I don’t know about you but this whole “April showers brings May flowers” thing is totally out of whack this year. April snow brings May flowers? In addition to a lot of great goodies, Foodie Penpals forces me to reflect at the end of each month, what’s happened and where we’re headed. Normally by now I’d be in spring skirts and flip-flops, but the way things have been, I wonder if I’ll even make it there before the official start of summer. After a depressingly cold winter, we’ve yet to have more than a few days of relief. My first “spring” trip to the greenmarket showed signs of life with a few plants and seed sales, but mostly the cellared remains of last year’s harvest. Spring, where are you?

My foodie penpal this month was a lovely reader, Rachel from Central Pennsylvania. Rachel sent me a wonderful package of goodies and was super sweet and understanding when her package got a bit delayed, more than a week, because of unforeseen circumstances. Let’s check out the box:

• Dried Apple Chips – Super yummy and highly addictive
• Pennsylvania Maple Syrup
• Sweet & Sour Italian Marinade – waiting to grill a steak for this one
• Multigrain Pancake Mix – Not sure how Rachel knew I loved pancakes, but THANKS!
• PA Water – Haven’t opened yet; I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to water and only like NY but we’ll see
• Sticky Buns from State College – must be fried in butter and served with ice cream (my Penn State in-laws confirmed this!)

Thanks to Rachel for such an awesome package! Interested in getting your own foodie penpal? Here’s the scoop:

• On the 5th of the 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 can choose 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.