IN THE ARMS OF AN ANGEL

The other day, as I was on the 51st Street Subway Station preparing to go to Farmer's Market, I felt the common signals of Hypoglycemia. I sat down on the wooden bench and prepared to open my "trusty" sugar packs. As I was doing this a woman who was dressed up as an Angel (Wings included) began singing in a beautiful and deep operatic voice, "In the Arms Of An Angel". It was beautiful but profound as well, given the juxtaposition of the situation I was in. The train arrived at the station, the song was over and my Hypoglycemia was attended to with the help of the Arms Of An Angel.

HAPPY EASTER/HAPPY PASSOVER

At the start of these Holidays, it is important for all of us to remember that in spite of having a Chronic Illness, we still are part of an Energy that is greater than that illness. I have selected this Prayer and Meditation for All:MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS LED BY THE HOLY FATHER POPE BENEDICT XVI ON GOOD FRIDAY 2006

COMPOSED BY Archbishop ANGELO COMASTRI Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City President of the Fabric of Saint Peter's

•We have lost our sense of sin!
Today a slick campaign of propaganda
Is spreading an inane apologia of evil,
A senseless cult of Satan,
A mindless desire for transgression,
A dishonest and frivolous freedom,
Exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness
As if they were new heights of sophistication.a

Lord Jesus,
Open our eyes:
Let us see the filth around us
And recognize it for what it is,
So that a single tear of sorrow
Can restore us to purity of heart
And the breadth of true freedom.
Open our eyes, Lord, Jesus!

•Surely God is deeply pained
By the attack on the family.
Today we seem to be witnessing
A kind of anti-Genesis,
A counter-plan, a diabolical pride
Aimed at eliminating the family.

There is a move to reinvent mankind,
To modify the very grammar of life
As planned and willed by God.

But, to take God’s place, without being God,
Is insane arrogance,
A risky and dangerous venture.

May Christ’s fall open our eyes
To see once more the beautiful face,
The true face, the holy face of the family.
The face of the family
which all of us need.

•Lord Jesus,
Purity has everywhere fallen victim
To a calculated conspiracy of silence: an impure silence!
People have even come to believe
A complete lie:
That purity is somehow the enemy of love.

But the opposite is true, O Lord!
Purity is necessary
As a condition for love:
A love that is true, a love that is faithful.

In any event, Lord,
If we cannot be the master of ourselves?
How can we give ourselves to others?

•Everything seems over,
The wicked seem to triumph,
And evil appears more powerful than good.

But faith enables us to see afar,
it makes us glimpse the break of a new day
On the other side of this day.
Faith promises us that the final word
belongs to God: to God alone!

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE RECIPE

Ok, this recipe is for Megan, the Chocolate Goddess, and others who eat, enjoy, and relish in great food and desserts. It does not matter that you have Diabetes, Life is still to be participated in and enjoyed.
RECIPE:Chocolate Brownies
INGREDIENTS:
1. 6 large Eggs at room temperature
2. 1 ½ lbs. Good Quality Chocolate(should be semi-sweet or bittersweet or a combination). Chocolate is like coffee.Everyone has their own particular likes as to preferring strong/earthy coffee or more of a medium blend. The same holds true of Chocolate. Both Chocolate and Coffee are related cousins regarding their bean.
3. 2 C Sugar
4. 1 t. Baking Powder
5. 2 T Vanilla Extract
6. 8oz. (½ Lb) Sweet Butter Softened at Room Temperature.
7. 3 C Walnut Pieces(broken Up) (Optional)
8. 3T Expresso Powder
9. 2 T Bourbon (Optional)
10. 1 ½C Sifted Flour
11. ½ t Salt

