I always put a lot of thought into the foodie penpals parcels I put together, but this month I was paired with Rebecca in Wales, and she told me she would treasure anything local that I sent her.
I often say the same to others, but I must say that I struggled to find something local to include in my package for Becca. The reason? Well, I live in London, so I am not really sure what constitutes ‘local’. Jellied eels? Well maybe, but I am not sure anyone would thank me for those. Camden Pale Ale? Definitely, but not suitable for pregnant Becca. Pie and mash? My love of it is well-documented, but I don’t think it would travel well.
So I was really stuck about what to put in Becca’s parcel … until I remembered that our local Myddleton Road Market was taking place in March, and I might – just might – be able to find something from there. And find something I did! I am not sure it’s quite what Becca had in mind though … I also made use of our local Greek supermarket (as the area of North London I live in has a large Greek community so we’re spoilt for choice if we want to try Grecian goodies), and this is what I sent her:
A cake pop from the local market- A selection of preserves from the market (made locally, of course)
- Some rye orzo pasta from the Greek deli – I also bought myself a pack as I am intrigued by this
- Greek delight – basically Turkish delight (I sincerely don’t mean to offend anyone by saying that) but … Greek
- Halva – my favourite Greek sweet which I could eat by the bucketload.
Becca sent me a lovely email thanking me for the parcel so I think she was genuinely pleased with everything – and apparently her daughter was delighted with the cake pop!
I was also paired up with Ruth who was tasked with sending me some treats. It turns out that she lives nearby, and actually works just down the road from me, so I had the pleasure of meeting her in person when she kindly dropped off my parcel. It’s always nice to meet people face to face when they are taking some much time to put together a pack of goodies, so it was lovely to get the chance to say more than a virtual hello.
Ruth and I actually met up this morning, and I couldn’t resist opening my parcel – which had been beautifully wrapped – before leaving for work. It included:
- Eat Natural chocolate and nut bars
- Beloved cranberry and blueberry date cereal bars
- The Foodie Market apricot fruit bars
- Quinoa and seeded rice cakes
- Freeze dried strawberries
- Silver shimmer cake decoration
- An aero mini egg
- Some baby Lindt bunnies
What a lovely selection of naughty and nice treats, including my first Easter goodies. I was just disappointed to realise I had forgotten to put any Easter treats in Becca’s parcel. I am looking forward to munching on the fruit and nut bars as I love them, and I think I’ll keep the rice cakes in my drawer at work for a healthy snack when needed. I had almost bought myself the freeze dried strawberries just last week so am glad now I didn’t – but I do of course feel obliged to make a cake to use them! And finally for the Easter chocolate … hmmmm, well I am not sure it will still be here on Sunday, but I will do my best.
I can’t tell you how much I love Foodie Penpals – I hope you can hear my enthusiasm in each post I write. Carol Anne, who does a fantastic (and often thankless) task of organising us all deserves a medal, and she’d love to have more people participate. If you are interested, then please do find out more and sign up at This Is Rock Salt. You never know, we could be sending parcels to eachother next month! If Facebook is more your thing then take a look at the newly created public group on there, and check out the links to all the lovely goodies we have sent eachother recently.