Adventures in Foodie PenPal-ing

When I was young, my parents sent us away to camp each summer and I made lots of fabulous friends that I stayed in contact with by exchanging letters and pictures and mixed tapes (do you remember those old cassettes that you would use to tape your fave songs right off the radio?! LOL) I've always loved mail and packages and corresponding with friends using the good ol' fashioned postal service.

A few months ago, I saw that some of my favourite bloggers had started participating in a foodie penpal program where they would exchange some fun foodie items and treats with each other and then everyone would blog about the goods that they had received. Of course, I wanted in on all the fun!

It took a few months for the foodie penpal phenom to spread to the Great White North, but I'm ecstatic to announce that it has arrived, so welcome to my first ever Foodie Penpal post. Thank you so much to Lindsay for creating this penpal party and for making the leap to include us Canadians!

Seeking out some great treats to send and receiving some fabulous treats in return was so much fun....and I haven't even mentioned all the new bloggers I've discovered in the process! I've got to tell you that the blogging world is full of some amazing people and it has been so wonderful getting to connect with so many of you <3

My foodie package came from Erin from Saskatoon.

I picked up my package from the post office last week. I picked it up before I went to work and planned to wait to open it until I got home. Well, patience is not a virtue of mine, so as soon as I got my car parked at work, I dug right in to check out all the goods that Erin sent to me.

This is what I found...

First of all,  anything that contains a bakery box of chocolate macaroons is a huge WIN in my books. There might have been 5 chocolate macaroons in this box when I received it, but by the time I got home and snapped a pic,  there were only 3. Lucky for me Derek is not a huge fan of macaroons, so there was absolutely no sharing by this girl. I ate all 5 within the first day :-D They were really, really divine! The box quickly looked like this ;)

The next thing I dug into were the Honey Bars.

Finding protein-packed bars that are NOT full of dates can be tricky, so I was thrilled with these!! So far I've only eaten the apricot one and I have to tell you that it was amazing! I had it as a pre-workout snack one afternoon and not only did it taste great, but it held me over until later in the evening when I had time to get some dinner together.

Derek has been the taste-tester of the jam. I sent him a PB & J sammie yesterday for lunch and he really, really liked it! I had a little taste great big spoonful right out of the jar and I have to tell you, I love me some Saskatoon berries. Why have I never heard of these before?!  

Oh yeah, I totally did ;)

Lastly, Erin sent me a jar of curry paste that she found at a local craft sale. I haven't tried it yet because I'm saving it for a date night with Derek when I can hopefully wow him with some yummy Indian-inspired food. I'm totally intimidated by curry, so I'm thinking this is going to an awesome way to get my toes wet!

I love that Erin sent me so many "Made in Canada" products. It was a great reminder that we have alot of amazingness right here at home! I'm always drooling over products that I run out of that I can only find in the States and sometimes I forget how many great foodie items are available right here in Ontario.

  

If you're interested in seeing the goods that I sent out to my penpal, head on over to Christina's site for a peek.

If you love what you see and you're dying to get in on the fun, contact Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean by March 4th. This is one link up par-tay you do not want to miss! She will pair you up with another participant and provide you with their deets on the 5th. You have until the 15th to send out your package and then everyone blogs about their goods on the last day of the month. Sounds like fun doesn't it?!

If you were to send out one foodie item to a friend, what would it be?

Did you have a penpal when you were young? If you did, are you still in touch?

Enjoy your day!

Andrea

xo