Foodie Friday: Frozen Yogurt

Growing up in upstate NY meant a lot of ice cream in the summertime.  Every summer there were at least 4 soft serve ice cream places we could visit, but once mid September rolled around, the ice cream shops closed because the season was over.  In the late 80s, however, TCBY opened, and they did not close when the weather cooled off.  TCBY -The Country's Best Yogurt, started as a small shop.  You'd go in, there were like 2 to 4 flavors, they had toppings to add, but I remember it being a bit pricey given the time and for what it was.  As time went on they added Shivers -which cost a lot, and Sundettes which were cheap in comparison.  Even as a "tween" my go to flavors always involved peanut butter.  Sundettes would be either golden vanilla or white chocolate mousse with peanut butter cup (and hot fudge and whipped cream of course).  Shivers would be the same -golden vanilla or white chocolate mousse with peanut butter cup.  Sometimes, if I was lucky, mom would even let us take pints home -it was always a good day when white chocolate mousse or peanut butter frozen yogurt were in the case to take home. 

Years have gone by since I have been to TCBY back at home. They've relocated about a quarter mile down the road, and added a Coffee Beanery, but as far as I know most things have stayed the same.   Recently though frozen yogurt places have been popping up all over the place in more of a self serve, pay by weight, type of place (TCBY has even crossed over into this).  Pinkberry of course is a quite popular one.  First time I visited though I had a sample and was not impressed.  Back in March a friend of mine were poking around during our Spring Break from school and decided to try Menchie's, she had been to Red Mango and since they're kind of the same we gave it a shot.  Unfortunately that first trip to Menchie's was the start of a slight obsession.  From then until the end of the school year it was probably a once a week habit -which was not entirely all that healthy.  I mean, just take a look...

 

All from my Menchie's Pinboard

That, my friends, is a lot of Menchie's!!  What I like about Menchie's is that, well it's close tot home, and I like seeing what kind of flavor combinations I can come up with.  I often default to the same flavors (chocolate and peanut butter) but every once in a while those fruity pebbles call my name and I need to put them on some fro yo. 

I have of course been to other places.  Visited Pinkberry again when I was in California (twice actually).  First visit was in Redondo Beach...

Where I got a chocolate peanut butter shake (of course).  I also stopped at Pinkberry at LAX before my flight back to FL. 

More recently (today actually) I visited Yogurtown while at a workshop.  Yogurtown is a local business, and they have more than just self serve yogurt, they have bubble teas and boba shakes.  I had White Chocolate Mousse with graham cracker crumbs, nutella, peanut butter chips and chocolate sprinkles.    It wasn't bad, but a little too far to visit on a regular basis.