Restaurant week, Little Italy and the Red District! o.O

So today I went to Little Italy for restaurant week! Had a great dinner at Sabatino's. The average age was about 85, but it was a cool little mom and pop place. The waitress struggled to carry the weight of two water glasses and could not open our wine bottle. But, she was super nice, and very sweet. I had the calamari appetizer. It was okay, but the marinara was sick. It is one of the best marinara's I've ever tasted! Salad was simple. On to the entree. I had the Shrimp Renato! It was jumbo shrimp butterflied and broiled in a delicious sauce of brandy, lemon, and white wine, topped with melted mozzarella cheese and Prosciutto and served with spaghetti. The sauce was delicious! The shrimp was cooked perfectly and the prosciutto and the cheese were a skeptical yet perfect pair. Last onto the dessert! Tiramisu. Nothing too special but the coffee flavor was awesome! All in all a good experience.

We then went onto the outdoor movie. In Little Italy, they close off a street and a parking lot, set up a bunch of chairs, and play a movie on the side of Ciao Bella restaurant; apparently it was voted the most romantic restaurant in Little Italy! ;-) Imagine, people are sitting, eating, drinking wine, talking, dancing, playing cards, all in the middle of the street on a beautiful Friday evening. T'was an great experience. The actual movie, could've used some Jesus; literally. There was way too much sex... seriously, there was a part where some hooker was stripping for like 7 year old boys. Needless to say, we left early.

Lastly the Red District! So we are walking near Power Plant Live and enjoying that whole atmosphere. We find ourselves on Gay St. Just as I make the obvious joke, we turn the corner. I was then invited by a fine young man to enter into his fine establishment in which other gentlemen enjoy their spirits over the site of young lady's practicing for their shot at so you think you can dance. Okay, so we got invited to enter strip joints.... several of them! We even saw stripper mannequins. Jen did not let me take a picture with them. Haha... Well she was more prudent and thought its unsafe to pull out her clutch thing in the middle of all these "fine gentlemen." So the evening did not go quite as planned, but went super well!. Here's to you Baltimore!

YUUUMMMMMM!!!! Turkey meatballs in a Port wine, tomato and basil sauce. Seriously, it was sick!

Arroz Doce

Had some very nice rice pudding today. Courtesy of my mom. It tasted as good as it did at home last weekend. But something was different. I guess atmosphere has something to do with the way we experience nostalgia. My office is definitely not home. But here's to great Portuguese food! Lunch to come soon!

Thoughts about what's going on in the world.

I know we've heard it all before and have probably written about it ourselves. Something is going down in the world. Natural disasters, politicians making decisions against the people, without the people, and for themselves. It begs to ask the question what is the point of our existence. To steal? to cheat others? To live a life of struggle only to have a government take what you have worked so hard for and diminish its value? Are we supposed to live in fear every single day? Let's go to the basics.

We exist. Why do we exist? Stephen Hawking, Pope Benedict XVI, and Kim Jong Il may have very different answers for you, but we do know that as humans we have the power to do good and to do evil. If I wanted to, I could do whatever evil I desired, and God would not stop me. So theoretically, mankind as a whole could live in an evil manner and God would not stop it. So do we exist to do evil then? Well, evil breeds chaos. Since the nature of chaos seems to prove "unnaturalness," then one can assume that evil is unnatural to the Human Experience. Then why is it so prevalent, seemingly?

A woman that lied to police and led them astray when police were trying to find her missing daughter is now free after being found not guilty of murdering her kid. Justice served? Osama Bin Laden is dead. Now members of Seal Team 6 have been killed by terrorists. Has justice truly been served? When will the circle end? IS evil prevailing?

How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked? Defend the lowly and fatherless
render justice to the afflicted and needy. Rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the
wicked. Gods though you be, offspring of the Most High all of you, yet like any mortal you shall die; like
any prince you shall fall. - Psalm 82:2-4,6-7

Can we assume that man was therefore made for the good? We can derive that if man is "good," a society can be upheld, can thrive, and can grow. If we love, truly love, man can deal with such societal issues as debt deficits, health care reforms, international relations, etc. If man acts in a way that is charitable towards another, that never ending circle seems to be a good thing. Imagine a cycle of good that never ends! What a great "problem" to have. How difficult that is for us to love though. To love another implies forgetting self. To forget self means to deny ourselves of our wants and desires for a moment and to think about another. Therein lies the difficulty of love. Not just romantic love, but truly loving our neighbor is made difficult by the necessity to forget ourselves and to focus on someone else; someone we may never meet. But we are called to love.

But what about natural disasters? So we love, we do good, but a country gets hit by a tsunami that derails its whole economic system, agricultural progress, and industrial center. Is love enough? In the words of the great Reverend Lovejoy in an attempt to answer Ned Flanders' question about whether God was punishing Ned due to all the bad things that were happening to Ned, "...ooooh short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but..." Of course the Simpsons remains the answer to all of life's difficult questions. Love is enough when it becomes everything. When love is all that we have, it is enough. When love is all that matters, it is enough. When love is made important, it beats out anything that is subservient.

Bad things happen. Those events that we CAN control, should be handled in a manner that serves all and makes known the needs of all. Those events and instances in which justice lies in the palm of our hands, those are the times in which love needs to deliver justice and peace; not hatred, malice, and indifference. During the times that we can't control the bad, we need to act with love. Because, when there is nothing left, there is love. For when nothing was, God is.

Random rantings and thoughts

So a few people have mentioned that I should get into blogging. Namely, Dr. Lansing. I was never into keeping journals and hated doing them in Ms. Cinberg's class at Benedict's. But, here goes nothing.
I have officially moved to Baltimore, MD. I have been working here for three weeks now and am starting to get used to the fact that I am on my own now. It is a weird concept, since I've never lived more than 15 minutes from home. My refrigerator is stocked with what I put into it, which right now is practically nothing. Unfortunately it is not stocked with what mom has. I'm slowly learning the simple pleasures of life that come with having your own place. I am also getting used to the pains of living on your own. Some days are a little lonely, but there is are so many ways to keep busy in Baltimore that one can't help but feel at home. The people are friendly, the history is great. Edgar Allen Poe is buried here (totally thought of you Jackie), the Cathedral Basilica is America's first Cathedral, it hosted the largest council since the Council of Trent in the 1500's (the outcome of which brought about the Baltimore Catechism), and Inner Harbor is one of America's oldest harbors. I need only walk two or three blocks to gaze upon the original Washington monument. This one actually predates the more famous monument in D.C. by about 50 years.
All in all, I miss home, but I have taken a liking to the Charm City. I am going home to NJ today so that will be fun. Going to spend some time with my folks and the crew. Please pray for me, my family, this parish, and my family and friends. That I may help to bring the youth closer to Christ and to bring Christ closer to His people. That this parish may continue to grow closer to the One who is Love. Finally, for my family and friends. That they may all receive the Word of Christ and the power of His grace in any and every way they need it. Pope John Paul the Great had the motto Totus Tuus. This is a difficult teaching because the saying "All for you Lord" has such an infinite tone to it.
Thank you for reading and check back for some more posts. May this dumping of thoughts bring me to a closer contemplation of my actions and may it lead you closer to Christ.

God bless