The plan for Saturday evening was fairly straightforward: To head to the Dakota Inn Rathskeller, another beloved Detroit business absorbed by my friend Paddy Lynch so that it may continue. (His previous purchases: The Schvitz and Dutch Girl Donuts.) But! It was also the 250th birthday celebration for the U.S. Marine Corps, and if you’re wondering how the Marines are older than the country itself, well, so was I, but I read up on it.
The birthday is actually celebrated Monday, November 10, but the 8th was a Saturday. It’s also observed with a cake-cutting and various associated rituals, and a German restaurant on a Saturday night with a resident piano player seemed like as good a place as any.
The bad news: The place was a madhouse, packed to the rafters with German-food enthusiasts, and a 1.5-hour wait for a table. We decided to go to the basement Rathskeller to wait for the cake and singing. Which came around 7:30, with a long windup about Tradition, but not so much that it killed the vibe. The cake is traditionally cut with a Maltese Mameluke sword, but we’ll use this knife, etc.
And the cake was cut, with the traditional order of serving: First slice to the guest of honor, who was the guy whose family owned the restaurant for two generations before selling it to Paddy. Second slice to the oldest Marine present, i.e., this guy, who fought at Guadalcanal:
Third slice to the youngest Marine, who was very strapping. And then we all sang the Marine Hymn, which contains my favorite passage in a military song, the dis at the very end:
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
And then the friend I went with started feeling ill, so I took her home and met our third for tapas at a quiet Spanish place.
Happy birthday, Marines, including our own Jeff Gill. Glad the pugil sticks didn’t leave you with brain damage.
The rest of the weekend? Shopping errands work workout until Sunday afternoon, when I swam 2,000 yards, came home and ate ravenously, then dozed and read the afternoon away. In other words, a pretty good one.
Hope yours was, too.
alex said on November 9, 2025 at 10:19 pm
We’ve got a Fort Wayne restaurant group that’s buying up “iconic” old places and trying to preserve them, or in some cases bring back their former luster where they’d lost their way under less adept owners. These folks initially bought Salvatori’s, a come-lately local chain of strip-mall Italian eateries where I always found the food overly salted and mediocre, so I was skeptical at first. But from what I’ve seen taking place at some of their other acquisitions it, looks like they know what they’re doing.
They now own Powers Hamburgers, Paula’s Seafood, El Azteca and Shorty’s Steakhouse.
https://www.wboi.org/arts-culture/2025-05-30/local-hospitality-group-continues-to-preserve-iconic-eateries
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nancy said on November 10, 2025 at 7:46 am
Interesting. I know I’m old when Paula’s, kind of a happening place when I was there, is in its rehab era.
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Jeff Gill said on November 10, 2025 at 9:09 am
(as far as you know)
Semper fi & Ooh rah…
By the way, if you saw the “new” discoveries on the Today Show about Noah’s ark, a geological formation first reported on in LIFE magazine in 1960, with books by Tim LaHaye (yes, THAT Tim LaHaye) in the 70s & Charles Berlitz (language school guy but also UFO & Bermuda Triangle obsessive) in the 80s, it’s worth sharing this geological takedown of the whole admittedly picturesque thing:
https://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/bogus.html
By the way, it’s a Mameluke sword, which a newly minted officer has to buy themselves after TBS, and they cost $650 these days. $200 seemed like too much back in 1980…
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JodiP said on November 10, 2025 at 9:38 am
My weekend’s been grand because I’m in Paris! The highlight: I took a very cool cooking class in which I found I don’t have the world’s worst knife skills and got great ideas for Friendsgiving.
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Sherri said on November 10, 2025 at 9:38 am
I was in Albany, NY this weekend, competing in the IDFPA World Bench Press Championships (IDFPA being one of the many powerlifting federations, because none of them can agree about how and how often to do drug testing!)
I did very well, thank you, benching 77.5 kg (170.9 lbs), more than I had done in competition previously by 5 kg. More importantly, life goals! There was an adorable couple competing: she was 83, he was 85. They were coaching and helping each other; she competed on Saturday and he competed on Sunday. I want to be competing when I’m 83!
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Heather said on November 10, 2025 at 10:27 am
I’m so angry about the Democrats deciding to cut a deal with Republicans that gives them a GOP “promise” on a later vote on the ACA in exchange for reopening the government. Give me a fucking break. Chuck Schumer needs to go and frankly Pritzker should replace Durbin at this point even though he is retiring.
Only senators who are retiring or not running for reelection voted yes, suggesting that they did so to give cover to others who wanted to vote that way. Apparently House Dems are apoplectic.
Less than a week ago I was feeling so hopeful and now it’s just ashes. This system needs to be dismantled and rebuilt.
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David C said on November 10, 2025 at 11:23 am
If the capitulation caucus managed just one thing that would have forced the House to vote on it again, you could say OK. Now who knows how long Moses Mike will delay swearing in Rep-elect Grijalva. It could be until the end of the session. Are some of their buds implicated in the Epstein files or something? They’re sure not doing this to protect their constituents.
