Thursday, August 12, 2010

Yogi Castle

Have you been sucked into the new trend in frozen yogurt? I can proudly say I have been sucked in and I’m obsessed with FroYo. I first discovered this new trend in frozen yogurt when I went to New York City to visit my friend Lauren. She took me to this place called Pink Berry, a famous Froyo franchise in New York. Pink Berry was great they had two tart flavors, an original and green tea with a large array of toppings from fresh fruit to crunchy granola cereal. I liked the yogurt, but wasn’t a huge fan of the tart flavors, I felt it was more like a breakfast food.

I fell in love with frozen yogurt the day I discovered Yogi Castle in Ellicott City. Yogi Castle has a slightly different concept; they are a self serve yogurt shop. As soon as you enter their store, you are guided to the back to pick up your large cup. They only offer one size, but you pay by how much you take at .43 cents/ounce. They have the largest selection of flavors I have ever seen. From tart flavors like green tea, zesty lemon, strawberry and pomegranate to sweeter flavors like peanut butter, cookies and cream, cake batter, red velvet cake and cheesecake there is a flavor for everyone. If you thought choosing a flavor was hard, wait till you get to the toppings. The toppings include fresh cut fruit from strawberries to kiwi, a variety of cereals including Captain Crunch, granola, and Fruity Pebbles, candies such as M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Heath Bar and white chocolate chips, and others like cheesecake bites, brownie bites, cookie dough, and a variety of nuts. There is literally a flavor and topping choice for anyone. After choosing your yogurt flavors and variety of toppings, your final concoction is weighed and after paying you are ready to dig in.

Since I first stepped foot in Yogi Castle in the beginning of July I have probably been there at least once a week. As much as I love variety, I have gotten the same FroYo combination every single time. I know, I know I need to change it up…next time I promise. I always get a swirl combination of the cookies and cream and cake batter yogurt. I have to be careful how much I put in my cup because I have a tendency to over fill, and trust me no matter how much I put in that cup I will finish it. I basically put all the “unhealthy” toppings on my yogurt, with a blend of the different candies and cookies, you can’t go wrong. My motto is you only live once, so I always do it up big.

I Love The Cheesecake Factory

No matter how many times I go to Cheesecake Factory, and trust me I have been there a lot, the menu never gets any easier. Every time I go it literally takes me at least 20 minutes to decide what I want to eat. Everything on their menu is huge and can definitely be split between two people. First off, every meal starts with two rolls of their hot sourdough and wheat bread. I love the wheat bread and when it comes out hot and crispy, I can never resist. Last night my mom and I decided on sharing the Chicken Madeira. After eating all that bread sharing a meal seemed like the best idea. They served us two large butterflied chicken breast topped with mozzarella cheese, asparagus, mushrooms, and a delicious Madeira wine sauce. On the side was a huge portion of chunky mashed potatoes, which tasted great with the Madeira sauce too. With every bite I took I tried to get a combination of all the foods on my fork, each food complimented each other.

I love dessert, especially the 30th Anniversary Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. How could you go wrong with layers of chocolate fudge cake, fudge icing and cheesecake in one dessert? When I was a kid, no matter how full I was I always had room for dessert. I would tell my parents that I had two sides of my stomach one for meals and one for dessert, so I could always eat dessert after dinner. I think as I grew up I realized this probably wasn’t very true and/or healthy so I limited myself on dessert…only sometimes. We decided to pass on dessert, but I promised myself I would get cheesecake next time.



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