Happy Foodie Penpal reveal day everyone! Oh wait, you don’t have a foodie penpal? Well, that’s certainly something we need to fix. First I’ll tell you all the wonderful goods I got from my penpal and make you green with envy. Then I’ll hook you up with the details, introduce you to Lindsay, the founder, at the Lean Green Bean and tell you how to get your very own foodie penpal. Good deal? Well here we go…

This month I was paired with the very awesome Rosemary down in Virginia. Unfortunately Rosemary doesn’t have a blog to share, but I’ll be sending her lots of love via Twitter! I said chocolate and Rosemary ran with it, collecting all of my favorites! She admitted much of the box came from Trader Joe’s. Not exactly local, but a secret favorite spot of my own. I would never go there for produce (maybe it’s just the NYC stores, but everything always looks so dull and squishy) but for shelf stable items, chocolate and coffee it’s one of my favorite places to stock up at.

Chocolate covered pretzel bites anyone?

My box was filled with chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate peanut butter cups, chocolate bars… My absolute favorite was the Mexican chocolate rounds. I haven’t used them yet and didn’t even know Trader Joe’s carried it. But what a hidden gem! This stuff is awesome for cooking, like in mole sauces and probably half the price of the fancy Whole Foods stuff I thought I was confined to.

Seriously…highlight of the whole package!

A huge THANK YOU to Rosemary for all the fantastic treats! I tried very hard to share with my husband, but those chocolate peanut butter cups were gone in a little less than 48 hours. And thank you as always to Lindsay at the Lean Green Bean for organizing everything! If you’re interested in finding your own foodie penpal, here’s everything you need to know:

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

Related articles

• March Foodie Penpal Reveal! (bklynlocavore.com)
• February Foodie Penpals! (bklynlocavore.com)