Edmonton: Menchie's Garneau Grand Opening

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be one of the Edmonton bloggers invited to Blogurt Fest, the pre-Grand Opening info and tasting event held at Menchie's Garneau. It's the first location of this awesome chain in Edmonton (I first got hooked on Menchie's in Red Deer, where there are now two locations) - but we were told there are many, many more locations to come worldwide. If you haven't been to a Menchie's yet, it's a self-serve frozen yogurt shop with a wall full of flavours (Garneau has 16 - including non-fat, dairy-free, no sugar added, and gluten-free options; calorie info is posted for each one)... after you finally decide on which flavours to choose (sampling cups are provided), you move on to the toppings - so many toppings. Candy, cereal, fresh fruit, granola, chocolate, cookie dough, nanaimo bars, mochi... pretty much anything you could imagine. You pay by weight, which you'd think would be dangerous, but pretty much every time I've gone I've gotten a really substantial heap of yumminess for only about $4-5.

Mah BF - he's as excited as I am.

So we got up bright and early on a sunny Saturday to be among the first to celebrate the official opening of our neighbourhood Menchie's. The invitation said there would be a contest - present your best froyo creation to a panel of judges with the promise of prizes (and the knowledge that you are a dessert champion). So yeah, it wasn't that difficult to get out of bed for that.

We got the low-down on the history of the company: Person A and Person B go on a frozen yogurt date. They decide to open their own, more awesome froyo establishment. Person A calls Person B "my little menchie," and this is what they decide to name their store. And a freakin' adorable franchise is born.

Tasting frenzy. So hard to choose!

Then we were invited to go up and give all the flavours a try. I wanted a bucket of all of them. They keep getting new flavours - the newest one is Cookies n' Cream (omagahhhhhh).

And then the contest began! I decided to go wholesome: a cinnamon waffle bowl filled with Classic Vanilla and Strawberry Sorbet, heaped with fresh bananas, strawberries, and kiwis, topped with chopped nuts and granola. I called it the Morning Glory. It was like 10 am, after all. 

The BF made a layered creation of Peanut Butter S'more, Reeses, and peanut butter crunch (Mmm... peanut butter genius). Neither of us won - we were up against some stiff competition! But the Menchie's people were kind enough to dole out lots of consolation: vouchers for free froyo, inviting us to go back for seconds before they opened for the public, and bringing this guy out:

 I'm a sucker for a cute mascot. 

Anyway, I can't think of a better way to have spent my Saturday morning. My boyfriend and I both live nearby, so Menchie's Garneau has become a weekly (or twice-weekly) thing for us this past month because we both love it so much. I'm looking forward to many more sunny Saturdays at the cutest frozen yogurt shop in town.