Foodie Pen Pals - July 2012

 Soooo lately, I haven't had time to keep up with all of my online foodie clubs, so I did the logical thing and joined another one!! What?!! Don't judge me! ;) This one sounded too cool not to join.

Did you have a pen pal when you were growing up? I did, and it was pretty sweet. We both loved horses and we would send each other letters talking about our horses and send each other pictures of our beloved horses. It was fun and the coolest part is that we still keep in touch and have a lot in common! Any way, when the opportunity to get a foodie pen pal came up, I couldn't say no! How cool is it to have a foodie pen pal? :)

If you've never heard of foodie pen pals, here's the low down:

On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. You then have until the 15th of the month to fill your box with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats ($15 spending limit) and put them in the mail! On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!

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 write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. Anyone from the US and Canada can join the fun!

 If you’re interested in participating for August, please check out the foodie pen pals link above and submit your information by August 4th.

Any way,  now that you know what it is, I'll tell you about what I got this month. My pen pal was Helene over at the Healthy Frenchie and she is from Fernie, British Columbia which isn't all that far from where I live (well, we're in the same province at least!!). She is super sweet, honest and straight forward and her blog reflects that. I think the only thing we would disagree on is who's dog is cuter!! ;) We are both overly biased cute-dog owners! Ha!

Helene was so sweet this month and sent me some neat things including:

• Some vegan candy which is locally made in Fernie with all natural juices and fruits. It was delicious and didn't make it into the pictures in this post!!
• A waffle and pancake mix made by a coffee shop owner in Fernie - I haven't tried it out yet, but I can't wait - it looks delicious.
• Organic sweet and sour sauce that came with very high praises - can't wait to give it a try.
• Home made date chocolate truffles that Helene made for me (delicious - can't say enough good things about them)
• Brown sticky rice - I had never heard of it before, but I cooked it up the day after I got it and boy, it is soooo good. I can't wait to go buy more!

Thanks Helene for introducing me to some new ingredients, brands and products. What a lovely little package to receive with so many delightful things in it. Can't wait to try out the pancake mix this weekend. :)

This really is a fab way to meet other bloggers and make new friends! Do stop by Helene's blog and check it out! She's got lots of great posts that are charmingly written and give you an interesting look into her day to day life and lots of info about her workout routines (which I thoroughly appreciated!!).

Happy Baking my Friends!