"Tryon the California Life"
Written by Elon Phoenix on 8:48 AMEmily Tryon of the Elon cross country team is spending her summer in Los Angeles as part of the Elon in L.A. program. Each week, Tryon will share her experience with the Phoenix nation in her blog “Tryon the California Life.”
Week Four (An Ode to Frozen Yogurt)
Before I came to this bountiful land of yogurt plenty, I thought that TCBY was the end-all-be-all best place to go for frozen yogurt. I mean I loved it so much that I memorized the entire daily specials menu (Sundae Sundays, Mousse Mondays, Topping Tuesdays…I KNOW I’m not the only one who knows this…). But I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong.
My first experience with the delicious frozen treat was at a place called Pinkberry. If you’ve never been to Pinkberry before, and you’re faced with the opportunity to go to one…go, but I advise you to do your research first. I was completely unprepared when I walked into Pinkberry for the first time. I was so excited 1) because I’d been seeing the quaint little frozen yogurt shops all over the city and they were just beckoning for me to come inside and 2) it was 10:30 at night - the prime time for yogurt eating.
Anyway, back to my story. I went into Pinkberry very excited, albeit uneducated in the ways. I decided, since I’d never been to Pinkberry before, to order something very simple. As a graduate of the school of TCBY, it is my habit to order toppings sparingly (unless I want to spend $8.00 on a bowl of frozen yogurt). “Original” flavored yogurt with a thin smattering of chocolate crisps seemed like a safe, economic choice, and everyone knows that vanilla frozen yogurt is an always-delicious classic. I should have known something was terribly wrong when the (adorable) boy that was behind the glass partition making my frozen creation looked at me like I was a little weird when I told him that a little bit of chocolate crisps on my original yogurt would suffice. I proceeded to ignore the second warning sign when he asked me if I AT LEAST wanted another scoop of crisps.
I can only thank the gods that the cute Pinkberry employee did not see my face when I took my first bite of what I thought was a sweet vanilla frozen delicacy. What my taste buds were met with upon eating that first bite, instead of a wonderful sugary sensation, was the shocking tart flavor of plain yogurt. Now, if I’d been expecting the taste of plain yogurt, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. But as it stood, I was heartbroken. I’d expected so much and gotten so little, and it was entirely my own fault. I’d been offered every opportunity to make something delicious, but my lack of knowledge hindered me to the point where I couldn’t even enjoy my treat. I watched with a curious blend of dismay and envy as my friends cheerfully ate their masterful works of frozen yogurt art filled with delicious things like fruit, granola, and honey.
For the next week, I had the fire of a fierce vendetta blazing through my soul (seriously, yogurt is THAT important to me). I knew it wouldn’t be quelled until I had had another go at Pinkberry and conquered it once and for all. Long story short (well, sort of short seeing as I’m already 541 words into this tale) the combination of chocolate frozen yogurt, walnuts, almonds, raspberries, honey, and victory was the most delicious thing in the universe.
I’ve tried a few other frozen yogurt places since that fateful Pinkberry experience. I took my valuable lesson of not to be conservative AT ALL, EVER with toppings with me and it has served me very well. Yogurtland is my new favorite place in the entire world. Not only do they have about 12 flavors of yogurt and, like, 30 different toppings to choose from, but also your frozen creation is priced by weight. To take it one step further on the awesome scale, Yogurtland is self-serve. That’s right, self-serve. One can go to the furthest reaches of one’s creativity by mixing any of the yogurt flavors and going absolutely crazy putting toppings on it, all for 30 cents an ounce. It’s so ridiculously blissful that I can’t even talk about it anymore because I’ll want it (luckily I’m going there tonight…bet you wish you were in L.A.)!
The last of my frozen yogurt favorites, Menchies, is much like Yogurtland. It is also self-serve and priced by weight, although it’s a bit smaller and is pricier at 39 cents an ounce. BONUS ALERT, they offer free temporary tattoos at the cash register, and everyone loves temporary tattoos!
