Foodie Pen Pals July 2012

I took part in Foodie Pen Pals again this month, and was sent a parcel by Kay from Kay Tea's Cakes and she sent me a beautifully wrapped parcel...

...full of some really interesting foods that I couldn't wait to try...

Liam took the sour cream & habanero crispy bites to work and really enjoyed them, although he was surprised by how spicy they were!! He loves crunchy snacks so they were perfect for him, and he was excited to benefit (aka be allowed to try!!!) from one of my parcels for once! I'm looking forward to using this tempura mix...

Kay recommended making tempura avocado which sounds amazing and I also want to try to recreate the tempura asparagus I ate in Barcelona and also in London, so good!

Kay also sent me some cute milk chocolates which are individually wrapped, so perfect for putting in bags/lunchboxes...

as well as silicone chocolate moulds (top left corner) which Izzy is looking forward to using with me, and also some noodles and spicy plantain chips.

Thanks again Kay for sending me lots of unique products to try! :)

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I sent a parcel to Lisa, who doesn't have a blog yet. I took some photos before I sent the parcel, and Lisa emailed me with her kind thoughts on the parcel, so I'll let her speak for herself....

This was my first month taking part in the Foodie penpal scheme and I was very excited to see what my first food parcel would bring! I'd exchanged a couple of emails with Lucy after we were paired up and told her about my passion for sweet treats, especially fudge! After spending almost the last 12 months on a pretty strict diet trying to shift "the baby weight" I figured I deserved a treat, so by the time my parcel arrived I was salivating with anticipation!!

The parcel contained 3 different types of fudge, all of which were delicious! The honeycomb flavour was sweet, crunchy and very moreish and the lemon meringue was sharp, zingy and just heavenly. However, (despite my initial scepticism) my favourite had to be the sea salt special edition flavour, the proceeds of which, Lucy's note explained, went to support the local lifeboats. As if you'd need any excuse to indulge!

I've tried sea salt chocolates before but this was something else - at first all you could taste was the creamy, crumbly sweet fudge, but then WHAM! A big hit of tangy salt at the end almost knocked my socks off. Suffice to say that bag was polished off before the sun went down!!

My little boy also seized the opportunity to sample his first ever taste of fudge and it was a big hit! He has definitely inherited mummy's sweet tooth!

Lisa sent me some photos to share with you of her little boy enjoying the fudge, so cute! :)

As well as fudge Lucy also sent some tasty looking Florentines (which - as much as it pains me to share - will be making an appearance when we have friends over to dinner on Saturday evening) and a token 'nod' towards healthy eating in the form of some vanilla munchy seeds (unusual and very satisfying!) and a fruit and nut mix.

All in all my first food parcel was fantastic, and I have definitely now got the bug!! Massive thanks to Lucy for creating such a thoughtful and delicious parcel - I only hope my recipient enjoyed her parcel as much as I did!

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If you'd like to join in with Foodie Pen Pals, fill in the form on Carol Anne's blog by August 3rd. I'm already looking forward to the spreadsheet being sent out on August 5th to find out who my next matches are!

Thanks to Kay and Lisa for making this month a(nother) enjoyable one, and thanks as always to Carol Anne for organising us all!