I used to watch posts on Twitter fly by at the end of the month with the hashtag #foodiepenpals and wonder what it is all about. In October, I joined and am so glad I did. I have had one previously fantastic foodie pen pal and this month makes two!! Dawn Robinson sent me some awesome stuff. But before I get into that…

On the 5th of every month, you will receive your pen pal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your pen pal 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 pen pal!
-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 Pen Pals 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 Pen Pals is open to US, Canadian & European residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. 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 are interested in joining for February, go visit Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean.

A quick nod to Savannah in Guam, who is on the receiving end of my Foodie Pen Pal box. Now, on to the good stuff – what I got.

I cannot tell you how great the goodies in the box were for me. I managed to catch something and the gummy bears were a wonderful thing to eat as I slept off and on on the sofa for an entire weekend. I love pita chips. The Stacy’s parmesan, garlic & herb tasted yummy. Unfortunately, I didn’t eat them all in one sitting. The problem with that is college kid was home for the weekend, came in late and polished off the bag. Thankfully, he thinks his room here is like his dorm room and hadn’t thrown the bag out as I had yet to take a photo.

I have always wanted to try agave nectar (in what looks like a takeout item) in some of my baking. I just hate to buy a whole bottle if it is not going to be what I want. I think I am going to use these packets to test a recipe next week.

Protein 2 Go had just come on my radar. I am so excited to try it. Holding on to that for post run snack after my upcoming 16 miler this weekend.

My only regret is I try to send a personal, handwritten thank you to my pen pal in the following month. I was in a cleaning mood when the box arrived and recycled it before getting Dawn’s address off the box. I do hope she checks in here and reads so she knows how much I enjoyed the items in the box.