Cobalt Grill

"Let's go somewhere we haven't been," so we went to the Cobalt Grille for dinner this evening. It was quiet and only had a couple of tables occupied at when we arrived at 6:30, although I gather it's busier on the weekends. Menu was mainly seafood although they did have a couple of steaks available. I had an appetizer, "Kobe beef carpaccio, drizzled with white truffle and chili oil and shaved Parmesan." It turns out that "carpaccio" means "paper thin and raw", although that didn't really matter since all I tasted was the chili oil and Parmesan. Diana had the salmon and enjoyed it. Afterwards I had doughnut holes--fresh, warm, cinnamon covered--with caramel and raspberry dipping sauces and, yum, honey whipped cream. Next time I may just skip dinner and go straight to the dessert. Total for one appetizer, one main course, one dessert, two coffees, $47 plus tip.

Chevapi

As this week's microadventure, I tried a restaurant I haven't been to before and ordered Bosnian chevapi. It turns out to be something like beef sausages served on flatbread, with a sour cream and cucumber dip on the side.

Drunken sailors

"If our politicians started spending like drunken sailors, it would in fact represent a dramatic improvement."

--Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit

Sights while driving

We live near Oceana Naval Air Station, so warplanes are usually overhead--mostly Hornets. Today I was driving under one of the landing patterns and saw, for the first time, a pair of F22 Raptors.

Also saw a girl in a bikini riding her bike along Laskin Road. Summer must be near.

Overlord

1944, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France.

British, Canadian, Australian, French, American, Polish, and Norwegian forces versus German. Total losses (killed, wounded, captured) on both sides, about 16,000 men--that is, about the same as all the male undergrads at Purdue or Michigan State. 

June 5, 1989

Tank Man took a stand in front of the tanks at Tienanmen Square. 

Matthew 5:48

This is the verse that reads "Be ye therefore perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect." If you go to church more often than Christmas and Easter, you've heard it. Sounds like a high standard, doesn't it?

It's worse than you think.

First, it comes at the end of the section which I'll paraphrase as:

Everyone knows that you're supposed to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I'm telling you, love your enemy. Do good things for the people who're working against you. The woman who got you fired so she could get the promotion you wanted? Be nice to her. The couple across the street who're afraid of you because you're a pervert? Yeah, go out of your way to be nice to them. The foul-mouthed guy down the block who keyed your car? He's the guy you have to bless. The sister who's not on speaking terms with you? Call her. The people who are voting to mortgage your children's future, or take away your civil rights, or bankrupt the country, or deny health care, or ...yeah, those are the people you have to show love to.

Yeah, you can just look out for your buddies; you can be nice to the people who're nice to you. So what? Even traitors and criminals do that. Living up to that standard gets you nothing. Therefore, you need to be perfect ....

Wait a minute, we hit the really rough part there. The "you" Our Lord was talking to wasn't some "them" out there that I can ignore, that I can point at and say "Hey, you're not measuring up!" He was talking to me. I'm the one who has to be perfect. I don't get to tell other people that they need to live up to this standard; I have to live up to it myself. 

And the mind-blowing part? That verse finishes--again, slightly amplified:

Just the same way that our Father in heaven--who is constantly getting slandered and reviled and cursed and opposed--is perfect.