February Foodie Penpal

I never had a pen pal growing up. My school didn't find a sister school in Japan to write to. I never met with anyone I didn't know until the internet. No, it wasn't that creepy - they were going to college with me.

So I was super excited(!) to see a foodie penpal. It sounded super easy, and indeed it was. I just sent Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean my e-mail and she added me to this huge list of bloggers/readers.

I was so excited I went out and bought everything on the first day! I sent my package to Emily over at More Than Just Dessert so you can read her reveal.

My lovely penpal was Alex of Yums and Loves, who sent me tons of sweets! Right up my alley.

Perfectly packaged. I need to remember that all of it should fit into a small flat rate box.


Check out all the deliciousness!

I looked away and my cousin opened my Jif chocolate silk. This was my favorite! I've never seen these, and I had to take them back from my cousin.

Another new-to-me item: the double dipped peanut butter & chocolate Flipz. I haven't seen them in our stores yet and loved it!

Alex, you must've known somehow that I have recently (very recently) developed a love for thinkThin bars. I haven't tried the peanut butter flavored one yet because I said to myself, I always get peanut butter... Well, there's a good reason for that - peanut butter is by far my favorite now. (Wait, maybe this was my favorite item?)

My package also included something else familar: Fran's caramels. My assistant manager adores them and shares with us sometimes, but I haven't had this before. It's a huge hunk of caramel and almost like a Snickers but so much better.

Speaking of traditional candy bars, I never liked Crunch bars and though the theo bar was reminiscent of Crunch bar, I absolutely loved it.

I didn't know Odwalla made protein bars. This one was chocolatey and did indeed taste like a brownie. ;)

Finally, the Reese's hearts! Such a classic goodie for peanut butter lovers and I didn't celebrate Valentine's Day this year (or ever really) so this made me happy.

Thanks Alex for the amazing package. You read me right - I'm all about my sweets.

Here’s a detailed explanation of the program:

• 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.

Sound like fun? If you’re interested in participating for February, please send an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:

• Your full name
• Your email address
• Your blog name/address
• Your twitter handle (if applicable)
• WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. – this is SUPER important so I can get you on the right list!

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

***PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, you WILL GET A RESPONSE within 48 hours. If you don''t....please re-send your email or contact Lindsay via Twitter (@LeanGrnBeanBlog). Last month we had a few emails get lost as spam so we're trying to avoid that!

What, from my package, do you like most? Have you tried it?