Future Fro-yo Shop Pictures: Yum Chocolates and Frozen Yogurt

Fro-yo girl here. I found this opening soon sign in downtown Mill Valley, next to US Bank (very close to Depot Bookstore). I couldn't look inside because the windows are papered over and I haven't found anything about Yum Chocolates and Frozen Yogurt online. It's a large enough space for self-serve. Lollipop, Lyla's Chocolates and Frosting closed, so I'm not sure where people in Mill Valley go for candy and cupcakes.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YUM CHOCOLATES AND FROZEN YOGURT: 763 E. Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley, CA

Tarami Fruit Market: Japanese Yogurt Review

Fro-yo girl here. I spotted Japanese yogurt while shopping at Nijiya Market in San Francisco. Of course I had to try it. The yogurt comes in clear cups and it's made by Tarami Fruit Market. They're $1.79 each.

* Nata de coco yogurt dessert: To my surprise, this dessert is a yogurt jelly...it's fairly firm like soft tofu with a mild, milky, sweet flavor. There are large cubes of nata de coco. The nata de coco is firm and chewy. It doesn't taste like coconut though it's made of fermented coconut water and carrageenan. I enjoyed the contrasting textures and the mild, delicate flavors. The next time I see nata de coco at a fro-yo shop, I'm going to get some for my fro-yo.

They also had aloe in yogurt jelly and fruit in yogurt jelly.

4 out of 5 stars

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Your Votes Are In: Favorite Fro-yo Toppings

Fro-yo girl here. Thank you to the 120 people who voted for your favorite type/category of fro-yo topping. Voters could only choose one of the following: candy, cereal, cookies, fresh fruit, mochi, nuts and sauce. I personally really, really wanted mochi to win...but the people have spoken and my second choice, fresh fruit, was the victor with 45% of the votes. Mochi came in third with 17% of the vote.

Surprisingly, candy came in second with 29% of the vote. An earlier poll revealed that 75% of my readers/voters eat mostly tart fro-yo. Do they add candy on their tart fro-yo? I never do. I thought cereal (1%) and cookies (2%) would do much better.

I usually get fresh fruit and mochi toppings. It's painful for me to eat a cup of fro-yo without mochi, just like I find it painful to swirl my own fro-yo and add my own toppings. The nice thing about fro-yo is that people have their own personal favorite combinations.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Nubi SF Potrero Center Grand Opening Coverage

Fro-yo girl here. I met up with some fro-yo friends today and made it to Nubi a few minutes before it opened. There was a short line and a sign in the window about the grand opening. We shuffled in at 11 AM and swirled our fro-yo. It's 50% off all day. The celebration was low key. They didn't have balloons (like they did for their other grand opening events).



I heard they planned on having music and prizes but it was unclear when that would start. I did get a coupon for 50% off my next up at that location, expiration date 5/31/2010, and the free Nubi t-shirt (the same one that they gave away at the San Leandro grand opening). The fro-yo was very thick and firm and the mochi balls were nice and chewy. The shirts arrived late (around 11:30 AM) and they seemed to have quite a few judging by the number and size of the boxes.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* NUBI YOGURT: 2300 16th St. Ste 215, San Francisco, CA

I Found the Fro-yo Charm That I Wanted

Fro-yo girl here. I had to go back to Kinokuniya to try my luck again...wanted that #7 fro-yo looking charm from the "I love strawberries" collection. Since it's in a plastic pouch instead of a cardboard box, I figured I could squeeze the package and judge what was inside. They didn't have that many left, so there was a chance that none of the packages had #7. I was worried I'd get scolded for feeling the packages for so long but no one said anything.

I bought one package and it had the #7 charm! Yay! It has a strong, horrible scent though - like gasoline. I thought it might smell like strawberries.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl

I Didn't Get the Fro-yo Charm That I Wanted

Fro-yo girl here. Aren't Japanese miniature food charms just too cute? I spotted the new "I love Strawberries" series by RE-MENT at Kinokuniya featuring cake slices, cake rolls, ice cream, pudding, a pink donut and what looks like a fancy cup of fro-yo (Charm #7) with Strawberry Pocky, strawberry sauce, mini scoops of strawberry gelato (?) and strawberries. You can't choose the one you want since you can't see which one is inside the plastic pouch. There are 12 different charms. My cake slice (Charm #1) is cute and perhaps has a strawberry fro-yo filling. They were selling the charms for $3.35 each. You can see all of them on the RE-MENT site.

