Had a very special visitor last weekend. My teammate and all around awesome person, Leigh “The Machete” Valletti flew out from Atlanta for the 3 day to hangout with us on the left coast.

We crammed as much stuff into 3 nights and 2 days as two girls (legally) can. Dinner the first night at VK happy hour HQ, Fonda.
4 hr ride in Marin the next day complete with photo stops at all the touristy spots. As Leigh put it, it was like being on our honeymoon! Sweet! (No mom, I don’t have anything to tell you, just a joke!)

We had a fantastic home cooked meal that night in Berkeley at Dave and Jennie’s, after that we bundled up and headed to my favorite beer heaven, The Trappist. Mmmmmmmm, beer…. *drool*

3 hr ride out to Danville on Sunday AM and then sushi at Sushi Groove with Mark and Flavia closed out the visit. It went by as fast as any weekend should be allowed and before I knew it I was dropping LeiLei off at the San Fran airport in the pouring rain. *sniff*

She’ll be back in a month for camp, I’ll be counting down the days!

Last night a group of my favorite California kids went to a brand new bar in downtown Oakland called The Trappist. We waited in line outside in the freezing cold for around 20 minutes to get into this tiny bar that holds only 49 lucky souls. The wait was well worth it as the menu of Belgian beers they stock is among the best I’ve ever come across this side of the Atlantic.

The Trappist is literally the size of a shoe box. Granted, a very beautiful shoe box. If you have any appreciation for Belgian beers and live in the Bay Area do not miss out on this place.

We started with a Witkap Tripel which I enjoyed almost as much as I enjoy my favorite Tripel, Westmalle. We then moved on to two big bottles of St. Feuillien Tripel. Very enjoyable.

One of my favorite things about Belgian beers are the stories behind the individual brews. They seem to flavor the beer with history and make them taste that much better.

Here is the web link to The Trappist, be sure not to miss it!