared earlier. A damper to accompany would be nice too.

It\'s not always easy to put and keep food handling gloves on high care dementia residents, so when cooking I\'ll usually put aside a small portion of the batch for the residents to roll etc and put on a tray, but only the portion that I have prepared actually goes into the oven.

Our residents also love to wipe down tables, sweep the paths, hose the garden and fold baskets of washing (mainly dolls clothes and tea towels).

I made this damper for our Australia Day function at my high care dementia unit - all the staff and residents loved it! I used melted butter instead, and I also kneaded the dough by hand rather than using a dough mixer and it still turned out perfectly. I doubled the recipe and served it spread with Golden Syrup. Next year I will triple the recipe as everyone wanted more - this recipe is a keeper! Thank you!