Meeting new people, plying them with food, and getting a lot of laughs along the way. This is the stuff blogging is made of. I recently joined into another round of reindeer games with over 200 bloggers in a food based pen-pal group begun by Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean Blog. Lindsay and I have known each other for a long time and she’s been a constant source of health-spiration. Like inspiration but for the healthy. How can you turn down a chance to meet other people equally as interested in developing new and lasting friendships based on food? You can’t, that’s how.

As my inauguration into the program, I received my send-to pal and my receive-from pal. Both equally wonderful girls. My send-to pal is an bubbly delight by the name of Jennifer of Fit is the New Skinny. And I received a box brimming with Texas pride from Ms. Nicole of Nicole On A Mission.

There is no sense in delicacy when opening a package of what you are certain will be delicious food. And it was apparent by my rabid eyes and pieces of cardboard packaging flying everywhere, that all pomp and ceremony had flown out the window. The results were not disappointing.

Quite possibly the most gorgeously colored honey I’ve ever seen in my life.

Garlic Pesto marinade – whoa, Nelly. And pasta sauce? How did I just now realize that? I think I need to go home and carbo load right now and just drench my pasta with this stuff. o.O

Moo Granola Chocolate.

Do I even need to specify that this is gone? I finished it yesterday. I was going to allow myself only two pieces. Then it was three.

And after that, I figured a 4th wouldn’t hurt. It didn’t hurt one bit. It was delicious.

Next, was a package of wasabi pumpkin seeds. The actually came apart in shipping, but refusing to allow any of them to go to waste, I poured them pack in their package, removed a few pieces of glitter (I know!) and have been munching on them ever since.

Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same thing! This is a judgement free zone.

And for some crunch – Blue Corn Chips with sea salt. It’s been very difficult to portion these babies out. Unlike Fritos, they don’t have the same salty bite to them. It’s much more subdued but equally as crunchy as their mass manufactured counterparts. I’d take these any day. Gasp, Blue Frito Pie.

Last came the fruit. Nicole ever the healthy conscious foodie sent me three packages of Stretch Island Fruit Leather. And there’s a fantastic bit of coincidence with these. They’re actually made here in Washington about 20 minutes from my parents’ diggs. To see a local brand come full circle just made my heart sing. Yes, Stretch Island is a place. It reminds me of some little east coast Cheseapeake Bay nook with custom wood row boats and white washed docks. Just Seattle style with evergreen trees and legit salmon.

It was a fantastic gift, exceeding all of my wildest foodie dreams. I’ve made some new friends and eaten myself stupid on delectable local (and even better) healthy foods.

Now I’m having an unreasonable pull towards that pasta sauce. I gotta go. Now.

____________Thanks again Nicole. You rocked my world.__________

If you want to participate in the March round of Foodie PenPals, join us here. And don’t worry, if you’re not a blogger that’s just fine. We want readers to participate and get to know all your favorite bloggers!

Come to the dark side. We have Treats!