Recently in Calimesa Category

A while back, Dine 909 and Redlands Daily Facts Business Editor Joy Juedes paid a visit West Coast Whoopies in Calimesa.

I felt privileged to meet Queen Whoopie Maker Alisa Evans, who invited us "behind the curtain" to see whoopie pies as they were being made.

I was definitely impressed by her work ethic.

But I digress. Let's start at the beginning...

What's a whoopie pie? It's similar to a Hostess Suzy Q, but fresh, delicious and...round. Imagine two cupcake tops with frosting in-between. That's a whoopie pie.

West Coast Whoopies makes their whoopie pies in a variety of flavors. I tried several: Aunty Anne's Red Velvet, Cheryl's Snickerdoodle and the limited-edition Babe's Orange Blossom. My favorite, though, was the Boston Original, delicious chocolate cake with creme filling. Yum!

If you're watching your waistline, you might as well move on to the next blog, because...

From the Redlands Daily Facts, we've got good news for your sweet tooth.

Ohana Yogurt Shop will be celebrating its third anniversary from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 18. They will have music, giveaways, and best of all, their yogurt will be 25¢ per ounce instead of the usual 38¢.

Ohana is a pretty decent self-serve frozen yogurt place and is conveniently open late during the summer to satisfy those after-the-Redlands-Bowl-concert cravings. I'll probably head on over to the celebration.

They've got new competition, however.

The previously-mentioned Swirly D'lite frozen yogurt opened April 2. I drove by the other night, but they were already closed. Ended up going to Wienerschnitzel and trying their Bananas Foster sundae. Mmm! Swirly D'lite will have to wait for another day.

Finally, if you've ever wanted to try a Whoopie pie, now's your chance. The Daily Facts has been printing $5 in "Whoopie bucks" in Wednesday's, Thursday's and Friday's editions. The coupon is good for anything at West Coast Whoopies' Calimesa bakery. The "bucks" are good through the month of April.

I've been meaning to get out there to try them, and the "Cheryl's Snickerdoodle" and "Aunty Anne's Red Velvet" varieties have certainly piqued my interest. This is just more incentive -- like I needed it.

For more info, read the original Facts blurb here.