I found the cutest website, Strapya World, where you can buy miniature food charms and the ice cream cone ones look like fro-yo, though there is nothing that is labeled as fro-yo.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl

Blush Walnut Creek Grand Opening Coverage

Fro-yo girl here. Blush Walnut Creek (Blush #5) had its grand opening today. The celebration started at 11 AM. The Blush employees were there in their Blush Walnut Creek t-shirts (I received one as well - thank you T & K!) I met family members and friends, including T & K's son, Nick, who looked every bit the young fro-yo entrepreneur. Too cute. The location is in the same shopping center as Whole Foods and I heard it's the new hang out spot for high school kids once school lets out (I envy them...having Blush fro-yo right after school sounds amazing).

They had hourly prize drawings till 3 PM. I didn't see any of the winners but I did see the prizes, including a Xbox, iPod Nano, Blush gift cards, iTunes gift cards, etc. I saw some kids walk off with the balloons and free samples distributed in front of Whole Foods.

The new location serves four organic fro-yo flavors a day and they swirl it for you (yay!) The menu is the same as the other Blush locations - and the fro-yo meets Blush's high standards. The spoons are made out of potatoes. Congratulations Blush! Love the new location - it's also very close to Broadway Plaza so it's the perfect spot to go to before or after shopping.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* BLUSH WALNUT CREEK: 1345 Newell Lane, Unit B, Walnut Creek, CA

Trix is Promoting Fro-yo

Fro-yo girl here. I was at the grocery store recently, checking out the yogurt section and I noticed that the Yoplait Trix packages include a free gift, a set of colorful Trix sticks. The package features a picture of the Trix Rabbit holding a fro-yo popsicle. You stick the plastic stick in the Trix yogurt cup, freeze and voila = fro-yo popsicle.

Flavors include:
* Very Berry Watermelon/ Berry Bolt
* Cotton Candy/ Strawberry Kiwi
* Raspberry Rainbow/ Strawberry Banana Bash
* Triple Cherry/ Wild Berry Blue
* Watermelon Burst/ Strawberry Punch

I didn't buy any...the idea of yogurt named after a sugary kids' cereal just doesn't appeal to me. Still, I was happy to see the popularity of fro-yo.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Attractive Space Available in Mid-Town Sacramento, Ready for Fro-yo

Fro-yo girl here. I'm not in the real estate business but I am curious about fro-yo appropriate store spaces. A new space just went on the market. It was formerly occupied by Hina's Tea.

The owner describes it as follows:
* Housed in one of the few modern styled buildings in Mid-Town Sacramento
* Underwent well over $200k in improvements in late 2006, including new rough plumbing, new rough electrical, new 200 amp 3 phase power, mop sink, new restrooms, wired for wireless router and 2 cash registers, new cabinets, can fit 3 frozen soft-serve machines, power for large 5' wide reach in refrigerator, power for large 3' wide freezer, area for fruit prep table, etc.
* The block attracts younger mid-town residents and families, close to large working population, high traffic, directly across the street from 20-year old successful Rick's Dessert Diner, also close to Golden Bear, new Vegan Bakery, in the Art Walk area, between Big Spoon at 37th & J Street (13 blocks) and Yogurtagogo at 18th & L Streets (6 blocks)
* Rear parking lot for 3 vehicles, ample on-street parking

With all these improvements in place, this location can become a fro-yo shop in no time at all. Contact me if you'd like more information (froyogirl@gmail.com).

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* 2319 K St, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95816

Happy Mother's Day, Fro-yo Style

Fro-yo girl here. If your mom enjoys fro-yo or you want to introduce her to fro-yo, treat her on Mother's Day. You've probably already heard about the 3rd Annual TCBY Mother's Day celebration. Get a free cup or cone for mom, but you may want to call first (to make sure your local TCBY is a participating location).

Nubi Circle members received a bogo coupon good on May 9th. Last year I went to Nubi on Mother's Day for free fro-yo and I mentioned it on my blog: "On Mother's Day, I stopped by Nubi to get my free 10 ounces of fro-yo and toppings." This year, it's not free so I'll be eating fro-yo somewhere else tomorrow (a place or two that I haven't been to before).

