June Foodie Penpal Reveal

This is the first month that I’ve participated in Foodie Penpal and I’m so glad that I joined!  Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean created this program last September to link foodies from around the world.  On the 5th of the month, each participant is assigned a penpal to send a box of goodies to, and is assigned a different penpal from whom he or she will receive a foodie box.  I had a lot of fun deciding what to send to my penpal, Stacie from Starpulp, but I was super-excited when my box came in the mail from Katharine at From A to Pink.  

Katherine is from Baltimore, Maryland, and she send me all local items, which is REALLY cool!  The items were wrapped up in an adorable yellow flower tea towel from Crate & Barrel, which is a really cute idea.  (Plus, I love yellow and Crate & Barrel).  Everything that she sent was so good – I’m still savoring the last bits of the chocolate bars, but everything else is gone!

Michele’s Cherry Chocolate Granola – this was so good.  It wasn’t super-sweet, which I prefer because that usually means it has less sugar and other additives.  The chocolate chunks and dried cherries gave it all the sweetness it needed.  I had this on top of cottage cheese and berries the next morning and through the next week.  I also snacked on a handful of dry granola a few times!

• Mouth Party Caramels – These caramels were good.  They were just soft enough without being mushy.  I’m not someone who is drawn to caramels because the sticking in the teeth thing, but I enjoyed these.
• Salazon Chocolate Bars – Dark Chocolate Sea Salt with Coffee, and Dark Chocolate Sea Salt with Black Pepper.  We tried the Salt/Coffee one first and it was VERY good.  The coffee flavor wasn’t overpowering and the chocolate was rich and dark.  I opened the Salt/Pepper one a few days later, not sure what to expect, and it was AMAZING.  I would have never thought it would be as good as it was.  I’ve had chocolate with chili powder or chipotle pepper before, but never black pepper.  My friend also thought it was the best of the two, especially if you put the pepper-covered bottom side against your tongue.  I will definitely consider adding pepper to chocolate treats in the future.  I couldn’t believe how much I loved it – I even checked to see if you could buy them online and I was surprised (and excited) to see that Whole Foods and The Fresh Market carry these!!

Thank you so much Katharine!  I really enjoyed getting a taste of some Maryland products – especially the Salazon Chocolate!! 

Head on over to Starpulp to see what I picked out for Stacey!

Wanna play?

-On the 5th of every 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 are 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 Penplas is open to US & Canadian 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. 

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 

You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!