Wow, my second month as a foodie penpal! Feels like I’ve been in this program forever! I’m such a horrible person sometimes. I’m very bad at living in the present and always looking forward to what’s coming next. I’m enjoying the summer bounty but am now pushing for the fall harvest, as you’ll see in upcoming posts. Being a foodie penpal, it’s the same way. I want to rush everything. I count down until my assignment arrives, then get all excited to shop. I ship it out, anxiously wait for my package to arrive and then REJOICE for a day or so about all the fantastic new items I’ve received. It’s like the 17th of the month by now. Then I wait and wait and wait, wanting the next round to start NOW! Yeah, a bit impatient sometimes. Sigh, but that’s neither here or there. Thank you for listing to my tiny rant. Now let’s see what’s in the box!

This month’s package comes from Leslie at My Balanced Living. Leslie is a AADP Certified Health and Wellness Coach. She discovered the need for a balanced lifestyle when her focus for career growth began to take a toll on my overall health. The long hours and poor diet left her feeling not so great and zapped all her energy. After seeing how much a healthier, more balanced lifestyle helped her, she realized how passionate she was about the concept and wanted to share with everyone else!

Leslie lives in California, where there’s a large Asian population. Knowing I was into the local scene, she put together an Asian themed package for me! I got home from the gym one afternoon, exhausted, and sitting on my doorstep was a cute USPS box decked out in pink. I barely made it through the door before ripping it open.

I have to admit, I was quite puzzled by what I found. I don’t cook or eat much Asian inspired foods, but I was still intrigued. Cute little panda cookies filled with CHOCOLATE, seseme sticks wrapped in seaweed with soy sauce flavoring, rice candy (who knew?!)–all excellent munchies!

Plus some challenging cooking ingredients I still need to try. Rice seasoning with spices and seaweed. I’m a bit lazy when it comes to making rice, but I’m really excited to try this! There’s no directions as to how much I need to add to the rice, so here’s to winging it! I’m sure it’ll turn out great.

Finally, green curry paste. I’ve cooked with red before but never green. The weather’s been a bit warm, so I haven’t really been in the mood for spicy stewlike foods. I know, apparently spice is good during hot weather but I disagree. I hate “heavy” foods like Indian or Polish during the winter, and you won’t find me eating much Sushi during the summer. It’s just how I am; deal with it. But I promise the curry paste will go to good use. Maybe try this?

So that’s it! I have to tell you, I probably wouldn’t have bought any of these things on my own (before at least), but I’m inspired and challenged. That’s the whole fun of this program–trying new things and expanding your food palette. Check out the goods I sent to Gabbie over at Nuts About Nutrition.  And consider joining Foodie Penpals yourself! You won’t regret it!

As always, a HUGE THANK YOU to Lindsay for coordinating the penpals EVERY MONTH! If the other 1,000 bloggers and readers out there are anything like me, managing work, personal lives and a blog, we tend to get a little distracted and forgetful 🙂

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And now its time for some details about Foodie Penpals. In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal 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 penpal!
• 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 Penpals 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 Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. 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’re interested in participating for September, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You must submit your information by September 4th as pairings will be emailed on September 5th!

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• July Foodie Penpals! (brooklynlocavore.wordpress.com)