Foodie Pen Pal Reveal!!!!

On a rainy Monday in April, I came home to a mystery mail-bag.  I knew at once it had to be from my Foodie Penpal, Shana Hart, in Maryland!  I was so excited – even before I opened it.  It was such a day brightener to have a package in the mail.  You know how Mondays can be, and a surprise of any kind is just a glorious event.

I tore open the bag, and found this chocolatey loot:

I unwrapped the Endangered Species Chocolate bar IMMEDIATELY and had myself some chocolate therapy.  This chocolate is now on the endangered species list, as I made short work of ending its life.  Yum – it had a really yummy cocoa flavor and wasn’t overly sweet.  It was awesome.

The Choco-Walla Odwalla bar was something I knew I’d save for my coffee break the next morning.  I’ve seen Odwalla bars, but I’ve never tried one.  I was pretty excited.  After a morning of kindergarten kiddos, and elementary recess, I came in and paired that Choco-Walla with an excellent vintage of Starbucks coffee.  It was the perfect morning combo.  I will definitely buy myself some more of these little morsels!  I can’t remember the calorie count, but it was under 250 – so for a snack that has some staying power, this is a good little energy bar.  I may use these for packable snacks when I run.

The trail mix from Nature’s Promise was so chock full of walnuts it was amazing!  I couldn’t identify all of the types of dried fruits, but this was also really good.  It’s also a product I hadn’t tried before, and will definitely purchase in the future.  I love nibbly snacks!  I think I just like all kinds of snacks – but especially those that are sweet and go well with coffee.  These kept me from going straight for the Reese’s Easter Eggs that are filling the mark-down displays!

I have been saving the coffee for another rainy day!  Godiva Chocolate-Raspberry Coffee deserves a special occasion.  Maybe I'll share it with my work-friends on the last day of school.  Just smelling it through the wrapper is enough to make me want to chew open the bag.  I'm showing a lot of restraint!!!

I'm definitely going to keep participating.  Are you up for being/having a foodie penpal?  Each month you get paired with someone new.  The rules are the same: email arrives on the 5th of the month introducing you to the person to whom you'll send a package.  Treats in the mail on or before the 15th of the month, and reveal day is the 30th of the month.  This is on a month to month basis - it's free to join, and you can skip busy months or money-stretched months if need be.  Thanks to Lindsey at The Lean Green Bean - this is a really fun program!  Can't wait to see what May will bring.

To Shana - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

I sent a package to Van, in Chicago.  If you want to see what my box-o-loot looked like, here's a link to her blog: chieats.com