This past month I participated in a new-to-me gift swap called Foodie Pen Pals, run by the fabulous Lindsay. It works the same way as a normal gift swap, except that the items being swapped are all edible – fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats. Here is the box I received from my foodie pal, Jennifer.

The box, tantalizingly marked as both fragile and perishable.

My first glimpse of the goodies.

The goodies all laid out.
Contents
- Almond Butter. I had never had this before, and wasn’t sure how to eat it/what it goes with, so I just substituted it for things I normally use peanut butter for. Verdict: pretty good, though I still like PB better.
- Banana Nut Cupcake Mix. I haven’t had a chance to make these yet, but they look good.
- Organic Peanut Butter Cup. This was completely melted, but still tasty.
- Freeze-dried Kiwi Bites. I’m not a huge fan of kiwi on a normal basis. I gave these a try (hey, I’ll try anything once) but was not really a fan.
All in all, a very fun experience. 🙂 Thank you, Jennifer, for the package – I got to try some new things!
Go see Molly’s blog to see what I sent her.

Freeze-dried kiwi. Sadly, this goodie did not get along with my taste buds.

AB&J crackers.
oh! how can we talk anymore! i ADORE almond butter! it’s definitely different than peanut butter but think about it this way: you wouldn’t expect raspberry jam to taste like marmalade (ew i hate marmalade. bad example)… it’s a different product. therefore you don’t have to pick one over the other… that being said, peanut butter it up baby!
happy foodie pen pal reveal day!
p.s. Keep an eye out on Wednesday – there’s a new blog hop in town and I think you’re gonna like it! All fresh foods (CSAs; farmer’s market treasures; garden hauls; & similarly related posts) welcome!
I didn’t expect it to taste *exactly* the same. But they are both butters made from nuts, so the comparison was bound to happen. 🙂 I enjoyed it, but I don’t even use peanut butter all that often, and there’s only so much room for nut butters (heh) in my life.
I don’t have a garden or CSA (though I’ve been thinking about this one) or regularly get to farmer’s market, so I don’t really have anything to contribute on Wednesday, but I’ll definitely stop by and do some read-hopping. 🙂
wow this sounds like such a great idea! you can receive food from all over the world 🙂
Actually, they pair people up based on location – US participants with others in the US, Canadians with Canadians, etc. So you can get things from a wide area within your same country, but not internationally. I think the organizers decided that customs compliance & ship times would make it tricky.
What a fun idea for a swap – and yummy too! (I love almond butter, and suspect I’d be a fan of the dried kiwis too :).)