Windows to Russia

A U.S. national killed his Russian wife and then committed suicide by jumping from a window on the 15th floor of the Izmailovskaya hotel in the northwest of Moscow, a police source said on Thursday.

“The man stabbed his wife with a knife and then jumped from a hotel window,” he said.

The source declined to give more details, saying only that police are currently working at the scene.

MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti)

Batka Bows for CashBy Tai AdelajaRussia Profile05/25/2011
Pressed up against a rock and the hardest of places, combative Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has finally thrown in the towel, agreeing last week to the sale of stakes in some of his country’s highly sought-after assets. The first salvo in the long-awaited privatization program came with the announcement of a deal to sell a 50 percent stake in the Beltransgaz company to Russia for $2.5 billion. “The Russian side is ready to buy our stake in (pipeline operator) Beltransgaz for $2.5 billion,” Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich told state news agency Belta on Friday. Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom already owns a 50 percent stake in Beltransgaz, which it acquired through a series of purchases between 2007 and 2010.

Hummm…

What a deal, talk about timing for Russia…

Windows to Russia!

Meat With Mayonnaise And Fruits on top is a very common dish in Russia. In fact it is very common in Ukraine also. I eat a solid meat portion covered in a thick mixture of mayonnaise and fruits, nuts, veggies or any other ingredients that suit your fancy as a regular meal while in Ukraine doing business. A Russian restaurant like “My My” (Moo Moo) here in Moscow always has several variations of this dish…

I call it the all in one meal deal… 🙂

So lets look at a yummy recipe that will tempt your taste buds with delight…

Ingredients:
600 to 800 g lean beef (Sliced into 100 to 200 gram slices)
1 carrot (peeled shredded)
parsley root (peeled and shredded)
onion (diced)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
200 g mayonnaise (real mayo)
200 g fruit puree (apple or plum or what ever you like) or preserved fruits of any type
Just a few chopped up finely – nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.)
ground red pepper (to taste)

Method:
Pour hot water over a cuts of beef,chicken or pork that weighs about 100 to 200 grams each and cook for 30 minutes or until tender…

Then remove meat (set aside) and add to the water that is left in pan the pepper and salt, carrots, parsley root, onion, fruits, nuts, red pepper and what ever else you want. Just do not add the mayonnaise to this mixture. If necessary add more water and cook until ingredients are done and soft…

When the ingredients are done and somewhat mushy, drain the water off completely in a colander and mix with the mayo in a bowl… (You want a thick mixture)

Take meat slices and lay on the bottom of a oven pan. If not nonstick please grease the pan. Pour over each slice the mayonnaise combined with all your goodies. I even like to at this point lay a slice of Gouda cheese on top… 🙂

Bake the slices of smothered beef or what ever you used for meat. In a preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes at low to medium temperature. You just want to start browning the top and not really cook it. For it is already cooked…

Serve hot and steaming on a plate with a side of asparagus…

This is such an easy dish to prepare and a bachelor can cook this dish to impress his girl friend. It makes a wonderful meal served with wine and makes you look like a gourmet chef…

Windows to Russia!

PS: My favorite version of this dish also has an egg on top and you really get the meal deal then…

Then This…

Then This…

Then This…

Then This…

Then This…

Windows to Russia!

In Russia May 25th is an important day to observe. In fact in Russia there has been a huge increase in programs and awareness of children who are missing…

A child’s disappearance is the most awful disaster for a family. Only by official estimates, there are millions of missing children on our planet and this number grows every year. To draw the world’s attention to this frightful problem the 25th of May is marked as the International Day of Missing Children.

Every year:
70,000 boys and girls disappear in Europe…
1.5 million in the USA…
52,000-55,000 go missing in Russia…

Pavel Astakhov, the Ombudsman for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation, has told the press in Russia that a national center is being established in Russia for helping missing children and children in distress…

Windows to Russia!

On Monday, two top US Senators, Democrat John Kerry and Republican John McCain, together with five of their colleagues, introduced a resolution backing US involvement in the military operation against Libya. President Obama was quick to thank the senators.In fact, the resolution absolves him of a serious violation of US laws that require that the President gets congressional approval for military action no later than 60 days after the start of the operation. The deadline expired last Friday and by that time the President had not asked Congress to give its approval.   Read More >>>

Source: Voice of Russia.

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Russia will present the South Stream gas pipeline project at the European Union headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. This will be an unusual event in a number of ways. At the presentation, Russia will not campaign for investments into the project because Russia’s state-run Gazprom and the Italian Eni have sufficient funding.
Read More >>> Source: Voice of Russia.

