ying

Haven't heard of it? It's the next dessert trend. Invented by this 6 year old who happens to be my cousin and who should be famous and adored all over the world one day, along with the rest of his talented siblings.

I'm never having kids cause they'll never be this cool.

In-N-Out coming to Utah (St. George doesn't count)

Deep in our hearts, we knew this day would come. Yesterday it was announced that In-N-Out will be coming to northern Utah, first Draper and soon after more SLC locations. As early as late summer I could be watching Andy eat a 4 x 4. The proof.

Yogurtlanded

Checking in from OC. I'm quite succeeding in having both Mexican and Yogurtland daily. Finally, I was able to see this Asian wonder of the frozen yogurt world Niccole had been freaking out about.

Here's why it's a banger.
1. Sleek, simple, clean, modern. Clear glass tiles, simple displays. Nutrition information is etched into a floor-to-ceiling clear glass panel.

2. Tons of flavors (almost all fat-free). Not just the tart ones like at those other trendy places, though there's plenty of those. Creamy goodness like cookies & cream and peanut butter. Authentic-tasting fruit flavors. And the toppings! Even Cocoa Puffs, mochi, and the freshest of fruit.

3. Affordable. Stuff yourself for 3 bones. For half the cost you get twice as much as at Pinkberry. Plus the large cups keep the toppings from spilling out.

and duh,
4. You serve yourself. Way more fun and way more efficient, plus it comes out perfect. If you want to try 14 flavors together, you can!

I tell you all this to make the case for my plea. Somebody please open a franchise in Salt Lake City! I'll make it easy for you. On yogurt-land.com, just click on "contact" and you'll see the franchise FAQ and application. Who's on it?

sugar dream

I never had a favorite candy. Until now. These things are DELISH. And I can only find them at a certain Exxon in Draper, Utah. Whoever came up with this is a genius.

This brings me to an important question. Doing a little market research. Please tell me in the comments about a candy you love but that you have a hard time finding. Another one of mine would be the Australian concoction Violet Crumble. And... go.

Guilty Pleasure Wednesday

I've never hated Jimmy Eat World, but I feel like I'm not supposed to like them. Is it that their singer is sort of a poor man's Ben Gibbard? Well too bad, I can't help it. This song crept into my head the other day and wanted to be heard, so here you go.

mp3: Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness

Speaking of guilt and sweetness, I have been having the urge for chocolate cupcakes. I don't particularly like cake, so it was going to be a challenge finding something worth my craving. I tried a recipe from this book, the cover of which always reminds me more of an egg than a cupcake.

They didn't turn out very big, but were satisfying. The icing is basically cream and melted bittersweet chocolate. One thing that made them so good is that there is no white sugar, just the far superior dark brown sugar. And they're not too sweet. Very British, as Kayla says.

Maybe guilty pleasures should become a regular theme around here?

NYC Part VI: it's over!

Stretching out my NY post sure has made blogging easy. In honor of completeness, here's what I've neglected to mention about the trip.

Ate nummy food:
one last brekkie at Florent before it closes for good next month (sob!)
my first Shake Shack: maybe the best hamburger ever
Thai at Sea in Billyburg where the opening scene of Garden State was filmed

Sightings: (other than Christian)
Nole Marin (America's Next Top Model)
Ally and Tommy Hilfiger (couldn't care less about Tommy. But man I miss Ally and her rabbit teeth on Rich Girls. Remember the episode where she taught us how to tap the third eye?)

Coolest new museum with the worst art:
New Museum
Best thing there was the lime green corrugated elevator interiors.

Best roommates for the week, or, Mormons gentrifying Harlem:
Ashley, Becca, & obvs Amy

Here's a funny thing about Mormons in Harlem. During my visit we found out that a friend's husband had been writing a piece for BYU Magazine about the apartment I used to live in on 111th street. In talking to people he had figured out that Amy Middleton, Carlynne Cutler, and Jo Thomas had lived together. I'm not sure what the story was all about, something about how several other LDS kids lived in the building too and someone at one point started calling it Harleman Halls, a pun that would only make sense to those familiar with BYU student housing. One day in talking to the magazine people, he asked if the co-ed living in the story was ok, which it wasn't, so they put the kibosh on the article. Dear world, it's JO Thomas not JOE Thomas. Yeah, because of me a BYU mag article got tossed by the wayside. Or really because of assuming. Now that the misunderstanding is straightened out, we may eventually get to read what on earth all this was about in the first place.

So, yeah. Till next time, NY. And I swear I'll get some music up soon.

Besties of the Week

Lots of little things made this week lovely.

Best thing Niall made me buy:

Tom's Cinnamint toothpaste: yum and no tongueburn


Best treat:

Flattened banana from Trader Joe's + German chocolate in the same bite


Best compliment-getter:

my MAC Mattene lipstick in Orange Dare a la Chloe


Best listening:

Of Montreal covering M.I.A.
mp3: Of Montreal - Jimmy (M.I.A. cover)

Swimmer One: part Swell Season, part Cut Copy
mp3: Swimmer One - Largs Hum


Best visitors from London:

Sundance Film Festival 2008: Take 1

Katie and I had some bad luck at the Sundance Film Festival last night. We went to see Metric play, but apparently they had cancelled. Sondre Lerche was playing instead but they'd stopped letting people in. So we tried to waitlist a film screening. It was a German film called Wave based on a real story about a high school teacher's unique lesson on autocracy. Sounds like it could be a little Zimbardo Prison Experiment-ish, which made me really interested to see it. (Apparently the Germans like to dramatize the study of social psychology--they also made a movie based on that Prison Experiment.) But alas, the theater filled up right before we could get our waitlist tickets. Poo. Those were the two failures of the day.

But we also had two successes. First, sightings on Main Street, Park City:

David Wain of "The State" and "Stella"
Andrew Keegan of 10 Things I Hate About You with way too perfectly groomed eyebrows.
Giada from the Food Network
and
Jodie Foster who was tiny and looked great. I got conned into taking a picture for two nutty ladies who posed with her. Then as she walked away they yelled, "I love you! You're work is brilliant! You're a genius!" and I said "Oh gosh" in response to the ladies not Jodie and Katie said, "Thank you for Freaky Friday."

Second, discovered some delishy chocolates at The Village Candy Shoppe--shopping local rather than at Rocky Mountain. They have what they call an Egghead or something or other that is a homemade caramel covered in white chocolate and cinnamon sugar, which makes this place worth a visit. I also had a plain caramel that looked like a little weenie or snausage but that picture totally doesn't do it justice. I should have got a shot of them all stacked up together. And Katie had a giant cherry cordial supreme thingy.

Hopefully there will be better luck later in the week with actual movies and something interesting to report.

hey punkin

I tried making these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies tonight and they turned out a pretty pretty good. Better than the store at least. I didn't do so well the other day when I over-roasted my pumpkin seeds. So sad.