FoCo Joe at Home: Fraîche Yogurt
It was a good week for FoCo Joe at Home. I will get to the food shortly, but first, here’s a quick update on my life and some musings on food in general. The internship is going swimmingly, and I’ve picked up CrossFit again, hoping the workouts will kick my butt into shape quickly. I have to admit, the quality of a CrossFit workout is so much higher than any workout I could conjure up on my own in a gym — largely because of the presence of the instructor and other athletes with whom I can compare myself to and compete against. The “team” atmosphere motivates me more than I ever can on my own.
I realized this week that the same could be said about my approach to food.
When I am alone in the kitchen, I totally let myself go. I nom on anything I can come across, including the variety of sweets my mom stores throughout the cabinets. I have neither quality control nor portion control. What’s worse, though, is I lose all track of time. I eat literally whenever I feel like it, which for me turns into the entire day. I hate to admit it, but in the spirit of the oncoming fitness challenge my CrossFit gym is starting next week, I will say it: I tend to sit in the kitchen, watch hours of Food Network and reality TV shows and eat equally crappy food.
When I’m not alone, however, my brain suddenly switches out of autopilot and my rationality returns. I begin to consider sensible portions of meats, starches and vegetables. I even begin to return to a normal clockwork of consumption.
This past Friday night, I was bored out of my mind, and no one in my family was to be found. The hashtag #nonewfriends is a little too real this term, sadly. But it’s okay, because I have found the key to creating productive Friday nights and avoiding the reality TV and food trap — getting out of the house for a meal!
I wound up going out to eat after a solid swim workout — on my own — to a burger joint called Roam Burgers. I had a wonderful meal, beer included. I did not feel uncomfortable sitting alone. But after my meal I knew I needed something sweet.
Thankfully, Fillmore Street is a trendy area of the city where sweet bites abound in cute cupcake shops of yogurt parlors. At 10:00, however, a lot of those places are closed. But not Fraîche Yogurt!
My good friend introduced me to Fraîche at least three years ago. It’s one of those healthy yogurt places, where the “vanilla” is not at all vanilla but instead a tarty taste not unlike Greek yogurt. The texture, however, is thicker and colder, like traditional frozen yogurt. I have practically grown up on these kinds of fro-yo joints, but sadly many of my favorite places when I was teenager have closed. Fraîche has probably stayed strong because of its wonderful selections of toppings and Blue Bottle Coffee, a popular local brand headquartered in Oakland.
In the interests of your time and mine, dear readers, I will be brief—Fraîche can never disappoint, unless your sweet tooth is so sweet that it can only be mollified with artificial flavors. Check out the photos of the two times I went this weekend—once on Friday and again today, right after my haircut. Both times I got the tart yogurt with at least a fruit topping, but do not count out the chocolate yogurt (the same friend who introduced me to this place LIVES for the chocolate yogurt and brownie topping) nor the array of sprinkles, crumbs, nuts, spreads and jams!
It’s been a good weekend out here! Hope the same is true for you all, too. Until next week!