Its getting hot in here- so fill your cup with Fro...I am getting so hot, I'm gonna fill my cup up....

So, the other night (not the night I spent puking my brains out with mild food poisoning), much to everyone I was with's surprise I confessed that I had never tried Yogurties- or Menchies for that matter.
It was a mere 10 minutes later that I was at the door of the new Yogurties on Avenue road.

I must first say that this was not the cause of my horrendous violently sick night- this was a different night altogether thankfully- I realize that talking about vomit does it make it appealing to foray into a rant about food but that's just how I roll.

Plus, in line with this extra hot weather, I thought it might be fun to think cool so, onto Yogurties...

So, in case, like me, you have been living under a rock, here is the lowdown on these FroYo places popping up all over the city. Soft serve froyo (frozen yogurt- obvi) a la TCBY is served at these joints. Along the wall stretches several batches of flavors paired in couples with the option of each flavor or a swirl of the 2 combined. You can pump as many flavors and as much as you can into fairly large cups.

How might one choose a flavor you may think?

Well it is as overwhelming as one might suppose but the good people at Yogurties make it easier on you by offering small cups for samples. Of course, the cheap-o in me immediately thought "I can just eat a million samples and not pay anything"- Truth be told, I am a sample abuser. Take me anywhere with freebies and I will skip a meal and fill myself with anything they offer. I am a pure embarrassment at Costco and when my mom and I attend the One of a Kind show and reach the food aisles (which are amazing and not to be missed) I usually do about 3 laps trying to hide my face for fear and shame that they will have recognized me from moments before.

But I digress.....again.
Here were the flavors available on that wall that night:
Lime and Kiwi
Vanilla and Peanut Butter
Pomegranate and Tart (yogurt flavor- my abso fave)
Cookies and Cream and Red Velvet.

Didn't bother with the Lime/Kiwi as I am allergic to Kiwi (do I not hate saying that? Being allergic to shit sucks. I fucking hate being like, oh, I'm allergic. I feel like I may as well have a retainer and pocket protecter or whatever. Just a weird thing of mine, fucking allergies).

I tried the Vanilla which was great- skipped the PB because the thought of it grossed me out- although it was the flavor of choice among my friends.
Got heaps of the Pom/Tart in a combi swirl- tried the Cookies and Cream which I thought was pretty lackluster and finally the Red Velvet which, although it was the color of purpley brown barf (sorry for bringing up barf again) was divine- i put some of it on the side of my Tart/Pom swirl and headed to the next station. Toppings.

Because, as if it is not enough to have a plethora of froyo flavors, you also have a bevy of toppings to add to your concoction.
Highlights include mini Entemans chocolate chip cookies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, every gummy and chocolate imaginable and sauces galore.
I of course tried the most raunch thing available- these balls called baby popping balls- the name alone should have been fair warning- that are essentially like roe, but instead of popping into salty fishy goodness, pop into fruit flavors. And not like tapioca- this was like flavored water in bubbles. Oh. Please. so. gross.

Best part is that like gelato, this stuff is low/no fat. Of course that makes it seemingly guilt free, mind you, the toppings help compensate for the calories- but also makes it a great treat. SO satisfying and especially if you go for the more indulgent flavors, like Red Velvet (which is also low fat)- great to satiate your sweet tooth.

The place is mental, full of people, we went at 10:30 and it was still fully packed with patrons. We saw at least 4 people we knew in different parties so it was great that I was in my most grubby sweats and had hair so dirty that some of it was building dreadlocks.... next time I will know better.

Go here. GOOOOOOOOO.
By the end of summer, these people will know me just as well as my gelato friends.

And speaking of which, as a side, on FabFind Toronto today- there is a coupon for free gelato at Simply Italian Gelato- this place is bomb! Check out my new food blog, in its infancy, to see some pics of the most amazing gelato to date from them- Lime Cilantro. janeplantaineats.tumbler.com This place is so fucking good (and follow my new blog too while you are at it!)

Keep cool today everyone!

The weekend the boys went.

This weekend past was quite a treat for my friends and I. There were 6 of us whose significant others were not here this weekend so we took the opportunity to have the ultimate girls weekend. beginning Friday at 2pm I was surrounded by some of my favorite ladies and we didn't leave each other's sides until Sunday morning.

It began with Potter. Harry Potter.
This was my first experience with Varsity VIP cinema. This theatre is so pimp although I fail to see the added value in having people bring shit to your seat. Like, how lazy are you that you can't step out the whole 8 footsteps over and buy your own popcorn. And the people ordering had such strict popcorn requests at that. The man in front of me made sure the waitress?knew to layer his popcorn with butter in small layers.
Oh really sir?