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I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and noticing that over the last few months, that the main world news and press is starting to change its attitude toward America. This includes European news agencies and Eastern news definitely…

I remember on one of my many past train escapades across the vast expanses of Russian territory, That a man said to me, “The US is loved for the idea of freedom! But the US will never achieve that freedom!” Then he said, “But we love the USA for that idea and we hope never to loose that idea about the US. But it is hard to hold on to those ideas with the way the USA truly is!”

I have heard this numerous times in one form or another from people on this side of the world. The idea of freedom from a country that bases the strength of her society on those freedoms. That is what makes America a shining star in many eyes…

Now I am seeing a change of heart from the East. Kinda that change that you see in people when they realize that they have had the wool pulled over their eyes and now have removed that wool. Then they see the reality of what they thought it was all about in their minds. They see America as a facade…

So that nagging feeling in me is in part a result of seeing this change of attitude about America and the West. I am seeing even the European press dividing itself along lines. Because Europe has many feelings in both directions East and West…

I see and really can not totally explain it, but will tell you that the feeling in the East is that the: Western Empire is a society with extreme corruption that has unchecked executives in power and they have the right to strike and kill anywhere anytime as they so see fit to do…

It is just a nagging feeling inside…

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Today while sipping that morning cup of coffee and enjoying the sunshine through our windows, I had lots of little thinking’s on my mind. (You know the thoughts that hang around and seem to keep popping up every few minutes.) Nothing earth shattering just persistent thoughts…

Sveta and I went to a hospital yesterday and visited an elderly lady friend who had fallen and fractured her hip. It seems that her dog pulled her off balance when they were walking and she fell during the walk. She is doing good and of course the first thing that comes to your mind is how many elderly people never recover from a broken hip. But in her case it looks to be a fracture and she should heal soon and be up and around in no time. It looked as though the hospital was doing a good job taking care of her and we could see the nurses did a good job and were attentive. Sveta is going to take one of our cell phones to her that also has a TV built in. It works good and it will help her transverse the time away while she is confined to a bed. It is strange that Russian hospitals do not supply a TV…

While at the hospital Sveta and I found a huge bomb shelter on the hospital grounds. They had steel gates keeping us out but I could see the two foot thick steel and concrete doors that sealed the shelter during an attack. This stirred memories in me of all the times that we would do a bomb shelter exercise in school in America. We would as little kids go through the paces of simulating an attack on America by the Soviet Union and then we would orderly go to the designated bomb shelter and take cover…

While Sveta and I were studying a bomb shelter from the olden days. We heard circus music and such playing across the street. We investigated that music and found a huge park that had a circus and a fair playing in the center. So Sveta and I just had to wander around and see what the kids were up to… 🙂

The circus was in session and on its last play for the day. They will be back next weekend and Sveta and I may try to go see the circus playing. It has Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my…

Sveta and I spent an extra hour at the park, but since we were stealing a parking space from the hospital, we decided to get going before the hospital locked their gates for visitor parking. Visiting hours were over by 7 pm and it was close…

The next thinking that came to me was an age old question asked in America. How many workers does it take to dig a hole? In this case, my thought centered on how many workers to fix a broken playground train? Looks like 6 in this particular case in Moscow Russia. But I will be nice because as Sveta told me! “Be glad they even care enough to fix it and it is being fixed!” So I am glad that they are fixing it and will not make any jokes about how many does it take…

Besides they got it back together and it looks good and the kids are really happy. What makes me unhappy is that it was destroyed by 20 plus year olds who drink way too much and decided that the young kids playground is their drinking playground. It is a shame because the kids really like their playgrounds that Russia is so fond of putting everywhere…

I also have one last thought and it centers around things like this photo. >>>>> I found this little guy hidden under a tree and he is really cool. You just do not see him very easily and Sveta found him first. I really think that things like this are what makes life wonderful. Someone took the time to create a sculpture and placed it in a spot that when you do find it, you realize that he could see you all the time but you had no idea that he was there…

That is it for today. Sveta and I had a good weekend. How about you?

Russia is really not much different than what you see everyday around your part of the world! Is it?

Windows to Russia!

Voluntary narcotic testing takes off in Russia

The testing of school children for drug use, on a voluntary basis has begun in Moscow and Chelyabinsk.The method of the testing was worked out by the Russian Anti-narcotic Committee. This much has been said by Victor Ivanov, Head of the Russian Drug Control Agency, speaking in an interview for VOR…
Read More >>>
Source: Voice of Russia.

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