Blush fans, mention Facebook on May 9th for the buy one fro-yo, get one free for mom special or buy $25 worth of gift cards and get a free small fro-yo with two toppings.

Starfruit is giving away free Diva smoothies to moms. Moms get 10 oz. of free yogurt at Yogurt Mountain.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Nubi Potrero Center Update

Fro-yo girl here. Yes, it's open (thanks anonymous for the tip). I had lunch there today (fro-yo for lunch, yay) and I learned the following about the grand opening:

* Scheduled for May 22nd
* Free t-shirt giveaway
* 50% off fro-yo

They were kind enough to ask me to emcee/host a grand opening but I'd like to keep my identity secret...so that fro-yo stores don't get nervous when I walk in or act differently. Consider me a fro-yo mystery shopper.

By the way, the fro-yo is not discounted right now (during their soft opening phase). The texture is much better than the fro-yo at their Sloat location. They have 16 flavors a day (39 cents an ounce) + a bathroom.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* NUBI YOGURT: 2300 16th St. Ste 215, San Francisco, CA

Tuttimelon Cell Phone Charms

Fro-yo girl here. I realized I forgot to post a picture of the door prize at the Tuttimelon Blackhawk grand opening, the Tuttimelon cell phone charms. I've always wanted a fro-yo cell phone charm but I'm afraid these are too cute to use. The cups say Tuttimelon. I saw orange fro-yo (mango and peach tart), blue fro-yo (taro and blueberry tart), green (green tea tart), yellow (pineapple tart) and pink (pom tart, strawberry tart). I didn't see any original tart charms.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Wow, I Wrote 300 Fro-yo Reviews

Fro-yo girl here. Today I posted my 300th fro-yo review on Yelp. I remember my first fro-yo shop review clearly. It was for Jubili in San Francisco and I posted it on December 16, 2007. At the time, I had just learned about mochi balls and I couldn't stop thinking about them. The first time I went to Jubili, they were out of mochi.

The next day, December 17, 2007, I posted another fro-yo review for Love Berry at Stonestown Galleria. I can't remember my 100th fro-yo review or my 200th fro-yo review (I should have paid closer attention). My 500th Yelp review was for Cafe Delatti in Los Gatos.

My first Tuttimelon review was posted on January 27, 2008 for their very first location, on Irving St. in San Francisco. Tuttimelon Blackhawk opened at the perfect time - it's my 300th fro-yo shop review.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Tuttimelon Blackhawk Grand Opening Coverage

Fro-yo girl here. Today Tuttimelon Bear and I were in Danville, for the grand opening of Tuttimelon and we're here to report on an exciting day of fro-yo. Tuttimelon unveiled a new look, extra cute. There were signs of cuteness everywhere, including pink walls with cutesy images in white (smiling fruit, the Tuttimobile, smiling fro-yo cups, smiling toast), a lamp shaped like a green apple!, fro-yo machine signs with smiling fro-yo cups and more. They even have signature Tuttimelon napkins now. The seating is colorful and modern. I still love those hanging lacy white globe lamps.



The doors opened around 1:20 PM and I have a picture of the first person (a young girl, she was with her family). The first 50 people received the cutest door prize yet, a Tuttimelon cell phone charm. Each charm featured two cups of fro-yo and a gelato cone. The cups say Tuttimelon. They had different flavors. To control the flow, 5 people were let in at a time. Each person received a small cup which they could fill to their heart's content with 8 flavors of fro-yo (chocolate, vanilla, taro, guava, strawberry, pomegranate, original tart, mango) and toppings (jellies, fresh fruit, syrups, nuts, mochi, cookies, candy, cereal, chips). This location also has 24 flavors of gelato, made by Tuttimelon.



The line was really long! Longer than I expected. Fro-yo was free till 3 PM. Then at 3:15 PM, they had the prize raffle. I didn't get to see it because I was helping out inside the store. I heard a 5 year old boy won the grand prize, the Apple iPad. They also gave out a Nintendo DSI and fro-yo gift cards.





It was interesting to see people's fro-yo creations but many of them were just ugly. Still, you could see that they really enjoyed adding toppings. I had expert swirling help and my creation looked much more appetizing.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* TUTTIMELON BLACKHAWK: 3454 Blackhawk Rd, Danville, CA