Golden Wedding Anniversary

Today we celebrated my in-laws' Golden Wedding Anniversary. I personally think it is an act of bravery and wisdom to spend 50 years with the same person. It also takes a lot of endurance, love and understanding.


We went to one of the Cleveland's premier restaurants - Brasa Grill: The Brasilian Steakhouse, aka Churrascaria where all meats are served Rodizio style - on a scewer. It was awesome. They serve every kind of meat available - chicken, turkey, pork and various prime cuts of beef and lamb, and yes, it was succulent and delicious.


Congratulations to Angelina and Alexander Osipov. We love you. Keep going!!!

Russian Attorney in Cleveland

My wife Irina opened her private law firm in 2008. She now has a new web site - http://www.iv-law.com. She deals with personal injuries, immigration, child custody, criminal defense, bankruptcy as well as wills, trusts and probate issues. Please, do not keep your problems to yourself.

Siberian Pediatric Heart Project

This Project is ran by Dr. Yakov Elgudin, MD, PhD, FACS - a cardiothoracic surgeon from the University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio together with the Russian American Medical Association.
The project is supported by the International Children's Heart Foundation and Russian Gift of Life Foundation. 

We are planning our 3rd medical mission to the city of  Kemerovo, Russia in January of 2010. A team of cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, OR and ICU nurses is planning to spend 2 weeks performing 15-20 surgeries on patients with congenital heart disease, conducting hands-on teaching and didactic sessions on the subject of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery. There are two more missions planned for 2010 and three more for 2011.

Contact information: ramadoctors@gmail.com

Rosh Hashannah and Beef Short Ribs

Shana Tova to all our Jewish friends!!!

We were invited to a celebration dinner tonight and as a contribution to the table I cooked beef short ribs. The recipe is simple:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound beef short ribs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle stout beer
• 1 cup beef stock

DIRECTIONS:

1. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour until coated. Shake off the excess flour.
   
2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the ribs until browned on each side, about 5 minutes per side. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet; cook and stir until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Return the ribs to the skillet and pour in the beer. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan, until all of the browned bits have mixed in with the liquid. Pour in the beef stock, cover and simmer over low heat until very tender, about 2 hours.
3. You can also use Dutch oven instead of skillet: place it in the oven at 350 for 2 hours.
4. You can use several additional ingredients, like potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, squash, celery, mushrooms etc. in various amounts to achieve desired flavor.
   
5. If your ribs are very fatty, (which most tend to be) you can let the sauce cool and skim the fat off of the top before serving.

Satisfaction guaranteed!

Beethoven As I Knew Him

We went to see the "Beethoven As I Knew Him" by Hershey Felder at the Cleveland Playhouse Theater today. It was amazing. The guy is Canadian and is best known for his trilogy of one-man plays "The Composer Sonata" - "George Gershwin Alone", "Monsieur Chopin" and the "Beethoven..."

If you are in or near Cleveland - take time and go see it - you will not regret your decision.

Blue-ray

I got a Samsung Blue-ray device as a birthday present yesterday... and guess what. It is really cool. It connects to the wireless internet network at home and you can get Pandora Internet Radio as well as the YouTube for free. You can also get Netflix and Blockbuster for a small fee and instantly stream videos to your TV. The video and sound quality are amazing.

I also got a Blue-ray DVD set of the movie Planet Earth by BBC, and it is so beautiful - it is mind blowing.

Fantastic jazz pianist

Last Friday we discovered another Cleveland's jewel - Cleveland Bop Stop. We listened to Barbara Dennerlien - a fantastic jazz pianist from Germany. The place is classy, eclectic and warm. Entrance price is low, the bar is full and we had a wonderful time. Barbara plays Hammond-type organ and she uses both - her hands and feet. It was a great spectacle to watch...