RAMA Work in Siberia

Bravo, Yakov!!!

RAMA Mission to Kemerovo 1
RAMA Mission to Kemerovo 2
RAMA Mission to Kemerovo 3

Meeting with Jorge Delgado

Yesterday, we met with Jorge Delgado - the Director for International Relations, and his assistant - Tania Menesse at the Cleveland Foundation. Jorge is Cuban and knows Russia very well. He studied Construction at the Moscow State University in 1985-91. He than studied Economics at Harvard University in Boston, than lived and worked in Hamburg, Germany. He speaks 5 languages (Russian is one of them) and is very well versed in the issues related to current Russia. In fact, he watched the State of the Nation address by the Russian President Vladimir Medvedev in full (in Russian). I bet none of us did that.

Article on Cleveland.com We talked about RAMA work in the US and our projects in Russia. We were seeking support for the RAMA's Siberian Pediatric Heart Project. The meeting was very productive mostly because he is interested in RAMA as another force in development of Ohio economy. We plan to bring Ohio businessmen to Russia during our next medical mission. We also expect to host a delegation of Russian businessmen in Cleveland at some point in 2010.  

Next steps: 
1. Meeting with Mike Malone prior to the 2nd meeting with Delgado. Mr. Malone is an expert in business administration, PR and human resources management. He teaches these subjects at the Kent State University in Akron, OH. 
2. Meeting with Jorge Delgado for brainstorming of our proposal.
3. Meeting with Toby Cosgrove, MD at the CCF. Dr. Cosgrove is a cardiothoracic surgeon and the President at CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation - one of the top 4 largest hospitals in the world, well-known for its modern approach to healthcare, extremely successful business model and international program.  
4. Meeting with Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio).


Ideas for the meeting with Dr. Toby Cosgrove: 
1. We need CCF to be the base for observership for Russian doctors.
2. We need CCF support for joint research projects.
3. Promoting CCF and an international brand in Russia with Russian patients coming to CCF for treatment. 
4. Construction of the "CCF-Siberia" medical center in Kemerovo, Russia.

Las Vegas Trip

I completely forgot. My in-laws had their 50th wedding anniversary and we gave them a trip to Vegas as a gift. We came with our son - Dima, and our daughter - Tatyana came from Washington, DC. We stayed in Bally's and spent 4 days roaming the Strip, watching Cirque de Soleil, eating at noodle shops and buffets and enjoying one of the most spectacular places in the world. It was awesome, although they did not want to have a repeat mock wedding. They did go to the Jubilee - what a shock for my father-in-law who never saw that many beautiful topless women at once.

Cirque de Soleil - we watched two performances - Ka and Love! Both are great.

The best noodle shop in town is at the Mandalay Bay Resort.

Meeting at the Sen. Sharrod Brown's office

Today, we met with John Ryan - the State Director for the Sen. Sharrod Brown of Ohio. He is responsible for the work of Senator's offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Loraine. We talked about RAMA work in the US and our projects in Russia. We were seeking support for the RAMA's Siberian Pediatric Heart Project, as well as the Cleveland-Volgograd Neonatal Project, ran by Dr. John Moore from the Cleveland's Metro Hospital, and would like to enlist help from the Ohio business community. The meeting was very productive, since we got good advice and suggestions on how to proceed with fundraising and finding new business contacts, specifically - the names of Jorge Delgado from the Cleveland Foundation, Steve Mallard from the COSE - Council of Small Enterprises of Cleveland, and Valerie McCall -  the assistant to the Mayor of Cleveland Frank Jackson.


More to come... a lot more.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown - (D) Ohio

Braised Lamb Shanks

Today I made one of my favorite dishes. It was beyond delicious. The recipe is very simple.

Ingredients

• 6 lamb shanks
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 large carrots, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (750 milliliter) bottle red wine
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
• 5 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

Directions

1. Sprinkle shanks with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook shanks until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer shanks to plate.
2. Add onions, carrots and garlic to pot and saute until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in wine, tomatoes, chicken broth and beef broth. Season with rosemary and thyme. Return shanks to pot, pressing down to submerge. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 2 hours. I also added one whole Halapeno pepper for a little heat.
3. Remove cover from pot. Simmer about 20 minutes longer. Transfer shanks to platter, place in a warm oven. Boil juices in pot until thickened, about 15 minutes. Spoon over shanks.

I also made Mushroom Rice as a garnish.

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
• 1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Combine rice, onion soup, beef broth, mushrooms and butter in an 8x8 inch casserole dish.
3. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 60 minutes.

You will be a star of any dinner, if you cook it. You wife will love you forever...

Paul Gauguin Exhibition

Today we went to see the Paul Gauguin exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Very interesting and amusing. As all geniuses he was very controversial and  as such contributed greatly to the development of the art.

The exhibition did not show his most famous paintings of Tahitian nudes, but instead focused on his early work. Forces and influences that made him the Paul Gauguin.