Here's a pretty lighthearted newsletter today to go with the blue skies outside! Let’s get going.
3 autumn coffees at local shops
Whether you’re an easy indulger or gravitate to your classics, consider giving one of these drinks a try. They might be a bit of a splurge for some, but worth it; they’re cozy, subtle, and all of them delicious. Starbucks released their original pumpkin spice latte 22 years ago (!), and these local shops have all made something better in a fraction of that time.
☕ Obligatory PSL at Common Ground Coffee & Market
Truly autumn in a cup. They’ve changed their recipe and made it better. Co-owner Sarah and I agreed this one has a slightly vegetal taste from the pumpkin, making it a little earthier and less sweet than last year’s version.
The Obligatory PSL at Common Ground Coffee & Market (in a Lalas Fresh Pots mug), $6.25 for 12 oz. (The Leaf)
☕ Orange Clove Latte at Form and Function
The baristas didn’t go wrong in their recommendation here; It’s mildly spiced and mildly zested with citrus, nowhere near too much of either. I’m not sure if every Form and Function has this, but I know that the Sparrow Hotel location does, and their truck at the farmers market didn’t two Saturdays ago.
The Orange Clove Latte at Form & Function, $7 after tip. (The Leaf)
☕ Harrison Blvd. at Pine Coffee
If you crave the sweet cream cold foam (or whatever Starbucks calls it), the foam on top of Pine’s is even better. The coffee base is supplemented with a salted maple caramel sauce, and it’s good hot (which is how it’s made below), but I imagine that it’d be even better iced, so the cold foam and cold coffee blend a little better. The foam really is the best I’ve had. Pine Coffee is located in the Watercooler building, at 1401 W Idaho Street.
The Harrison Blvd. at Pine Coffee, $8. (The Leaf)
Speaking of coffees, would you grab mine? If you want to keep getting local recommendations and watch The Leaf level up, consider leaving me a tip or becoming a paid subscriber!
Idaho’s largest data center proposed south of Boise
A Nevada company wants to build a 4 million square foot data center south of Boise, right off the Blacks Creek exit off I-84. It would be the largest in Idaho, and the first to be built on public lands. It was one of multiple such projects proposed on public lands reported earlier this week by The Washington Sun, and details through BLM records online are scarce at this stage. According to the Sun's reporting, a natural gas power plant is part of the plans.
An environmental impact study is currently underway.
Neither Gov. Brad Little nor any of Idaho’s four U.S. Congressmen — Sens. Mike Crapo, and Jim Risch, and Reps. Mike Simpson and Fulcher — had made public comments about the proposal as of Thursday afternoon.
The yellow areas on the map show the location of the proposed center; Lucky Peak Reservoir, the Boise Airport, and Boise can be seen to the north. (Mineral and Land Records System / BLM)
ACOTAR sells out release parties
It’s not often that book releases sell out in Boise, so it's noteworthy when two release parties for the same book sell out a month in advance.
The fantasy craze of “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas has reached Boise, with both The Book Lounge in Meridian and Hearts on Fire Books in downtown Boise selling out their release parties the week of Halloween. The sixth book in the series, "A Court of Splintered Harmony," comes out Oct. 27.
1 hopeful thing
The Leaf reader and Boise Bicycle Project programs coordinator Anika Bennett has our parting word of hope this week:
One thing giving me hope right now is transience — the state of impermanence, malleability, evolution.
This Sunday, September 27th, we celebrate the third annual Open Streets Boise in the Collister Neighborhood on Catalpa Drive. Open Streets is a global initiative focused on temporarily transforming streets into car-free community spaces. In Boise, the event travels to a new neighborhood each year, inviting pockets of our community to envision what their streets can look like when space is designed with humankind in mind.
I grew up in large part at my Grandpa Rob's house in the Collister Neighborhood, then my parents purchased his home after his passing in 2014. Grandpa used to put us grandkids in a dusty green wagon and pull us, from the seat of his electric wheelchair, down the narrow shoulder of a sidewalk-less road to Catalpa Park. His safety and ours was constantly put at risk in our exposure to speeding, distracted drivers in their cars. Accessible infrastructure was — and still is — non-existent on Collister Drive.
In August, I rode a bicycle on San Francisco's JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park, then onto a stretch of the Great Highway which is permanently closed to cars. Formerly a 4-lane highway transformed less than 5 years ago. Now, a 17-acre park and 2-mile pathway, jeweled in colorful murals, mini-parks, and scenic lookouts. Impermanence, transience.
I wish my grandpa were here to see Open Streets this weekend, right outside his front door. I imagine what he would want our neighborhood streets to look like, what they would feel like if designed to better serve him, his grandkids, and the whole community. Highways and neighborhoods can be rebuilt, re-seen, and reclaimed. That is hopeful and worth celebrating.
-- Anika Bennett, programs coordinator at Boise Bicycle Project
