Foodie Penpals Month Two - Middle Eastern Maddness

So month two has come along in the Foodie Penpals experience. This month I was paired with Made With Pink, or Andrea as she's otherwise known. I was particularly excited as the last box Andrea had sent out to a penpal was a pandora's box of American ingredients, brought back from a recent trip there.

Contact was made and this time I was a little less specific about my likes and dislikes, I think in the first month I had bamboozled my penpal with all my 'what I don't eats' and 'this is my ethical stance' - I still got an ace box, but I felt sorry for my penpal, so I went easy this time and explained my interest in Middle Eastern food.

Andrea took this brief by the horns and when my box arrived it was chock full of treats. This time round I got extra presents as Andrea had been ill and felt sorry for sending my box late (in fact it wasn't late at all!! She's very organised!). So what did I get?

First off were some of my favourite things - sesame snaps. I've grown up snacking on these, my Mum thought they were much healthier as they sold them in Holland and Barrett's (along with Panda liquorice, but that's another story). Andrea sent me some interesting flavours, such as yogurt and coconut - not sure I liked the coconut one, bit suntan lotion, but good to try something else.

Carrying on in the Middle East there sweet treats in the form of rose Turkish Delight - delicious and a good quality version. Rose is my favourite flavour, so I immediately jumped on this and it was gone within about three seconds. Included in the box was also some Lebanese (?) nougat - full of pistachios and fruit leather: fruity, sweet little mouthfuls of gooey goodness.

Next out was Moroccan spiced cous cous - I've had the plain version and love it, so this version was an eye opener and a product I'll definitely buy if I see it round here. It's been great for lunches as well as dinner and I've purposely made extra just so I have some left overs. Andrea wrote in her (obviously) pink notecard that she was excited by my box as she really wanted to try the Asian store just up the road to her office - glad to have been of service.

What were my extra treats? Some cute little jubilee cupcake cases, jubilee trivia cards and some writing icing in red, white and blue. Great for the upcoming celebrations and something she's been sent by Waitrose - this is what Foodie Penpals is all about, sharing the love.

This time I opened my box with people all around - all my friends were very jealous and I wonder if some of them have signed up for the forthcoming month. How do you sign up? Follow this link or click the Foodie Penpals button on the side of my blog bar (to the right).

So who was I paired up with? My penpal was The Wee Mouse Caroline Clark who told me she had a perchance for Japanese food - music to my ears as I love Japanese and eastern cuisine and wanted an excuse to go to the Asian supermarket (so it wasn't just Andrea who got to go), we have a lot in Manchester and one of the biggest in the UK. What did I send? Head on over to her blog to take a peek....

Bring on month three!