Foodie Love from Pennsylvania

This is late, I know. I have been quite busy juggling work, family time, and a little bit of travel. But, oh, how I do ge so excited when the doorbell rings and a package stuffed with goodies awaits me.  What can I say? I love surprises

This box came from Shelley in Pennsylvania.  The barbecue chips were tasty, and so were the coffee cakes.
There were some Hershey bars and Reese's, which had to wait until after lent, but didn't last very long after.  I have yet to try the funnel cake mix, but I have always wanted to make one.  :)

Shoo fly pie! I had only ever heard of this in books. It was delicious!

I made this pasta with mushrooms and some nutty tofu balls.  It didn't last long. 

Foodie Love from Savannah

Agh! I'm late again...

February's box came from Bridget in Savannah, Georgia

 here's the lovely note she included in my box. :)

 oh man.  It's like she KNOWS me.  Spicy kale chips did not last very long, and they were the kind of spicy that creeps up on you.   Pure green protein...I used to subsist on this back in my running days. Oh and the cutest little honey bear I've ever seen.

I can never really say it enough. I love tea.

 Oh. My. Gosh. No one's every sent me a honeycomb.  I just need to wait for a few more of my fellow sugar fiends to come over so we can devour this together.

 Mmm. Chocolate.  Enough said.

Glasses

I used to work at Disneyland when I was in high school. For about the first year, my parents insisted on driving me to and from work, ensuring my safety if I wasn't behind the wheel. My dad is a punctual man, so if I ended a shift at 5, he'd be there promptly at 5:20 to pick me up, knowing that I would need those 20 minutes for the shuttle to drop me off in the employee parking lot.  Unfortunately, this meant that my mom would arrive at 6:30.  My mom has never been a slave to schedules. She was a career woman who prioritized time to be a mom whenever she could squeeze it in. (By no means are things exactly the same now, but this is half a lifetime ago for me.) We live about 15 to 20 minutes away, but honestly, this is just how she operates.
Mom would arrive in a hurry, honking the horn if I didn't approach the car fast enough. So one day, she picks me up the standard hour late.
She says, "Sorry. I really was going to be on time, but right when I was getting ready to leave, I couldn't find my glasses. I went and looked everywhere, and finally just found my old pair of glasses."
I stared blankly at her and said, "Oh. And then you realized that they were on top of your head?"

"What?!? They are?"

Those were the days before camera phones.  Oh how I wished I had a picture of it to show you.  My mom's old glasses were the huge ones that covered up half your face.  And the look of surprise was priceless, as she touched the top of her head and realized that I was telling the truth.

She insisted on sharing this story with everyone who would listen that week.

Orphans

It's the last day of our tour of Asia. I'm leaving tonight, but my mom will stay behind for 3 weeks to keep her sisters company; they are still mourning the loss of their brother.

My mom says, "We're running out of time. What do you want to do? Go shopping or get a massage?"

If you know me, you know I'd choose a massage over shopping any day. I'd have an empty closet, but I'd be soooo relaxed.

But if you know my mom, you'd know shopping is the only right answer to this question. It's not even really a question; it's a trick...

Rather than play our usual game of selective hearing, I decided on a third option. I said, "Do you think that maybe we could just visit the orphanage you told me about?"

She said, "Oh, that's a good idea."
We walked across the Ayala bridge to Hospicio de San Jose, which turns out to be more of a community outreach center with religious ties. The grounds contain a nursery, sleeping quarters for school aged children, and residences for aging adults.
As soon as we were within reasonable distance from the sign, we stopped to take a picture. When we got closer... I came up to the side of the nursery where there was a turning cradle.  It was like a big drawer, where women could place their babies if they didn't feel like they could care for them properly. It made me more than a little sad, thinking about what a difficult choice that must be.
Then she called my name. She got impatient when I didn't turn around right away. "Debbie! Turn around!" Her next word shocked me the most. "Smile!"
She took a picture of me. Why she wanted me to smile in it is beyond me.
So I didn't smile.

Yup. That's the face I make when she confuses me.  
I will never fully understand her. So I just laugh a little inside.

Foodie Love from Walla Walla

I am ashamed. This post is ridiculously late, but life in the past couple of months has proven more hectic than I expected.  Nonetheless, here it is: 

November's box came from Megan from Walla Walla, Washington.  You can find her lovely blog here. Megan asked me if I had any preferences. I told her that aside from being vegetarian, I love surprises. 

And surprised I was.  It never occurred to me that you could pack produce!   

Three kinds of Washington apples and an onion!  Pictures of these are lost on a chip somewhere in my house...which I will hopefully find later and post.  

The sweet onion went great with the turkey-less roast that I got from Trader Joe’s. 

And my first Thanksgiving turkey in years.  Best turkey I've ever had. ;)

Any time chocolate and popcorn get put together, I'm there.

 Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard. It's amazing on the caprese sandwiches I've been making.

 My uncle kept asking me if I had already taken pictures of these biscotti so that he could eat them.

 My family and I marveled over the crust on this bread.  It tasted so good with the spaghetti we had for dinner one night. :)  And the croutons were perfect on top of salad and dipped in a roasted garlic and butternut squash soup we devoured.

She also included some information about Walla Walla that makes me want to go up there and visit. :)

Thank you Megan! Every bit of it was delicious! 

Sorry!

Oh my gosh....has it really been SIX WEEKS since I've posted anything?  Sorry it's taken so long, but I promise to post more adventures soon.  October was insanely busy, but expect something soon!

Foodie Love from Boston

This month, my Foodie Penpal came from Boston.  Her name is Tegan, and she sent a package with some things that make me think that we'd get along pretty well in real life.  

Her letter mentioned that she wished she could send me something from a local farmer's market that she worked at over the summer, which sounds heavenly especially because I've worked one around here.

The package included these cute little bottles of infused olive oil and vinegar.  I totally dig stuff that's homemade, and the fact that I can toss it in a salad is just an added bonus.  

Then, I almost jumped up and down when I saw it.  Taza Mexican Dark Chocolate...with CINNAMON.  People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that I love cinnamon and chocolate together.  So delicious that I was tempted to just eat it all right then and there.  

Goat's milk caramels. I opened them before I even thought to take a picture.  Amazing!  

And last but not least...this adorable bottle of maple syrup.  I haven't tried it yet.  I'm sure it'll go great with my waffles.