Date Night

I attended a scientific conference in Brussels on Friday. It was a good meeting discussing ways to facilitate personalized medicine approaches in Europe. I was able to meet up with a few people that I have been wanting to speak with for a while and I got a few new concepts to add to my slide decks. All in all a productive day. Because the meeting wrapped up around 5, SWMBO joined me in Brussels when the meeting let out. She had made us 7:30 reservations, so we headed down to Moeder Lambic Fontainas. This has become our favorite beer bar in Brussels. 40 Belgian Beers on tap with a few hundred in bottles. The neighborhood is not too scenic, although on Friday night it was a little more animated. Moeder Lambic is very close to the rainbow center of Brussels and with a Gay Pride parade scheduled for Saturday morning, the area was already quite colorful. We found a nice table outside and ordered a couple of new beers and a mixte plat of raw milk cheese and cured meats.

We ordered a couple of rounds. Moeder Lambic serves in somewhat smaller 25-30cl pours as opposed to the standard 33cl, which is great for tasting a few different beers without getting sloppy. I am not going to do a complete review of all of the beers as I was not taking notes but generally they were al in about the same range. I ordered an Ardeladus Tripel followed by a Bons Voeur Tripel. Both solid Three and a Half Drunk Monks with a slight edge to the Ardeladus.

SWMBO ordered a Valeir and a Witkap Blonde. She prefered the Valeir but again, both quite solid beers that I would rate at Three to Three and a Half Drunk monks. I had first had the Witkap at the Belgian beer festival last September and it was as tasty as the first time. All were on tap and quite refreshing on a warm evening.

After our beers and snacks, we wandered around the Centre for a bit and then headed up to the Petite Sablon for a bit more wandering and looking at galleries. The restaurant where we ate was OK, not great, and after the cheese and meat plate (which we did not finish, we are not pigs after all), I really didnt need much more. The restaurant itself was really pretty however and we again ate outside in their courtyard. It sometimes surprises me that SWMBO and I have anything to talk about anymore. We see each other at least 50% more than we have over the last 10 years now that my traveling is greatly reduced. We spend far more time together and have not yet managed to get sick of each other. Who would have thought?