October Foodie Penpal

I am really not sure where the times goes.  It is already the first of November and I haven't written my October Foodie Penpal post.
 Last month I was paired up to send my penpal Dee a package.  She doesn't have a blog and I didn't think of taking a picture of it so will describe what I put in the package.  She is a wonderful person from Connecticut and told me  she is hosting an annual cookie swap and is obsessed with cookie recipes.  This gave me an idea of what to send her... cookies.  She did also tell me that she would liked baked goods, so it was perfect I could make some Maple Creme Cookies and send her some.. I also included in the package a Michigan Cookie cutter and some local maple syrup to make her own Maple Creme Cookies as I included the recipe.  With cookies you need coffee and seeing it was fall I sent her some Pumpkin Coffee.    She let me know that she received my package and that she" loved Everything in it, especially the maple cookies and the recipe".  Her and her son were going to make Michigan cookies with the cookie cutters.  Glad she liked her package as this was her first penpal swap.
Now, onto my package and as you can see by the picture... I hit the motherload again!  Emily from Indianapolis sent me this package and she did a wonderful job.  As I have no restrictions the only thing that I asked was something that was made in the area and something homemade if she had the time.  And I got both!  So happy.  She sent me me some Cocoa Kettle Indiana Popcorn, I have had Indiana Popcorn but not cocoa kettle and I am sold... YUM!  The homemade gift was raincoast crisps, something I never tried and I started eating them as soon as I opened the box... Another YUM!  I had to write her back to ask for the recipe and will be making some for myself.  The raincoast crisps were in a Halloween treat bag... So, yeah for me, I didn't have to go trick or treating to get a Halloween treat.  Also homemade was some apple butter.  This year I had decided to make my own but had never tasted it, so was nice to compare mine with someone else... Her apple butter was also very YUMMY!
Emily also sent me some tea.. ginger, peach black tea and it is so good.. I am sipping some as I write this post in the wee hours of the morning, or at least I think it is the wee hours. There was also some dark chocolate that I haven't opened and some Fig preserve.  My thoughts for the preserve is maybe making some thumbprint cookies for Christmas.  I will let you know how they turn out.

Thanks Emily for a wonderful package.. You are the best.    

my snack - popcorn and tea

Halloween treat - raincoat crisps!

Here is a the cookies that I sent to Dee
and I promise that I will post the
recipe soon!

Foodie Penpal is a wonderful and fun thing to do

Each month you are paired with someone 

to send a package to and some to receive one from.

The boxes are filled with fun foodie things ~

local food items or even homemade.

The spending limit is $15.

It is open to blog readers as well as bloggers.

contact  Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean 

if you would like to join or if you want more information.

You can click on the picture to get to The Lean Green Bean ~ Foodie Pen Pals..

YOU got mail and it is not bills ~ September Foodie Penpal

I do a lot of blog surfing and one day when I was doing my surfing I came across this picture on their blog:

Want to join then go HERE

I clicked on it and thought it sounded like a good thing to do, but that is all I did ~ Thought.  In August I found some other blogs that had the same button on them, once again I clicked on them, and this time I did something about it.  AND I am glad I did.  Each month you are given someone's name to send a gift to and someone else has your name.  It was fun getting to know both people and corresponding with them.

This was my first month  and I was able to send my parcel to Desi from SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl.  I enjoyed reading her blog and trying to figure out what I could send her.  As she has some African heritage in her, I asked if she would like some spices that I had received from her and she jumped at that suggestions. So that went into the box and to see what I else I sent her please check out her blog at SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl.

I was matched up with Katie from If I Knew You Were Coming I Would Have Baked a Cake.  When I saw the name on her blog I knew she was my kind of girl... A CAKE... I love CAKE.  Her first email asked me a lot of questions of my likes and dislikes and one of the things that I told her was I would appreciate something that was authentic to where she lived.  I was so excited to open the box when I received it and when I did, I thought I HIT PAY DIRT! Wow the stuff that was in it...... but I also felt slightly guilty as I felt I didn't send very much to my penpal.   Here is what I got from Katie....................

Look at all this good stuff!

That first morning after opening up the package
I had Chai Tea with honey.
I did send Katie a message that I am not sure that
I am happy as she now got me hooked on honey in my tea :)

The next day I had a 4.5 hour drive to a conference
so the SomerSaults came with me to keep me company
and on the road... Along with another cup of Chai and honey!

The Mia's Kitchen Bistro Marinara became part of a dish that
I made.......

it was supposed to be eggplant lasagna but
ended up more like a soup or stew...
But was delicious thanks to the Marinara sauce from
California.

The Almond Butter and Chocolate are still waiting for me, but I have at least 2 more weeks or longer to wait for my next penpal box to arrive and I want to saver every morsel of this one... Katie ~~ Thank you so very much for the box of goodies, you are a great penpal and I hope that I can send you something back down the line.

Would you like to be a Foodie Penpal 

Here are the details from Lindsay's blog (The Lean Green Bean):

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
- Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

***If you’re in the UK, please contact Carol Anne from This Is Rock Salt at rocksalt@thisisrocksalt.com to get involved!

Click on the button if you would like to join Foodie Penpals... It is fun!

I am waiting patiently or maybe just a little impatiently for this coming month to both send my box of goodies to someone and receive another box.

til next time <3 <3 <3  Marlys