At last, we meet.
As the old expression goes, when the gods of LA close the door on one friend, they open a window to another. (Is that how the old expression goes?) In other words, Brent is now in NYC (probably enjoying delicious pizza and bagels AS WE SPEAK– I’m jealous), but my friend Sara just moved back to LA! YAY! (And I think I’m allowed to use her name as long as I don’t show any pictures of what she ate… a funny request, but I will honor it.)
Last night we reunited for the first time in two-ish years, and of course a great feast was in order. (A great feast is always in order, don’t you think? Life is short.) We had Brazilian food for dinner. The steak was so thin. So thin! Masterful.
At the same time, the chefs on Top Chef had an international cooking competition, and NOBODY wanted to do Brazil. And (spoiler alert) the Brazilian dish lost. I don’t really get it. Is Brazilian food that much harder to cook than Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish, Indian, Mexican… was that all of them? Etc.
I mentioned yesterday that I’m a fan of ordering dessert. I deferred and it was a no, so I was a tiny bit sad. But THEN we agreed that there’s always room for frozen yogurt, so we decided to try out the (new? new to me?) Froyo Life down the street. I had a half-off coupon on the back of my Vons receipt, so… why not? Right?
(The name Froyo Life just makes me think… run fro yo’ life! Am I alone here?)
Froyo Life is basically Yogurtland. But they had one flavor that I’ve never seen at Yogurtland. Of course, the flavor that taunts me. Red velvet.
I’ve tried the red velvet Yoplait. No dice. Last time I visited Lauren in Redlands, she wanted me to try red velvet frozen yogurt at her local store, but we got to the yogurt place about thirty seconds after it closed. Ridiculous. I traveled all that way, only to be denied. (That was the day before my red velvet identity crisis occurred, bee tee dubs.)
So it was quite exciting to finally encounter red velvet frozen yogurt, even though my opinion of red velvet cake is in flux. Once again, the color didn’t quite match the appetizing deep hues of the actual cake (compare this to the picture at the top of the post).
Cup of many flavors. Before I defiled it with toppings.
(With all the good-sounding flavors to try, I ended up with way more yogurt than I meant to take.)
I thought the red velvet yogurt was good, but I don’t know if it tasted much like red velvet. The weird this is– I don’t know how red velvet is supposed to taste. I know how chocolate and vanilla and lemon and coffee etc etc etc taste, but honestly– what is the flavor of red velvet? The color red? The color red with a hint of cocoa?
When it’s done right, red velvet is a really great piece of moist cake. But what FLAVOR is it? Hard to pinpoint. One of the many confusing things about red velvet, if you ask me. (Apparently the Alcove has BLUE velvet. So… does that taste like blue? Or is it the same as red?) (Paging all synesthesiacs…)
Sara’s favorite frozen yogurt joint (yeah, I’m old school) has crumbled red velvet cake as a topping. It would be great to stir that in with the yogurt and see how THAT all works. (I’m guessing… really well. I spoke in the Yoplait post of wanting cake texture in these cake-flavored dairy products, so I’m sure I’d be a fan.)
Not that I was lacking in the toppings category…
A dusting of graham cracker, and the rest is self-evident.
I love how the color turned out in that picture. Whoaaa, man. Psychedelic. Magic mushroom frozen yogurt.
And I was also a fan of the decor. Somehow it matched my selections perfectly. (All part of the plan.) And the hibiscus table-mat things added a touch of YES.
Just add hummingbird.
Oh, and it’s August in LA, right? I wore TWO JACKETS while eating my frozen yogurt. And I was INDOORS. Is something wrong with me, or is something wrong with the weather? (Or both?)
Epilogue: Sara and I must have entered into a mind-meld last night, because we ran into each other in yoga class tonight. I’m not sure if we were there to work off our steaks & dairies or to become one with our bad/amazing life choices. Er–our fabulous eating habits.
I think I’m going to get more Froyo Life coupons every time I go to my local Vons, so you and you and you are cordially invited to come with me and split the buy one/get one half off deal.
My mantra for tonight: I am one with the universe, and if the universe wants to hand me deliciousness, who am I to say no?
Also– Wizard of Oz moment– the yoga instructor played Ingrid Michaelson’s cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” during corpse pose (the very end– the just-lie-there part) (the best part). I’d never heard this version before (found out that it was Ingrid’s after class), and it very much felt like a song about heaven, moreso than I realized before. (Maybe because it was out of the context of the movie.) Kind of an emotional moment, since Wizard of Oz has been special to me for… my entire life. And I am going to die. Wah wah wah. And SO ARE YOU. And is there anything over the rainbow? Will we ever see it? Are we just little sugar sprinkles in the great big frozen yogurt cup of time, tiny and sweet and insignificant, melting away into the murky coldness?
Deep life thoughts.
Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto?
(Ugh, on top of everything I really miss my dog now.)
But wait!– we can’t die yet. There is so much delicious cake to be had, right here UNDER the rainbow. (And so many rainbow sprinkles.) In glorious Technicolor!
Life is too short not to eat cake with friends as often as possible.
xoxo…
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