July Foodie Pen Pals Reveal!

I’m so excited to write about  July Foodie Pen Pals hosted by the fabulous Lindsay at the Lean Green Bean. Thanks again Lindsay for hosting the now 1,000+ pen pal program! 

My box this month came all the way from Georgetown, CA near Sacramento courtesy of the amazing Stephanie from Mr. and Meatless!

 Her box was so amazing I only hope I can do it proper justice telling you all about it!

She was so sweet with what she included, all local and only a few miles from where she lives including from her hometown. She even made a map of where each item came from! What a great idea! I might have to steal it!

Everything was lovely and absolutely perfect for me (and Aaron.)

She sent the nicest note along with her map and interesting facts about her home town, Placerville, CA which I found HILARIOUS!

• Former names for the town include “Hangtown” because of all the hangings there and my personal favorite, “Blood and Guts” which was too “un-Christian” sounding when families began moving to the gold mining town.

• Stephanie lives in one of the major wine-producing regions in the State. SIGN ME UP!

• The area is also known as “Apple Hill” due to its 50 farms’ production of apples, pears, grapes, Christmas trees, wineries, and a microbrewery. Guess it’s better than Blood and Guts!

I adore this girl already! Definitely a great "something written!"

But wait! There’s more!

Included in my amazing box from Stephanie:

The Garlic & Thyme Jelly from Lavender View Farm in Pollock Pines, California is so good!

I’ve already used it in several recipes including aioli and this tortellini primavera! The jelly gave a delicious garlic sweetness I adore!

There were several items from the Winterhill Farm in Placerville, CA (Stephanie’s home town) including Artisanally Crafted Olive oil, Herb & Spice Blend, and one Orange Fudgie chocolate.

As soon as I opened up the box I used the Spice Blend in a batch of turkey burgers.

This Herb & Spice Blend delicious and I can’t wait add it to lots of other things including to the olive oil to dip bread!

I love the little bottle of olive oil and can’t wait to use it but of course I’m hoarding it for what I consider, the “best use.”

Not so much with the Orange Fudgie as I ate it within 2 minutes of opening Stephanie’s box. It was delicious and due to our tradition, I shared half of it with Aaron. Ooh I want more of these! Made for Winterhill by Annabelle’s Chocolates of El Dorado this little treat has no butter but rather made with Winterhill’s Blood Orange Olive Oil. WOWOW.

Also included were two things from An Afternoon to Remember tea shop in Newcastle, CA. Stephanie says that this little tea shop has since closed its doors (how sad L) but the woman who owned it still sells homemade tea and treats from her website! I’m in!

There were four packets of different loose leaf tea including Southern Hospitalitea, Chocolate Mocha, Strawberry Fields Forever, and Blossom. I was so excited to have this tea with my antique loose leaf tea strainer from England!

Not to mention this tea came with its own sugar cubes hand made by the tea shop in adorable shapes and colors!

Stephanie, I loved EVERYTHING, THANK YOU!!!

So funny, last month I got a box from Minnesota and sent to Wisconsin, this month both ends were from California. What are the odds! It’s also so funny how hard it is to find cool artisan food at stores that ARE NOT from California! I thought it would be silly to send that stuff back to its homeland! So from now on I’ll stick with all local, which is hardly a challenge! But can you mail a cupcake I wonder?

If you want to see what I sent to Christy at Fudge Ripple check out her blog.

And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-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 August, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 

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

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send Lindsay an email and she'll see there is enough interest this month!

Since Aaron and I start our move back to Philadelphia (yayayayay!) this week and partially next week, I decided to take a break from the Foodie Pen Pals program in August. But don’t worry, I’ll be back in September with a new address ready to rock and roll to my next pen pal with Philadelphia treats. Has anyone ever sent a box of only different kind of pretzels? Hmmm…that would be interesting….

No, I promise future pen pal I have so many awesome Philadelphia things in mind to send you!

Till then, enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner