FPP4: Gifts from Tara of North Reading, MA

I can’t wait to share my Foodie Pen Pals package from Tara!!  Tara is a mother of two living just outside of Boston.  The program didn’t link a blog, so I think she participates just for the fun of it – let that be an inspiration, friends! You CAN do Foodie Pen Pals without worrying about a blog and you seriously get really sweet treats out of it!  Tara says she loves home-baking AND checking out bakeries, so we both share pretty formidable Sweet Tooths.   With this in mind, she ensured this pen pal round was way full of goodies!  It’s going to take a lot of really fun snacking time to get through all of this   Thank you so much Tara!!

My other Foodie Pen Pal match this month was Sylvia of Frolic Through Life – please check out her great blog and you can see what I sent her here!

Here we go!

It was all packed so neatly… and FULL! You sent way too much stuff Tara, but I am so appreciative!

“Something hand-written”… I love your handwriting Tara!

The whole package!! Can you believe how delicious this is? From left to right:

• Whoopie Pie from Steve’s Snacks Bakery (Hello Comic Sans..?)
• Soft Taffy – forget the origin, brought it to a party where it was immediately devoured!
• Blueberry Granola from Golden Girl Granola (What’s up with these east coast bakeries using Comic Sans for their websites?)
• Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Sauce from Stonewall Kitchen
• Mother’s Sweet Red Pepper Relish from Coutt’s Specialty Foods
• “Chocolat” Lip Balm and Blueberry Lavender soap from Beeluxe
• Butter Toffee Almond Crunch Caramel Corn from “Market” (or Wishbasket& Red Bird as it says on the package)
• Cacao flavored Tea from Tisano
• Maple Candy from Ben’s Sugar Shack

Tara really worked hard to find a great combination of local, sweet flavors – what an incredible list!

I ate this as soon as I saw it. It’s a Whoopie Pie from a bakery called Steve’s Snacks Bakery. IT WAS SO GOOD! Apparently this is their specialty! The filling was like a massive oreo… good lord, it was just what I needed!

Here’s a close-up on the chocolate lip balm (dangerous stuff, you end up “eating” half the tube because your lips taste so yummy…) and the sweet soap. The maple candy is from New Hampshire… I’m really getting a sample of the northeast with all these treats! And you all know what happened to the Whoopie Pie It’s huge!!

I’m planning to set out the dark chocolate caramel sauce when my friend Aly and I throw our ice cream and desserts party we’ve been planning. Tara sent over a great dip recipe for the sweet red pepper relish – she admits the ingredients sound unexpected but that it’s tasty! I love cottage cheese anyway, so I’m looking forward to making this! From Tara:

Finally, I love the tea. I thought I’d have a hard time wrapping my taste buds around it, but it turns out chocolate can be great in almost any form (just not in chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup with a side of chocolate milk… damn it 8 year old Lisa!). It’s a great substitute for hot cocoa which is more indulgent.  I also like the more bitter flavor that cacao brings to this drink.  It’s great to try something I would never buy on my own thanks to Foodie Pen Pals

I looooove getting snacks like the granola and the caramel corn. The granola went straight to my work for several great breakfasts. It’s so much fun to start your day with a treat from a pen pal friend… I really love this program!  As for the caramel corn, I plan on using it for a party through my favorite kettle corn mix recipe.  And as I mentioned, the taffy is all gone (well, some may still be stuck in our teeth )!

This package was really something else – Tara obviously put a lot of time and effort into planning this out and in sampling so many different regions for me. I’m hoping to find some great (chocolate-y!) Seattle things to send back to her very soon – any ideas of some favorite local treats, dear readers?

Thanks again Tara for an incredible Foodie Pen Pals July! You can find more information at the Foodie Pen Pals main page and check out the reveal posts here!  A big thanks to Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean for organizing a great program!

Posted by Lisa on 2012-07-31 01:17:27 | FEED YOU WITH A KISS