As I stood in front of the toppings bar at Menchie’s, frozen yogurt cup in hand, one thought immediately crossed my mind: I don’t belong here.
It wasn’t because I don’t share a kinship to some of the famous faces that grace Menchie’s wall of Hollywood fro-yo fanatics (Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton). It wasn’t the fact that the store’s lime green and pink motive made me feel like I’d entered some sort of Barbies-meets-Care-Bears universe. No… I felt I didn’t belong there because I’m a food lover with self control issues, and Menchie’s offers more than 80 flavours of frozen yogurt (which rotate on a regular basis) and more than 50 toppings, and charges customers not by cup size or number of toppings, but by weight. In other words, there was nothing stopping me from loading up on multiple flavours and topping them with cheesecake pieces, brownies, fresh fruit, gummis, etc… And I was at Menchie’s new Bloor St. location as an invited guest to its inaugural Blogurtfest event, so even the threat of prohibitively expensive yogurt was missing from the equation.
Of course, I had Jenny with me, and she usually does a good job of keeping me in check. And we were facing off against 15 other blogger teams to create the ultimate Menchie’s frozen yogurt creation, so ensuring the right mix of toppings, flavours and sauces was essential. With a judging panel that included Adell Shneer and Annabelle Waugh from Canadian Living magazine and iconic pastry chef Joanne Yolles of Scaramouche, we knew we’d have to put on our thinking caps to impress.
Judges at Menchie’s Blogurtfest deliberating.
Team Communal Table decided to go with a creation inspired by Elvis’ love of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. We started with a layer of Menchie’s cake batter, which we topped with peanuts and peanut butter chips. Then, a layer of banana bread yogurt, topped with fresh banana slices and brownie pieces, caramel sauce, more peanut butter chips and a few chocolate chips. And finally, a banana chip on top for presentation. And what else could we name an Elvis-inspired, banana and brownie filled creation besides Chunky Hunka Monkey Love?
I’m into the sauce at Menchie’s.
Team Communal Table’s Menchie’s creation: Chunky Hunka Monkey Love
In the end, we didn’t win. Jenn at The Fashionista Foodie took 3rd place with her Tartin-ista, 2nd place went to Banoffee Pie by Irene of Kitchen Mischief, and Beverly and Sean of Potato Chops and Boneless Chicken took top honours with their Tropical Thunder creation. But we did win an honourable mention, as the judges were impressed by our flavour combination. And since honourable mention got us a VIP card good for one Menchie’s fro-yo with any number of flavours and toppings, it looks like I’ll find myself back at Menchie’s toppings bar with price as no deterrent once again. Darn.
I wish I had a taste of your creation. Anything with peanut butter gets my attention. Was lovely to meet you both. Hope we meet again soon.
Thanks Beverly! It was great meeting you guys too. I’m sure our paths will cross again… 🙂
I need to know one thing: do they finally have tart fro-yo in Canada a la Pinkberry and Yogurtland? I have honestly thought about making an excuse to go see my brother who lives there JUST SO I CAN GET SOME PINKBERRY.
p.s. I have bacon scented air-fresheners for you from @getyourlardon
Well, they have tart flavors (which I think are the good ones, frozen yogurt should taste like yogurt!) but they have other really sweet ones as well. Go try and let us know how it compares!
Actually, if you’re in Montreal anytime soon, try Yeh! Yogurt. I really liked it and all the flavors taste like yogurt.
And PS to your PS – if you give my husband bacon air fresheners and they appear in my house, I’m coming after you Banerjee!! I don’t care how famous you get as a TV star. 😉
I’m going tomorrow then. It’s settled. You have no idea how much I like tart frozen yogurt!!!
Listen, don’t kill the messenger. I tracked down that bacon truck with Niel’s help, and told them about your blog. They said the bacon air freshener was for him. I am only fulfilling my duty of passing it on. Coming after me would be like coming after Canada Post for sending you your utilities bill.
That’s my defense! I’m sticking to it! 🙂
I know Niel wants it. Maybe he can put it in his car instead of the house? lol
LOVE the name of your creation! When I read it brought a smile to my face~ The thought of banana and brownie is making me drool =) Hope we meet again!
Thanks Stella! Hope to meet you again too!
Just found your website through the Fashionista Foodie’s post about this event and recognized your name, Neil. I used to work for Frontier College back when you were a volunteer. Love the website and glad to see that you are doing well.