September Foodie Pen Pals

Foodie Pen Pal reveal day is here!  This is my third month in the program and I am absolutely loving it!  I've met some wonderful people, not to mention received some tasty treats!

Nely was my pen pal this past month and she sent me a wonderful, totally "me," package of goodies!  They met all my taste standards: vegan, spicy, healthy, chocolate-y and DELICIOUS!  I feel very fortunate to have been matched with such a kind person who presented me such a thoughtful package.  Now, without further ado, here are the contents!!!

My package arrives!

A sneak peak of the goodies!  Eek!  Eek!  So excited!  The letters I've received thus far in the Foodie Pen Pals program are almost more precious to me than are the food items.  Nely wrote me a very nice letter!

And here is everything!  Item by item, from left to right: salted dark chocolate almond bark, local strawberry hot sauce, pomegranate candies, chili-lime pumpkin seeds, dried mango, mango spread and chili-seasoned plantain chips!  I think I might have mentioned to Nely that I like mango...oh!...and that I like hot/spicy foods...

 Nely's letter and the ridiculously wonderful chocolate bark.

  I did not even have enough will power to photograph the chocolate bark before ripping into the packaging to eat, like, a third it.  Ay yi yi.  I quickly put the rest of the chocolate in a Ziploc baggy and shoved it in to my bread box in the depths of my pantry in order to resist temptation...at least for the time being...

I am very sad that this chocolate is a thing of the past : (  It looks so yummy!

  This hot sauce was awesome!  Nely told me, in her letter, that a local, California-based company makes it and that they use strawberries as an ingredient!   The sweetness of the strawberries and the heat of the peppers works really well together.  I like the fact that Nely included something from her hometown that I can't get here--that 's one thing that makes FPP packages even more special!

  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  The plantain chips in particular, though, were my absolute FAVORITE item in my package.  I liked them even more than the chocolate, which is saying a lot.

 Featured in the top left corner of the photograph are the plantain chips!  I had them with my collard wrap for lunch one day and took an Instagram of it!

  I LOVE mangoes and so I was super excited to get these.  Now, I've had my share of "too dry" dried mangoes (yep, dried fruit can be too dry) but these were plump and flavorful!  I ate some plain, others I wrapped with salsa and hot sauce, and others still I cut up and out in my breakfast bowl, alongside fresh fruit, grains, almond milk and other goodies!  The mangoes were delicious in every form.

Thanks again, Nely, for a great September Foodie Pen Pal package!  I can't wait to see what next month's pen pal program brings!