Preheat Oven to 350F at least ½ hr. before baking. Sift the Flour and baking Soda together in a bowl. Add ½ t Salt and mix together. Melt the chocolate(first cut into small pieces) with the butter in a Double Boiler or use a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.You can add the Expresso Powder if you want a Mocha Flavor added to the Brownies. I did and it tasted great. Do not get any water or steam into the Chocolate. Chocolate is very sensitive to heat and MUST BE melted slowly as you stir the bowl with a Spatula(I use a Rubber/Plastic Spatula that can withstand the heat). Keep stirring until the Chocolate& Butter have mixed together and melted. Remove from heat. In your mixing bowl, beat eggs with your Paddle Whisk and slowly add Sugar. Beat at Medium Speed till the Egg Batter has lightened and thickened. Add the Melted Chocolate/Butter Mixture which should be cooled down to the Egg&Sugar Mixture in your mixing bowl. Take your
Spatula put it into the mixture (Machine is turned off) and give it a couple of quick turns from the bottom and sides.Next, add the flour on low speed till incorporated(do not overmix). Remove bowl and stir again with your Spatula......Add Bourbon if desired. Also add Walnuts, but they also can be left out. The Walnuts should be preheated a little in a cookie sheet to bring out their flavor(DO NOT BURN OR OVERCOOK THEM).
I used a Pyrex Rectangular pan that measured 9 ½ X 13 ½. Make sure that you completely butter the pan all around as well as the bottom before adding the Brownie Mix. Smooth the top after all the mix has been poured into the pan. BAKE FOR ABOUT 50min. But you must test to see if the Brownies are done by inserting a toothpick or any other long object into the pan.If some chocolate adheres to the toothpick, they still have to bake more. At this point check for doneness every 10 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Take out of oven and cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate. Brownies always taste best the NEXT DAY after they are cooked. When you take them out of the refrigerator they will be hard. That is OK....Just leave them for a while at room temperature. Cut into slices for yourself and/family or/and friends. You can serve them with berries, whipped cream or powdered sugar in top. Don't forget the Insulin Shot. Enjoy!!!!!

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES: YUMMMMMM

I just finished making chocolate brownies using all natural ingredients, of course. The new cure for Diabetes........just kidding. But definitely will make you happy by letting it swirl around your mouth as you bite into the soft chocolate while it travels down slowly within the bottom recesses of your being. Eating a good chocolate brownie is a lot like having a good love experience. Both are to be enjoyed slowly and intensely without guilt.
The brownies are now resting and cooling before I will refrigerate them and prepare for tomorrow's relish. If they are good, I will share the recipe with all of you. Before consuming, prepare for a insulin to carb ratio, since it will be treated like any other carbohydrate.
By the way, lots of good quality chocolate is needed (I use 1½ pounds of chocolate).

HYPOGLYCEMIA IN TRADER JOE'S

I just got back from that great food store, Trader Joe's. While in the store that just opened here in Manhattn, I began to feel as if I was about to blackout and lose consciousness. I immediately searched my pockets for anything sweet and found coffee sugar packets that I sometimes carry with me. There in the middle of Trader Joe's I began to dump about six packets of sugar down my mouth with my head back so as to take it all in. The security cameras in the store must have thought I was an unusual sight to behold. What I ask you could be more of an irony? To be surrounded by great and unusal foodstuff from around the world while I am about to go under from an Insulin Reaction.Lucky there was also a "Sample Bar" in the store where I availed myself of 5 small (finger size) barbecued chicken sandwiches. By the time I got to the cashier with my shopping wagon (15 minutes later) I was OK. Carbs and sweets to the rescue again!!

OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE=OVERWEIGHT PETS

It is amazing but not unique to New York City where there is always visual stimuli present, that there always seem to be an obese man or woman walking down the street with their dog who also is obese. I am an "Animal Rescuer" and find it very sad that the pets people have are totally dependent on the care that they receive from whoever cares for them. The problem being in the kind of care that they receive, which in this case, is poor and destructive care to the health of the animal. In spite of there being numerous variables responsible for the rise of Insulin Resistance Disease(Type 2 Diabetes),overeating is a major contributor. People would rather eat foods high in carbohydrates, fats and other types of "junk" because as they reason, "I just can't help myself and it tastes good". These same irresponsible people use similar faulty logic with their pets(cats or/and dogs) by giving their animals too much food to eat. As most of us know, dogs and cats also develop Diabetes and have to be treated with insulin. They are subject to the same complications as their human counterparts such as heart disease, kidney disease and other awful neuropathies. If the owners of pets have no self-control, self-respect for their bodies, they should not pass this horrible behavior to their pets. Their animals are TOTALLY dependent on their caregivers. It is not fair to these animals because they have people taking care of them who do not know what they are doing. All of them will tell you that they 'love their pets'. However creating an illness in your pet that results from overfeeding and obesity is hypocritical and nothing to do with Love. These same people often overfeed their children as well creating more Diabetes or and Heart Disease now or for later in life.
I have had animals in the past and have them now as well. They are not overweight because I do not and have not overfed them. My animals (cats) have saved my life by helping to restore consciousness in me while in severe hypoglycemia as well as alerting me to my having low blood glucose(another story for another time).