teresa

Well my last post made the pre-wedding planning sound a little drab so I thought I would touch on the positive.  Elliott and I have enjoyed some great dates lately.  One night Elliott let my spur of the moment ideas plan the night and it was one of our best dates ever.  I think we ate dinner at home as part of our recent efforts to eat better, eating at home you can eat healthier and we have really enjoyed the time together in the kitchen.

Then I had read about a yogurt place in the Diablo magazine that I wanted to try and I also saw something about a Belguim beer spot so I added both to our places to go list.  Elliott agreed to check out the yogurt place with me which is in Berkeley.  As we were headed to Berkeley we realized we could also go to theatre where we could catch a flick that we haven’t seen yet.  You see we go the movies so often these days that we have seen nearly all of the movies at the neighborhood theatre.   However there is an off beat theatre in Berkeley, Shattuck Cinema that was playing Son of Rambow which looked pretty good.  We drove by the yogurt place on the way, couldn’t find parking and because Elliott insists on getting good seats and seeing every preview we didn’t get yogurt because we were pressed for time.

The movie theatre was totally cute.  Elliott really liked the ceiling in the lobby, .  I really liked the popcorn, they had 4 flavors of powder to sprinkle on top including white cheddar and ranch!  The theatre had no more than 50 seats, very intimate.  The movie itself was really well done, much more enjoyable than some of the bigger name movies we have seen recently – I swear we so many movies I think we should be movie critics.

After the movie we walked across the street to try a different yogurt shop than originally intended, Yogurt Harmony.  It was delicous - a must do again.  Very fresh, light, organic – seemingly healthy.

After that on our way home I suggested that perhaps….  we could go to Oakland and check out the Belgium Beer bar I had read about, Elliott agreed to it.  We drove around looking for parking for a bit and eventually tentatively entered the bowling alley of a space.  We walked to the end of the bar but not into the extended table seating area when a couple said they were leaving and gave us their seats, it was meant to be.  The Trappistserves all Belgium beer, not that Belgium beer means that much to me I softly whispered to Elliott do you think they serve Fat Tire, and he explained that the New Belgium brand is not actually Belgium beer (although inspired by), oh…

For the first round we ask for suggestions.  I ended up with a Houblon Chouffe, which I picked for the name.  A passerby commented thats the same way he picks his horses, not a bad method.  Elliott ordered the Manneken Pis.  Both were great.  The best part is The Trappist takes pride in their work selecting the proper glass for each type of beer, chilling the glasses, it was nice to see these bartenders work.

Our second round, who knew, this was Elliott’s idea, I thought we only had one round in us, for me was a St Bernard Abt 12 which could only be described as Christmas in a bottle, very spicy!  Elliott settled on the blueberry wheat, with just enough taste of blueberry, hmmm yummy.  We snatched pictures as we usually do of our beers and of us.

After awhile of sitting there I realized there was a guy sitting next to Elliott who was by himself.  I asked Elliott if he had realized he was sitting there and asked why he hadn’t said hello.  I asked the stranger about his beer choice which was a Frambroise a raspberry beer as my pick up line.  We chatted with him for what might have been an hour.  He was from Belgium and was new to the area too (I know we have been here for a year, but it all still seems new).  It was nice to talk with him. 

We did eventually head home.  When we got home we enjoyed more beers and an escape from all sorrows and stresses of the world.  We played a dice game different from our normal gin rummy game.  It was perhaps one of our best dates ever.