Coffee Run - Dip and Sip Donuts
Today would have been my mother's 87th birthday, so in her honor and her love of donuts, I decided to run the 5 miles to Dip and Sip Donuts. This neighborhood donut shop in Roscoe Village specializes in custom-made donuts, and I knew from the get go that this meant I would probably end up buying half a dozen. In all practicality, I wouldn't run back home with a box in hand, so I ordered a coffee to go and got on a Lyft for my return (all sorts of segments about Lyft and Uber soon). The 25th is my sister's birthday as well (if you can believe it, my father and brother also share birthdays but in July) so I wanted to make sure to bring some back for her.
The Run: Part of today's coffee run was to check out the new 312 River Run path that connects several local parks and neighborhoods along a short stretch of the North Branch of the Chicago River. I anticipated this a few years back when I lived closer to Lincoln Square, and ran it, excited about how slick it was represented in the articles and architectural drawings I found on the internet. I discovered several new parts and "behind-the-scenes" sections of the park behind McFetridge, like a swimming pool and other trails that went right past my high school. The bridge section was fairly short, but I enjoyed how it maneuvered up and down and through those hidden parts, ultimately leading to the bridge at Belmont. I reached Sip and Dip at 4.3 so ended up running around the block to make the total distance an even (odd) 5 miles.
The Coffee: Dip and Sip features Metropolis Coffee, but let's face it: I was here for the donuts. Options: um...without a doubt great. Super fresh and high quality. Smaller-sized than Stan's and Firecakes, so you think you can eat more. Sugarload: extreme (I had two at home and nearly grossed out; a sign of my sugar tolerance waning).
The Drawings: The shop had no cafe area and the bench and stools by the window were only there for people to wait on their orders, so I didn't think much about drawing. However, on the way over, the trail had remnants of a very aggressive snow plowing job that resulted in bits of yellow paint scraps unfurled on the concrete (you can see some of it in the image of the bridge). In some areas the paint was sitting on top of snow chunks, like a foreshadowing of the many donut sprinkles I would encounter. I thought about capturing such an oddity but was in too much of a running zone and didn't want to stop. I have an inclination towards shards and scraps--in this case, I thought about the snow melting and leaving those yellow bits to fall slowly over each other. If only I could video tape that in the moment! I thought about the machine that created those marks, or accidentally removed them.
Others: confetti, snowflakes, litter and garbage in a natural landscape, the Alaska performance, yellow street lane markers, reflective paint, layers of paint, asphalt.
On my ride home, I ruminated over the luxurious lifestyle of Roscoe Village, the closeness to Lincoln Square in regards to the number of young, hip families and boutique shops they frequent as part of an expected routine. I thought of Albany Park and how it veers closer and closer each day. On my list: gatorade coolers and the street vendors in AP; comparison of this food to "gourmet" donuts; complicity; marketing and the cost of branding; this broken heart; wealth
