Fro-yo crazy

At 2 years old, Kathryn Howell has mastered the art of mixing. She holds her cardboard bowl up toward fluorescent lights enormous enough to bring watch gears into clear focus. Deep inside the bowl, neon flecks of candy sprinkles meet M&M disks and marshmallows. “This is the first time she’s tried marshmallows,” says her dad, Victor Howell, putting his shoulders back with pride. The family of three is sitting in Tutti Frutti, one of Baton Rouge’s newest frozen yogurt spots. It’s Friday night, just after supper, at the Bluebonnet Boulevard location, and it’s bustling. Across the room, a pack of tween girls load up on chocolate yogurt at one of a half-dozen machines. Then they pile on the grapes, marshmallows and vanilla wafers at a self-serve topping bar, where bin upon bin of fruit, cookies, candies and cold cereal beckon for placement atop the yogurt. Yogurt and toppings are weighed at 42 cents an ounce. The cash register clinks. Outside sits a row of old friends. They throw back their heads to laugh between bites in the light from the shop’s generous windows. Click here to read more.