The Biggest Miracle In My Life

I'd like to tell you about one of my best friends. Her name is Pavla, she is very crazy, sometimes behaves like a child, sometimes is quite contrary, always speaks her mind and sometimes I'd like to kill her. We've known eatch other for more than 15 years and have lots of common. It's a shame that nowadays we don't have enough time to see each other but we try to keep in touch.

And why she is the miracle for me???
I remember everything like it happened yesterday. On the 3rd February, 2009, I persuaded her to go with me to a doctor and then to have a coffee. We arranged a meeting in her house on the second day. So, I woke up a went to pick her up. There were three fire trucks in front of her house when I arrived, her mother was standing outside and crying. Immediately I understood something was wrong with her. I asked her mother and she tried to explain me what had happened. Pavla had been in a bathroom and had had a bath. But the gas flow-heater in the bathroom had worked badly and carbon monooxid had been escaping from it. Unfortunately people aren´t able to smell it because it is smellless. It´s known that carbon monooxid is a poison, that causes blood doesn´t have enough oxygen which is very important for basic functions in a human body. It also has an influence on a respiratory centre thats why people feel tired and begin to yawn if they breath the air in which carbon monooxid is contained.
So, she had poisoned, fell asleep, sank under the water and drowned. Nobody knew how long she had been without oxygen before her brother found her and called an ambulance. Actually when the ambulance arrived she was dead and without no mark of life (breathing, pulse). Doctors tried to resuscitate her and they succeeded. Then she was brought to hospital.
Nobody wasn´t able to say if she will live. She didn´t breathe, had respirator, swelling of her brain and lungs, infarct of lungs and doctors kept her under sleep. Her brain might have been badly damaged because neurons are very sensible to lack of oxygen and begin to die after 5 minutes without it. Nothing was certain. The doctors didn´t give her any chance of survival and when they did they said that she could be very seriously mentally affected. The situation was hopeless, we could only believe, visit her in hospital, talk at her and touch her. The worst was we couldn´t help in any way. I didn´t know what was better for her - to die or to survive with the mentally affliction. In one minute I belived everything will be ok and in the other I thought of the worst.

But then...a miracle must have happened...her health state began slowly getting better, she could be disconnect from respiratory and the doctors decreased doses of drugs and sedatives. And once day - she woke up. For only a few minutes but for us it was the miracle. Although nobody still knew how much her brain is damaged, we belive that it isn´t. And we were right. Day by day she woke up for a longer and longer time.
To be honest I don´t belive in a god, I´m an ateist. But I belive in miracles. Now she lives the same life like before the accident. She is quite normal :) and doesn´t have any consequences. I know guardian angels exist and protect us.

The apple roll

The apple roll is a traditional sweet dessert, which is usually baked in autumn because in this time apple grow in my country. Of course, you can also bake it during the whole year if you buy apples but i remember from my childhood my mum used to bake it mostly in autumn.

What you need:
250 g smooth flour
125 g grated butter
1 egg
2 spoon of vinegar
3 spoons of mild water
400 g grated apples
100 g sugar
100 g raisins

 Method:
1. Add all ingredients on a rolling board and with helping of a knife make a dough. It shoudn't stick to the knife. Separate it in two halves and put it for a while in a fridge.
2. Sprinkle the rolling board with the smooth flour and roll the dough into a large thin rectangle aproximately 30 x 50 cm.
3. Lay this on a baking tin lined with baking paper.
4. Then put the apples mixed with sugar in the middle of the dough and sprinkle them with raisins. Don't cover all area with apples, only strip in the middle.

Take the remaining dough on longer sides and bend it above the apples. Then take again the remaining dough on shorter sides and bend it under the roll. Finally stick the rolls with a fork.
5. Bake it in a good preheated oven untill golden colour.
6. Before finishing you can smear the rolls with some milk in which you melted spoon of butter.

Tip: you can also use another filling, for example cottage, poppy filling or poppy filling combined with apple.