Wow, what a month. Multiple birthday celebrations, great dinners, canning, recipes then Sandy. Usually I love October and the fall but this month ended with just a bit too much turbulence for me. Sunday night as the winds started blowing and the lights flickered, I wondered if this post would even happen. But luckily here I am, safe and sound.

Foodie Penpals has just become such a fun part of my life. It’s a great program started by Lindsay at the Lean Green Bean, where I get to connect with other foodies across the country and share food. I think I might scare my penpals a bit. I’m much too eager when we receive our assignments on the 5th of the month when contacting my new friends. But it’s just so exciting. Sometimes I wonder whether I like the giving or receiving part better.

This month was all about receiving. I was paired with Chelsea of An Outlet of the Mind. Chelsea is in the process of training for an Ironman. WOW! is all I can say. Here I am working up to a 5k. My goals suddenly feel so insignificant. But this is not the time for me to feel bad about myself. This is the time to share food. Chelsea did an amazing job. Living in an apartment, I have a tiny little mail cubby, one that our postal carrier insists on shoving as large a package as it can fit. So I come home one day, open the cubby and all I can smell is coffee. Shoved in there (and luckily not damaged!) was Chelsea’s package for me. The smell was intoxicating, I couldn’t wait to open it! I sprinted the flight of stairs and 15 yards to my apartment, locking the door safely behind me so no one could steal my treasure.

Well not only was there coffee, but there was expresso chocolate too! I’m a huge fan of chocolate covered espresso beans but the crunchiness gets to me after a while. This was ingenious–expresso, ground up into a chocolate bar. There was still some texture, but it was much more manageable. I forced myself to just have a piece (or two) and save the rest for a rainy hurricane-y day.

Next three were sun drops–chocolate covered sunflower seeds. For these little crunchy bites of magic, I had no willpower. Gone that night. Finally she included a jar of PB2. Never heard of this stuff. It’s apparently a mix of peanut butter and cocoa powder, minus most of the fat. Mix it with water and you have a peanut butter paste that tastes just as good as fresh ground peanut butter. Chelsea suggested adding it to oatmeal, which I have yet to try, but I discovered this stuff is magical in plain yogurt.

THANK YOU CHELSEA SO MUCH! Such amazing foods! Love every bit and need to figure out where to buy the PB2 around me. I might have a new addiction. And thank you as always to Lindsay at the LEAN GREEN BEAN for organizing this chaos every month.

Check out what I sent to Mallory over at Mal’s Miles. And if you’re interested in becoming a foodie penpal, keep reading for details below!

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• 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 November, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You must submit your information by November 4th as pairings will be emailed on November 5th!

Related articles

• September Foodie Penpals (brooklynlocavore.wordpress.com)
• August Foodie Penpal Reveal! (brooklynlocavore.wordpress.com)