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FDChief said on November 10, 2025 at 1:21 pm
I’ll leave my opinion on the Senate Asskissing Caucus to the imagination, except to note that anyone stupid enough to believe anything any MAGAt says should not be allowed outdoors without a keeper. Idiots.
One intriguing bit of news about the USMC I came across recently was that the Corps is shutting down their armor units.
Aside from having a terrific PR the thing about the bootnecks that always impressed me was their ability to evade the restrictions the Key West Agreement put on all the other services. They’re a mini-Wehrmacht (in the German sense of “sum of military power”) with their own army (infantry, armor, artillery), Air Force (marine air units), and navy (the dedicated hulls like the LHDs, etc). The Corps has never voluntarily relinquished any of the pieces that make it effectively a self-contained military power.
Until now! I’m curious to find how doctrine changed to make it okay for a Marine flag officer to have to request an Army armor unit(s) if the mission profile demands the treadheads. Heresy? Seems like it! You’re welcome, anyway, booties!
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FDChied said on November 10, 2025 at 1:57 pm
Oh…and re: swords, Mamluke and otherwise.
I recently purchased an “iaito”, a modern reproduction katana (“samurai sword”) used in a Japanese martial art that is (unsurprisingly) made in Kyoto.
I was hit with about $50 worth of TrumpTariffs which were based on not the cost of the complete sword but the proportions of certain metals IN the sword.
Which now has me wondering; who makes the official USMC dress saber? Wilkinson? Some outfit in Germany? Or Canada?
So if our young Marine shavetail wants to sport his or her dress blue tin, do they owe Trump money? If so, that’s the Most Trump Thing (Wet Your Beak In Taxpayer Dollars) Ever.
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Julie Robinson said on November 10, 2025 at 2:20 pm
Sherri and Jodi had spectacular weekends! I didn’t travel, but did get to see a production of my all time favorite musical, Sunday in the Park with George, by theater god Stephen Sondheim, so I was very happy indeed.
Of course I’m furious at the Dems who caved, but the Supremes declined to take the marriage equality case. For today I’ll rejoice in that.
Otherwise it’s the same old adulting things and am getting a mammo later today. But hey, no snow here.
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Sherri said on November 10, 2025 at 2:36 pm
The Dems decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I guess the “moderates” in the caucus were so afraid of Mamdani that they decided they’d better make nice with the fascists before the socialists took over.
Meanwhile, I’m in the city that Mamdani won, in Manhattan, and I can’t see any sign of mass exodus. MOMA was bustling today, traffic is as congested as ever, and the sidewalks as full of people. We’re seeing Six tonight.
The most impactful piece I saw at MOMA today was this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_People_Series_20:_Die
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Jeff Gill said on November 10, 2025 at 3:20 pm
FDChief, probably outdated by now, but this is where the Commandant dropped the bomb on armor:
https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/142/Docs/CMC38%20Force%20Design%202030%20Report%20Phase%20I%20and%20II.pdf
The phrase “littoral operations” gets a workout in the presentation, but I admit to having questions. Not so much about whether we need tanks vs. the PLA Navy as whether that’s really the only coming attraction on a double bill.
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FDChief said on November 10, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Jeff: I wonder if some of the organizational willingness to divest of the armor relates to the recent received wisdom about the vulnerability of mech to things like drones and infantry AT weaponry? It seems inflated to me – problems in Armenia and the Ukraine seem more linked to tactical and organizational failures than a baseline “these weapons make armor obsolete” realignment.
But I could see how a service looking to save on operational budgets might see that as part of an excuse to divest of an expensive-for-its-size maneuver element.
Of course in a Whiskey Pete War Department? Who the hell knows? These idiots might do anything. In the immortal words of CPT Willard: “I see no method at all, sir.”
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basset said on November 11, 2025 at 4:52 am
Never was in the military myself, but Papa Basset was a Marine, and a Coast Guardsman, and a Navy sailor in the Pacific during WW2. Made for an interesting chronology when I started looking up his records.
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David C said on November 11, 2025 at 6:22 am
Damn. Alex gets me into Italian pasta and a week later Trump fucks it up. So I’m going on a hard target search this weekend for every box of De Cecco I can find.
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Jeff Gill said on November 11, 2025 at 7:04 am
Willard’s assessment is always applicable; my point with the Force Design 2030 docs is that the concepts which include the Corps backing away from armor precedes both Ukraine’s experiences, and Trump 2.0 (& Whiskey Tango Pete). I do hear myriad reactions to what’s coming out of the battlespaces around the Volga & Crimea, and that’s why I’m pretty sure FD2030 is a dead letter today. Stuff that’s being done with drones is just incredible, and forget armor: helicopters are going to be rear-echelon fancy trucks & transport for O-8s. Not sure they have a survivable role in today’s combat areas. Choppers & tanks just can’t move close to even the backside of a working frontline.
