Can you make a sandwich?

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I can cook anything, so long as it's from a box or can.

I do make a very good sandwich though, which is basically my own variation on a Reuben. I use Havarti in place of swiss cheese (nasty) and often I like to use sourdough instead of rye bread. Otherwise it's the same.

I have no problems cooking.

Man, I didn't know there were still people who were ok with that sort of thing. Personally, if someone told me that, I'd be gone, but then, I've always been more independent than that.

As for the original topic: Actually, I can't make a sandwich. I can make a bunch of other stuff, provided that I follow the recipe exactly (checking every 30 seconds), but sandwiches have always been beyond me; I guess because there aren't instruction.

Of course, I've set multiple things on fire, so you know.



Daniel, not daniel (sorry, but that's one of my biggest peeves ever). And if you look at what he's comparing to, then it's not that hard to understand.

Well, I HAVE mentioned how I used to NEVER use capitals. Hard as it may be to understand, I STILL have trouble with names. It wasn't meant to be a slight.

The beauty of sandwiches is that, unless preparing them for someone else, etc..., you can do them however you want and to your taste. Of course, you could always create something you feel might be ok, make instructions, and tweak them to improve things. That is what halfway decent fast food chains do to maintain consistancy. It isn't like a slight failure can hurt you or will even be bad.

I looked after myself for 11 years, so I did simple cooking. Always a battle between hunger and patience...

sandwiches are easy...

I haven't seen it (I don't stalk you, though sometimes it may seem that way, I guess). Nor was my comment meant to be a slight towards you either; like I said, it's just one of those things for me, especially considering everything.



See, I don't mind changing things to suit my taste, but I have to make them according to the instructions first. Sandwiches almost never come with recipes, so I have trouble with them. Well, that and I've developed an aversion to most bread.

Tweaking is something I'll do after I've done the dish at least once, so that I can identify what needs to be changed; it's also something I rarely do. For instance, I cooked over the weekend; one of the things I made was seafood lasagna, which was ok, but in the future, I'd probably change the lasagna noodles to some sort of hard, flaky bread. I knew I'd end up thinking that even before I made it, but I followed the recipe exactly anyway.

My father, on the other hand, took about half of the leftover ingredients and made something new out of that. He tried it and decided what to change, without having any instructions or guides to go by. That's not something I can do; I need to stick to the book, at least at first.

Yes, I can go and grab another; it's only a couple of points. No matter what, I simply cannot do it all together at a single time; I was describing it to my mother as she wanted insight into how I do things, and a good description would be "parts of objects" and "rituals". I mentally have to break everything down to their fundamental components to actually do things, and I have to go through with this mental breakdown of parts each time I do or see something. Without this, I couldn't do or comprehend anything. I could leave a piece of bread down, and come back to put something else on it; I cannot do this as there's too many parts, even though they're separated by time.

If there's more objects, the harder it is for me to do things; more people walking around, more noises, these things equate to discomfort (sensory), the same for actually doing things for me.

When I see a door, I don't see its singular "whole", I see the timber, the handles, the hinges, the screws, the colour, the grooves, etcetera, all together as a "whole".

2ukenkerl,

I am "high-functioning" for someone with autistic disorder. The computer is easy to use; it's only a 2D display with a keyboard and mouse--watching a movie is easier (but only the parts I like).

The joys of autism....

I can make a sandwich, but I was making them since I was ten. The first sandwiches that I was able to make, were lettuce sandwiches.

Oddly, the idea of breaking things down, limited ability to remember, timing, etc.... are things with ME also. Hey, my JOB really requires it. I do it better than just about anyone, so my employers love me for it. Still, a sandwich takes such a small amount of time, and is variable. With me, on things I can easily visualize, or logically consider, memory becomes less of a concern.



For the computer, you are just talking about the display. I am taking about the keyboard. A sentence MUST be made up of words. I don't know what kind of keyboard you use, but there IS a lot of variation. If you type the letters, your memory isn't so bad you couldn't build a sandwich.

