help! i'm hopelessly addicted to trader joe's matcha green tea yogurt! my handle (greengelato) actually refers to all things cold and green tea. trader joe's is notorious for discontinuing their products; i will be forever sad when and if this item falls victim to the thieving ways of traitor joe.
i had a sneak peak of red mango yogurt today in their corporate office in culver city. like pinkberry, they have a plain and green tea flavor coupled with an assortment of dry and fresh fruit toppings. red mango is the original gangster of "italian" frozen yogurt- first founded in korea and now copycatted by the notorious pinkberry here in los angeles. all my friends who have tried both red mango korea and pinkberry have preferred the former, so we were all ecstatic to discover that red mango was going to open stores in los angeles.
i brought along 3 fellow pinkberry fans to the taste testing today. we tried both flavors while red mango president, dan kim, waxed poetic about the virtues of their product. apparently, because the korean version is so similar to pinkberry, they changed the american version to simulate more of an authentic yogurt experience. that's right, red mango somehow made pinkberry's frozen yogurt taste even more yogurty. whether that's a good or bad thing is up to the taster, i guess. i personally prefer the "crunch" texture of pinkberry, and apparently, it's due to the higher water content. i was pretty disappointed that they changed the original korean recipe since it's supposedly better, but i guess they figured that they wanted to take a different strategy since pinkberry has already captured so much of the market.
the green tea flavor, however, was much better, eons superior, to that of pinkberry's medicinal green tea concoction. this was immediately obvious to all of us as we took our first spoonful. i might even prefer red mango's green tea version to that of pinkberry's regular. however, if i want a cold green tea dessert, i will always prefer maeda-en or ciao bella green tea gelato.
pricing is about the same, though you are not psychologically finagled into buying a medium + 3 toppings. small is 2.50, medium 3.50, toppings are $1 for first and 25 cents thereafter.
red mango's marketed as being the "healthier" yogurt. it has more yogurt cultures and less calories (about 40 per serving). it's also going to be served in a more coffeehouse atmosphere (they hired coffeebean's designers) rather than the mini-MOMAs of pinkberry and its imposters. (btw: some of the pinkberry design replications are assaultive to the eyes). is this enough to give red mango a competitive edge? i don't think so. if i want a heatlhy yogurt fix, i'll buy dannon for 50 cents. a difference in 40 calories and some yogurt cultures isn't enough to make me a red mango groupie.
ultimately, it will come down to...parking. whichever store has better parking options wherever i happen to be in the city wins. if both are equal, i will probably choose pinkberry.
oh and the most important fact of all: red mango doesn't have mochi!!!!!!!!
if you're a blogger and want to try red mango, email Elizabeth@redmangousa.com. their westwood store is opening at the end of the month.
ps- in other news, my dad is teaching math to the police officers of the jail paris hilton is staying at. should i ask him to get an autographed black and white striped jumper? an autographed ball and chain?
i just got this $35 print for free via thumbtackpress.com by advertising on my blog for 3 months. woohoo, who new blogging about art and design could have such fun perks. thumbtack press is seriously THE best place to buy prints online. this piece friggin cracks me up everytime i look at it. it's by gianluca foli and titled "kuma dansu".
i also recently acquired two paintings! i fell in love with vietnamese art while gallery hopping in hong kong several years ago. i couldn't find any prints that i liked but i did discover a company in hanoi that internationally ships artist reproductions. this kind of stuff is REALLY common; there are entire areas in indonesia and vietnam devoted to repros of famous paintings (i bought one in indonesia). if you want the company info, let me know (margaretlee (at) gmail.com). these paintings were $60/$45 which is really a preposterous deal. here are the paintings in my apartment element:
two musicians by nguyen thanh binh
(i am obsessed with this dining set. a fantastic craigslist find from a woman who collects mid-century furniture from estate sales. i <3 vintage walnut furniture)
fishing season by dao hai phong
(this is the most comfortable sofa-bed in the world...from crate and barrel. i'm not a huge fan of the design but it sits in my husband's office/ guestroom)
i hosted a bridal shower for my dear friend this past saturday. i’m her MATRON of honor (i still can’t get over the whole “matron” thing) and had a blast putting together the party with the other bridesmaids. we held a brunch, in honor of the bride’s love for breakfast foods, in a gazebo located in my apartment complex. it was my first time throwing a shower- it was A LOT of work (i basically pulled an all-nighter making all the desserts) but totally worth it! i’m not really a pink girl, but even i wasn’t overloaded by all the pink. ☺
we toasted and cheered the bride's entrance
the gazebo in action
a close-up of the tissue pomanders. they made such a difference in the party ambience despite their time-consuming creation. these are basically a huge version of the tissue flowers i made (though i didn’t make these).
the menu: swiss and mushroom quiche, spinach and jack cheese quiche, scrambled eggs, sausages, mini cream cheese and lox bagels, mini cranberry tuna melts, two fruit platters, berry parfaits, white chocolate raspberry chocolate cupcakes, green tea cheesecakes, french vanilla panna cotta with mango coulis, and cinnamon streusels
hehe, here’s my husband briefly crashing the party for some food. the gazebo is actually about a 5 minute walk from our apartment, so he helped transport some of the heavy items.
harney and sons wedding tea! i bought this in new york 4 months ago for this specific purpose.
i’ve always wanted to make these little food flags at dinner parties but i knew at least half the guests (ahem, the boys) wouldn’t appreciate them. they were really easy to make!
this chafing dish comes in super handy! SO worth the investment!
these plastic wine glasses were 50 cents each! i should've bought real glass ones from the 99 cent store.
pink drinks, of course!
one of the bridesmaids bought all the flowers at the downtown flower mart and did an amazing job of arranging them. the vases are actually leftover ones from my bridal shower last year!
gift table
the favors. the boxes contained thong underwears and the sugar cups contain japanese milkys candies. we had a fun time showing off our cute (and a few really trashy) thongs. wish i had some pictures of them!
here’s my present that i wrapped. halfway through the flowers, i totally regretted making them since the small flowers are hard on your hands, but it was worth it in the end- we used the flowers for her rehearsal bouquet.
the bride and i. we told her to put the wrapping on her head.
with her rehearsal bouquet
bridal party photo (minus one bridesmaid).
having fun with the pomanders.