Anyway, I feel that after a page and a half my ode must come to an end (insert relieved sighs here). I’ll close by saying that if you’re ever in Los Angeles, you simply MUST get frozen yogurt AT LEAST every single day. Twice a day, if possible. It’s that good.
My first experience with the delicious frozen treat was at a place called Pinkberry. If you’ve never been to Pinkberry before, and you’re faced with the opportunity to go to one…go, but I advise you to do your research first. I was completely unprepared when I walked into Pinkberry for the first time. I was so excited 1) because I’d been seeing the quaint little frozen yogurt shops all over the city and they were just beckoning for me to come inside and 2) it was 10:30 at night - the prime time for yogurt eating.
Anyway, back to my story. I went into Pinkberry very excited, albeit uneducated in the ways. I decided, since I’d never been to Pinkberry before, to order something very simple. As a graduate of the school of TCBY, it is my habit to order toppings sparingly (unless I want to spend $8.00 on a bowl of frozen yogurt). “Original” flavored yogurt with a thin smattering of chocolate crisps seemed like a safe, economic choice, and everyone knows that vanilla frozen yogurt is an always-delicious classic. I should have known something was terribly wrong when the (adorable) boy that was behind the glass partition making my frozen creation looked at me like I was a little weird when I told him that a little bit of chocolate crisps on my original yogurt would suffice. I proceeded to ignore the second warning sign when he asked me if I AT LEAST wanted another scoop of crisps.
I can only thank the gods that the cute Pinkberry employee did not see my face when I took my first bite of what I thought was a sweet vanilla frozen delicacy. What my taste buds were met with upon eating that first bite, instead of a wonderful sugary sensation, was the shocking tart flavor of plain yogurt. Now, if I’d been expecting the taste of plain yogurt, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. But as it stood, I was heartbroken. I’d expected so much and gotten so little, and it was entirely my own fault. I’d been offered every opportunity to make something delicious, but my lack of knowledge hindered me to the point where I couldn’t even enjoy my treat. I watched with a curious blend of dismay and envy as my friends cheerfully ate their masterful works of frozen yogurt art filled with delicious things like fruit, granola, and honey.
For the next week, I had the fire of a fierce vendetta blazing through my soul (seriously, yogurt is THAT important to me). I knew it wouldn’t be quelled until I had had another go at Pinkberry and conquered it once and for all. Long story short (well, sort of short seeing as I’m already 541 words into this tale) the combination of chocolate frozen yogurt, walnuts, almonds, raspberries, honey, and victory was the most delicious thing in the universe.
I’ve tried a few other frozen yogurt places since that fateful Pinkberry experience. I took my valuable lesson of not to be conservative AT ALL, EVER with toppings with me and it has served me very well. Yogurtland is my new favorite place in the entire world. Not only do they have about 12 flavors of yogurt and, like, 30 different toppings to choose from, but also your frozen creation is priced by weight. To take it one step further on the awesome scale, Yogurtland is self-serve. That’s right, self-serve. One can go to the furthest reaches of one’s creativity by mixing any of the yogurt flavors and going absolutely crazy putting toppings on it, all for 30 cents an ounce. It’s so ridiculously blissful that I can’t even talk about it anymore because I’ll want it (luckily I’m going there tonight…bet you wish you were in L.A.)!
The last of my frozen yogurt favorites, Menchies, is much like Yogurtland. It is also self-serve and priced by weight, although it’s a bit smaller and is pricier at 39 cents an ounce. BONUS ALERT, they offer free temporary tattoos at the cash register, and everyone loves temporary tattoos!
Anyway, I feel that after a page and a half my ode must come to an end (insert relieved sighs here). I’ll close by saying that if you’re ever in Los Angeles, you simply MUST get frozen yogurt AT LEAST every single day. Twice a day, if possible. It’s that good.
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