But the Russians are showing (with Nork assistance) what China could yet improve on in terms of relentless human pressure against technological innovation. Human waves can press on where copters & APCs crack & break. Or would the PLA press on? Is Chinese culture going to accept what Tajiks & Siberians & Chechens take in stride?
Meanwhile, the impact of what’s already happened on Russia in 2040 is staggering. If the war stops entirely, at current positions, today, with no further action on either side, I don’t see how their economy & culture sustains itself thru that year from the losses of young men & material they’ve absorbed. It’s hard not to think Putin, like Trump, is an old man who both can’t imagine the world going on without him, and neither cares about anything that will happen beyond their earthly coil.
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Sherri said on November 11, 2025 at 9:05 am
It’s all very well to talk of drones and armor, but the war from China we are not prepared for is digital. We’ve already seen the effects of Russian-backed disinformation social media campaigns on our society, but I don’t think China will stop there. I think they will attack our infrastructure digitally. When Trump jacked up his tariffs on China, my husband told me that Microsoft was facing a relentless attack, until Trump backed down.
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alex said on November 11, 2025 at 9:23 am
David C, thanks for the heads up: https://www.semafor.com/article/11/10/2025/italian-pasta-could-disappear-from-us-shelves
Probably a good time to stock up. With any luck, Trump will back down once he extorts his payola from the Italians, but who knows.
Looking forward to making a lasagna this weekend with roasted tomato sauce from my summer garden and some schmancy imported noodles. I remember when I thought those chemically laden American no-boil lasagna noodles were the best thing since sliced bread, but no more.
This week I read that roasting bags for turkeys are adding heaping helpings of microplastics to Thanksgiving dinners everywhere. I tried one on a bone-in ham last spring and swore then and there that this would be my go-to for turkey from now on. For years we’ve been spatchcocking turkeys to make them cook quicker and more evenly and stay moist, but this practically requires a Sawzall or tin snips to remove the backbone and your hands get all cut up while slathered in poultry slime. And it still puts out aerosolized burning grease to stink up the air and leave a film all over everything you own. So much easier to just stuff its ass with onions and bag it.
I recently learned an old French trick from Jacques Pepin to prevent getting chicken schmaltz all over everything — cold searing. You start with a cold cast iron skillet, place the chicken skin side down and place a lid over it. After about ten minutes you have an excellent sear and rendered fat without any splatter.
The things I wish I’d known.
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Sherri said on November 11, 2025 at 10:25 am
Everything Trump touches turns to shit. That’s the only thing you can count on in this administration. Certainly not their word.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/world/europe/kash-patel-fbi-mi5.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0U8.RytI.mz2Ty8JJx8Oy&smid=url-share
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Little Bird said on November 11, 2025 at 12:50 pm
About the pasta situation. It’s really easy to make pasta from scratch. The biggest issue is finding the space to dry it.
Four cups flour to about five eggs, mix thoroughly (you can add dribbles of water) until it’s all incorporated and still a tiny bit sticky.
Grab a small handful and roll it out. This is where I use my pasta roller/cutter machine, that I’ve had for twenty years now and has more than paid for itself.
After you get it to your desired thinness, cut it. Lacking a pasta cutting machine I recommend a pizza rolling cutter.
Now the tricky part. You can lay it out on every surface in the kitchen or you can set up a drying rack and hang it on that.
Because this has egg in it, whatever you don’t use that day, store in a ziplock in the freezer.
You’ll wonder why you buy pasta after eating this.
After making it you’ll remember that convenience is a thing.
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Dexter Friend said on November 11, 2025 at 1:56 pm
My vet-friends used to get discouraged when many folks with easy jobs got a holiday for Veterans Day, when we guys (mostly still-young men) had to punch in at factories, foundries, warehouses and garages.
Since the VA finally accepted me for benefits in 2014, no more hard feelings from me at least.
Bruce Hornsby sang it: “That’s just the way it is…”
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David C said on November 11, 2025 at 3:00 pm
Love the idea Little Bird. Unfortunately, so would the cats.
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Sherri said on November 11, 2025 at 3:33 pm
NYC Subway fares may not be free, but paying is as frictionless as possible. You don’t have to get a subway card, or buy a subway ticket, you can just use your tap to pay credit card as if it were a subway card. Or, since I have ApplyPay on my Apple Watch, I can just tap my watch at the subway entrance and I’m good to go.
I’ve been able to use my phone to ride transit in other cities, but it always involved downloading a special app for that city’s system.
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Little Bird said on November 11, 2025 at 3:34 pm
Try hanging it on plastic hangers in a space cats can’t get to? Or lay it flat on sweater drying racks?
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Brandon said on November 11, 2025 at 7:33 pm
What about roasting the turkey in leaves?
https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2013/11/21/for-a-mexican-twist-on-thanksgiving-cook-the-turkey-in-banana-leaves
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