Perhaps the booze makes it worthwhile but to me, a glass of wine in a comfy chair in the dark = snoozefest. Don't care how great a movie I am seeing. the seats of course were plush and fantastic and the side table attached to each of them was wondrous. It also totally helped that we sat behind maybe the cutest couple of life. 2 older men (one of whom was layered popcorn) who were so excited by the movie and clapped every time a bad guy died or good guy prevailed. Adorbs.

I obviously cried throughout parts of the ending- no surprise there. And now I am through. Much like a first kiss, I will never experience my first HP again.

Anyways, movie turned into sushi dinner, diner turned into too much wine and silly conversation, silly conversation turned into the potential of a choreographed dance at my wedding (this will happen, it is my dream to do the footloose dance) and dancing turned into gelato- and that cycle continued all night long.
Saturday, which was- not to go to the weather, don't worry, I am not bored with your yet- a STUNNING day began with a personal training session. Am I just the weakest person on earth? I sometimes wonder this after the gym. I work out at least 5 times a week, as I have mentioned before and yet today- 2 days later- I am walking a bit funny and certainly feeling that dull familiar pain in my legs. I guess when you are trying to build muscle from nothing you have a long ways to go. After all Rome wasn't built in a day. Not that I am Rome, but I do love Italian food, so I am not entirely unlike Rome. Nonsensical rant? Check!

After training we all piled into cars and caravanned down to Cherry Beach.
How I wish I could take full credit for this beach but alas a friend had suggested it last weekend- which is when I first went- so my suggesting it this weekend was a used idea- but a good one.
Cherry beach is not unlike Jersey Shore. While it is beautiful to be on a beach and not see any city, it would be nicer even if it was not littered with speedo clad men and overweight women in thongs. Freedom of speech and a topless is ok policy in our great city make it legal for people to wear anything at the beach. They take advantage. The sun rays were not the only thing blinding me that day- let's just say that.

Saturday evening our master grill chef made us a feast of meat and seafood (and gelato- we are all sick in the head) and we drank sweet sangria under a starlit cabana.

I never usually write nicer things- and trust I have plenty to say in the following posts about other things from the weekend past, but I am so unbelievably lucky to be surrounded by some of the most beautiful and amazing ladies out there. Thank you girls for a seriously fantastic weekend FULL of laughs.
xo

Life in a Sweat Box

I would murder someone for a decent air conditioner in my house.

I aptly named this post, life in a sweat box because I am missing said AC unit and wanted to vent (ha! vent. Like where the AC would come from if I had it) about life in the hot lane.

When we first moved into our humble abode and found out that AC was not in the cards, it was ok. It was March. We were given a clunky and dated unit to stick in our window that was meant to provide us with hours of cooling power. Now, maybe it was the ducktape and saran wrap that we used to install it, or that this machine was made before I was born, or that our place is quite large and one window unit just would never suffice- but either way, this machine never worked. Sure it cooled the air immediately surrounding it in my closet room, but that was all. So while my perfectly folded GAP T shirts remained frigid, I roasted.

Finally, after I spent more than half of the summer bitching about the neverending sweat on my face, my landlords agreed to buy us a new unit. Enter Robot AC 2.0. 

Now, where I once had free space not occupied by a unit the size of a small fat child, I have a new AC unit. This thing is the most obtrusive device I can imagine in the world. How is it that my phone can basically tuck me into bed and wipe my ass in the bathroom and is the size of a business card- but they cannot manage to make a micro unit? And dude wasn’t cheap either- this thing was about 500 bucks. That is just batshit craziness.

The other thing about new unit is that although it is "free standing" and does not need to be installed into a window, it’s parts must run through a window thus really, defeating the whole “stand alone” feature that it boasts.

True to my own skills, I ducktaped this baby into the window. It is such a weird device. It has two enormous tubes that compact and extend and must go through the window and then attach to the body of the unit- taking up more space than it already did. Amazing.

This new unit trumps the old one-but what exactly does that say? Not a whole lot. The old unit sucked, this one, slightly less so. First of all it is mega loud and second it too only seems to cool off the immediate area it is in- not the best for a 1000 + square foot place with different rooms. So now I have a cool den followed by a semi cool dining room, a hot kitchen, hotter closet room, hotter bathroom and brutal bedroom. FAN-fucking tastic.

It is impossible for me, as a result, to ever look good in the summer as I perpetually sweat. The past few weeks of “summer” have been a dream come true to me, with the windy days and cool nights I have been sleeping with the window open and loving the natural breezy airy nature of my place. The day it got hot was the day I remembered how gross last summer was.

So to all of you out there who have renting/buying a new place on the horizon- I encourage you to consider your face and the amount of breakouts you get when it is always hot and flushed before you poo poo AC. In theory and in cool temperatures, life is great but like a big box of chocolates, you never know what you will get in the summers here in the city. Buyer beware.