Every fall I like to take part in Mary G’s Coffeeneuring Challenge where people ride bicycles to coffeeshops or to places that serve coffee or, conversely, take coffee to places that don’t. Whatever, the important thing is bike to coffee.
I am not, however, the only person who does this bike challenge that doesn’t drink or like coffee. So there’s a rule that says we don’t have to.
(For this year’s first Coffeeneuring ride, I’m about to find out exactly how far that rule will stretch. More on that in a minute…)
I’ve been riding bikeshare for most of the past year, rather than my own bike, which does necessitate riding places that are somewhat near the docks. It also means that my rides can, like today’s be hybrids, where I ride some of it and walk (or metro) some of it. Today’s involved riding to the the dock nearest the library; walking to the library, the garden, and Trader Joe’s; riding to the coffeeshop; walking to Marshall’s and TJ Maxx; riding to Safeway; and then riding the rest of the way home.
I discovered the coffeeshop, Dua, earlier this week when I was hunting for a bike to ride home after work. I’d walked past its McPherson Square space half a dozen times since starting my new job, but never noticed it until I needed a bike from the dock in front of it. And then I knew I’d be back to Coffeeneur.
The guy at the counter was very nice and when I said I was looking for something coffee-free, he asked if I’d be in the mood for something cold. How about our cookies and cream milk shake? he asked. Sure thing! (It was ice cream, but drinkable ice cream … That totally counts, right?!)
I added a chocolate croissant to my order and headed (with my two bags full of library books and groceries) to the seating in the back. They have a handful of seats at the front window, a long subway-style, outward-facing row of seats, and then a back section with five tables, one of which is meant to be communal seating.
Both the milkshake and the croissant were very tasty.
I’ll definitely be back, but I suspect that I’m missing out on the best the shop has to offer. This is the first international outpost of a Jakarta coffeehouse, and they import their beans from Indonesia, where they know all their coffee growers. They have two Indonesian coffee specialties — one made with condensed milk and the other with coconut milk — and offer an Indonesian sweet — banana and chocolate wrapped in a spring roll wrapper. I have recommended to Rudi that he stop by, being a fan of both coffee and bananas, and I suspect he’ll have a new favorite shop once he does.
Have I ever shared here how much I hate the intentional walk? I think it’s a particularly overused action in contemporary baseball. You want to skip a batter? Pitch around him. He hits it anyway? Them’s the breaks!
It particularly grates me when it’s done to load the bases, and I don’t care how many Sabremetrics guys want to tell me that it’s a savvy move when there are no outs and a hot batter is at the plate. You intentionally walk the bases in that situation and you deserve to have a grand slam smacked against you.
Because eventually, that next batter is going to get really tired of being deemed the lesser threat. And he’s going to demonstrate that he, too, can make the clutch move. And, honestly, extra innings in the final game of a playoff series is a really great time to make such a statement.
Thanks, Howie Kendrick, for channeling all the dismissiveness the Dodgers showed you and smacking that baseball back toward the D.C. crowd who’s waiting to buy you a beer when you get home.
Let’s go, Nationals! St. Louis, we’re coming for you next!
A musical interlude following the Nationals’ come-from-behind victory in tonight’s wildcard playoff game. This one is for the game’s MVP, our 20-year-old centerfielder Juan Soto.
I bookended the week with baseball games on both Monday and Friday, which the Nationals were kind enough to win both of. In between, the Nationals clinched a wild card spot, and today they locked down home field advantage for that one-game playoff to see who’ll proceed to the NLDS.
This shot is from Monday’s game against the Phillies. You can tell both by the uniforms (we’re playing Cleveland this weekend) and by the sparse crowds. Friday night games are always better attended than those during the week, but last night’s crowd was particularly into the game, with most of the attendees remaining at the game until the end, which happens surprisingly infrequently when there’s not something after the game to keep them at the ballpark.
Tomorrow is the final game of the regular season. I will be sad to see baseball end for the year, so I’m glad the Nationals have given me another reason to remain interested during the playoffs.
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