I can cook, remembering to do so, however, poses more of a problem! I have to remind myself to eat and when I do put something on to cook (in the oven) it usually ends up in flames...one of my flatmate's has had to throw my food out of the window twice due to it being on fire Everyone constantly has to remind me that I have food on. I remember once ordering a pizza and when the buzzer went my flatmate asked if someone had ordered a pizza, I responded "no, I haven't...no perhaps I did...yes, I did actually!" My memory is absolutely shocking!

On another issue: Can people stop attacking others on what they can and can't do, it's unfair and if you have issues with it, go elsewhere, because I for one don't care for your derogatory attacks! This is a site for everyone, young individuals included, think of the example you're setting them!

Last edited by pixie-bell on 30 Apr 2008, 6:32 am, edited 2 times in total.

2ukenkerl,

Some things I can type, there's many others I cannot; I can only type of one thing, and that's due to the obvious reason. I couldn't type about anything else but autism and/or me for example; the same with communicating verbally.

I couldn't write out all of the mental steps I have to go through to make a sandwich; I cannot even write it; it almost sent me into "shutdown" just typing out the "toast" post a little while ago.

So in reality, I can only use a small portion of the computer, just like I can grab a piece of bread; I don't use the entire computer [for I cannot, even if I wanted to], just as I cannot make a whole sandwich.

It might be hard to understand, but autism itself is one of those perplexing entities (my inability to make a sandwich is directly related to the ASD, I have professional verification of that).

I can cook quite well.

I can cook:
- Steak, but not vegies to go with it
- Eggs in the frying pan
- Toast (sometimes w/cheese)
- Frozen stuff (eg. chicken nuggets. Tonight I cooked a frozen pizza)
- Single snack pasta packs
- Pancakes
- Anything I can easily grill, just as long as I don't forget that I'm cooking, which I tend to do
- Taco shells
- Cakes from a packet mix, but I have trouble greasing the pan and beating the mix well enough

And of course, I can make sandwiches as a snack, usually just w/butter and a spread like Vegemite or Nutella. No salad and meat fillings in our house.

Sandwichs? I can make a cheese sandwich, but not any other type. I definitely can't make a peanut-butter and jelly one.
Cooking in general... I can make instant noodles, and microwave things (well, most of those... I can never seem to make popcorn right, always burn it. And if the cooking time isn't specific, it's very problematic.)

Daniel, do you have just as much trouble being around things that you know are made up of many parts or only if you see them? Would a multi-tool be more difficult to use than a steak knife? I am asking out of curiosity, I am not going to tell you what you can or can't do.

I think that I am a decent cook, at least when it comes to hamburgers and sandwiches.
However it takes me a long time to make any type of food. I have probably spent half an hour getting everything perfect on a hamburger before.

I carry a multi-tool around with me; I have no problems with using it. I use plastic cutlery so I don't have to wash up (eek! Each piece has its own function along for the ride).

I'm alright with looking at objects that are predictable in their movements, i.e., non-thinking; I mentally pull them apart and put them back together so I can understand what I'm seeing, the more complex the object, the longer it takes me to understand it.

No one,

Doing things that involve initiating overt actions with objects that are "singular" kills my ability to function. I can look at a sandwich and know its purpose, and understand it; this doesn't mean I can go through with the motions to actually do it. I have a mental block which is tied up in executive dysfunction and repetitive behaviours (I can see and understand how a bird flies, but this doesn't mean I can fly).

I actually had a professional tell me that if one cannot prepare food for themselves, no matter how basic, they're then low-functioning as they'd most likely die if they weren't cared for (this is totally independent of one's actual intelligence on standardized tests). I can get by at an impaired level compared to "normal" people, but I'm far better than someone who is "low-functioning" when using said professional's opinion. I'm "high-functioning" compared to them, and I know of people with AS who're as impaired as I am.