Hot Dogs & Groundhogs, Coffee & Ice Cream

Aug 28, Golden Antique Mall in Summerfield: hot dog sale to benefit Piedmont Wildlife Rehab, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 2 to 4 p.m. groundhogs Hansel and Gretel will visit; t-shirts and vintage items for sale in the antique mall. (Special note from MochaMutt: If you haven't met Hansel and Gretel yet, ya gotta see them eat a big piece of broccoli, dawg - - it's awesome!)


UPDATE: Sorry if you missed it! CoffeeCat got to see my friend Hansel again. Here he is trying to get away - once his treat was gone, he was ready to do a belly flop on the cool tile floor. Hansel's dream is to have a wildlife center where orphaned and injured animals can get better and learn to live in the wild again. Friend his group on Facebook to stay informed of fundraisers & volunteer needs. CoffeeCat loves finding coffee shops that support people who are doing good things for our planet! And yes, I finally tried the coffee at Summerfield Creamery - a vanilla bean frappe that promises to be more addictive than iced mocha. It's the perfect drink to cool you off and get your afternoon bzzzz. Oh no!

Coffee shop fans, feel free to post comments about the great things your favorite coffee shop is doing in your community.

Coffee Road Trip: The Seminole Trail (Route 29)

CoffeeCat and MochaMutt like to travel off the beaten path. We took well-worn paths, I-85 and I-95, to our destination of Fairfax, Virginia, so of course we had to take the James Monroe Highway and Seminole Trail back home.

Like most off-the-beaten-path travelers, we took a few detours for those tantalizing road signs that promised tourist attractions, both those created by Mother Nature and others by humans. After stopping in Madison, Va., to see a quilt shop (though neither of us quilt!), we decided to have lunch at the Piedmont Deli.

We found locally roasted coffee beans from Central Coffee and a pot of hot coffee that customers could help themselves to. We gobbled down the homemade chicken salad sandwiches before we could snap a photo, so here’s a photo of the delightful window display. It promotes all the made-in-Virginia goodies they offer, including pork, wine, and preserves. There’s also a good selection of local wine. Route 29 passes by more vineyards and wineries than we could count!

True (Chai) Confessions

MochaMutt has a confession to make - don't worry, it's not bad!! MochaMutt truly cherishes a good ol' cup o' chai. That's right, chai - - spiced tea. Since nearly every Triad Coffee Shop has a variety of teas and other non-coffee drinks available, I thought it would be OK to go public on this blog with my preference for this delectable drink. MochaMutt has a good sniffer, but has, on occasion, stumbled on a poorly concocted cup of chai.

Today, however, MochaMutt put the sniffer to work and discovered a treasure hidden in plain site. Java Jo'z on High Point Road in Greensboro was a welcome sight for my hot paws this afternoon. The barista promised me the best chai in Greensboro, and he might be right!! I ordered it cold, blended with ice instead of over ice, and dawg, was I impressed. It got me through a horrible weekly chore (grocery shopping) with a caffeine- and sugar-inspired spring in my step.

MochaMutt plans to try a few more varieties of chai concoctions and report back on them. We'd love to hear about your favorite cool treats for these steamy hot days. What's your favorite cold coffee shop drink? Where do you find it? MochaMutt wants to know.