Foodie penpals – October 2015

IMG_4800.JPGFor this month’s Foodie Penpals I was paired with Kris who blogs over at Passion for Baking (check out her wagon wheel bars!), and Annabelle who is a French woman living in Germany with a Portuguese husband and who previously lived in Newcastle. Phew.

It turns out that Kris actually discovered Foodie Penpals through my very own blog, which makes me very happy. It’s great that she agreed to take part, as it turns out she can put together delicious parcels, and this month I was the lucky recipient. I received:

  • IMG_4810.JPGHalloween pumpkin chocolates (I ate them on Saturday night)
  • Halloween wicked witch stocking jelllies (er, I ate them on Saturday night)
  • Halloween spooky skull marshmallows (guess what?)
  • More marshmallows, which I am saving to float on top of hot chocolate (it’s getting chilly)
  • Lemon meringues, which I am going to use to make posh Eton Mess
  • Breadsticks (Kris said they were a bit of a random decision, but tasty just the same)
  • Aussie strawberry jelly (she’s Australian)
  • A cherry ripe bar (see above)
  • A spooky Halloween chocolate egg (which I have reminded myself about in writing this so might pop and get it to eat now!)
  • A mini ladle, as Kris had bought one for herself, found it really useful and so popped it in the box for me.

IMG_4733.JPGHow lovely is that? And how much lovelier that the Trick or Treaters avoided our house (possibly because we turned the lights off, shut the curtains, and pretended we were not in when the doorbell rang) so I was obliged to eat all Kris’ spooky treats on my own (I did let Andrew have a couple of witches legs though).

Annabelle told me that she loved the time she spent living in the UK when her daughter was born, and very much enjoys cooking, and eating comfort food. As she has no dietary requirements or food preferences, I decided to put together a box of British comfort – the kind of things I love to have in my kitchen cupboards. I chose for her:

  • IMG_4736.JPGPearl barley – my favourite grain to add to stews
  • Suet – to make the best ever dumplings
  • Short grain rice – to make rice pudding
  • Paxo stuffing – my favourite accompaniment to roast dinner
  • Worcestershire sauce – a few shakes of this makes any stew or soup taste better
  • Colmans English mustard powder – use to season beef, or add to cheese on toast, or to make mustard
  • Golden syrup – because who doesn’t love that stuff?
  • Mallows teacakes – for a bit of Scottish comfort
  • Welsh cakes – as Andrew is Welsh, they seemed a very appropriate comfort food!
  • Welsh treacle toffee – I haven’t tried this brand before but it looks lovely so I’ll buy some for myself soon as well.

If you want to take part, speak to Carol-Anne at This is Rock Salt for more information, or take a look at the Foodie Penpals Facebook page. November will be the last exchange of 2015 as we all traditionally take a break for Christmas, so why not make it a new year’s resolution to join in for 2016?

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