Food Find: Yogurtland (with a splash of Japanese design culture)

For those of you who aren't yet familiar with Yogurtland, it's like a Pinkberry 2.0 for Americans who prefer a shot of sugar with their tart frozen yogurt. Amongst the celebrated Angelenos who heart the fro yo chain include Lauren Conrad, Lindsay Lohan, and now, well, me. I didn't get it before. You make your own dessert. You put on your own toppings. Great. There's a frozen yogurt machine in the cafeteria. I can deal without Yogurtland...I thought.

Turns out that Yogurtland takes making your own dessert to new levels of awesome with yogurt flavors like Peanut Butter, Pumpkin Pie, NY Cheesecake, and Double Cookies & Cream. Toppings range from the healthy (I opted for fruit on today's adventure) to the decadent (cookie dough, Heath bar, and the list goes on).

 

And as an added bonus, tokidoki, the colorful Japanese design house [brought to the US via an Italian] is in stores right now to brighten up the already cheery yogurt experience. Cause everyone likes colorfully creepy bears, cats and kids with their non-fat frozen yogurt.

The busiest location I've passed by is on La Brea. For a quicker, quieter Yogurtland experience, try the Downtown spot.

Yogurtland - Little Tokyo
1670 South Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Design Dish: Ungaro drinks the Lindsay Lohan Kool-Aid

When I heard last week that design house Emanuel Ungaro had tapped Lindsay Lohan to be its new 'Artistic Advisor,' I had to wonder--who was on drugs--Lohan or Ungaro?

I'm thrilled to hear that Tim Gunn agrees with me. “It’s got to be a publicity stunt!...Or a crack-smoking board of directors?”

You go, Tim. You go.

[via NY Mag]

How the recession is affecting Lindsay, Sam and miscellaneous other celebrities. Not at all.

What better way to face hard economic times than to visit gifting suites, travel internationally, and buy bottles in Vegas? None, according to the activities of many celebrities this past weekend who corralled at parties, award shows and in Florence, apparently. [Vanity Fair]

Normally, it's nice to see how the better half live. Call it aspirational, if you will. But right about now--as I am forced to return sport bras at Target to get a measly $9.99 back and pass over even the biggest bargain sales--ya know, just in case I get laid off--I'd prefer to see Lindsay and Sam and Cameron Diaz and Nicolas Cage taking it easy for once. Maybe sticking to the pools at their own 5 acre estates, instead of in Dubai. Perhaps asking those corporate sponsors to donate money to relief funds instead of giving them the 30th iPhone they'll receive this year. Or maybe, if all else really fails, just inviting me along so I can let the rest of America know that you really do care about the little people.

Crying babies, bad dates and a Hilton family outing this VMA weekend in LA.

First, let me tell you that while I write this, the baby downstairs is wailing, the children on the street have somehow organized their screams into choral orchestration and the refrigerator's humming has reached new volumes. But this is what one gets when one tries to pay less than $900 on rent in Los Angeles, I gather.

So, this weekend saw a lot of of action here in LA. While the Sarah Palin jokes have continued to amuse across the nation, and Democrats become fearful as they realize the McCain/Palin ticket is scoring more favor than they'd expected (librarian porn fans are finding their way to polls countrywide), here we have remained focused on the races that really matter, namely that for Best Music Video.

Not having had cable in years, I myself haven't had the pleasure of seeing a music video since Paula Abdul got Straight Up and Aerosmith broke Alicia Silverstone in in the 90s. But apparently America still loves its televised music and MTV hosted its god knows whateth annual Video Music Awards at Paramount Studios last night. Yes, Britney Spears showed up. No, I have no idea who won.

After parties kept the winners, losers and fans busy all night. And at one West Hollywood hotspot, the after party got wild as the Hiltons made a family outing of it, Lindsay and Samantha quarreled in a corner and a 90210 newbie tried to drive off with my friend's Jetta. [The Bar Code]

The rest of the weekend was a blur, save a visit to WeHo on Friday to visit my dear friend Elana. E took me to a great restaurant hidden on a side street of the neighborhood, Gardens of Taxco. Though there are no menus here and the staff's English was shaky enough to instill fear in a cautious eater, our waiter spoke with enough gusto and rolling of his R's to get us through the ordering stage. The only thing more awkward than placing our orders was the date at the adjacent table, a lovely lady with none other than Jonah Hill, the Romanesque co-star of Superbad. A lot of nervous hand holding across the chips and salsa and Hill's request for the mariachi to play Feliz Navidad made for an interesting date to watch, probably less one to be on.

[Photo Credits: WireImage]