Blogging By Mail...

Lots of goodies

My BBM parcel arrived today, and I was most excited to get it home open it up. I love getting suprise parcels - hell, I love getting any mail at all, (except of course those letters with windows in front!) so even when I am expecting something, and know what's inside, a package for me is a big excitement. My gifter was Lauren from I'll Eat You and she gave me a stack of neat things, as you can see in the above photo.

Bacon flavoured chocolate!

The first thing I saw when I opened the box was this bar of bacon flavoured chocolate. I'd heard about this ages ago somewhere in the blogosphere, and had wanted to try it, but the particular website I got linked to either didn't ship overseas, or was charging more than I could justify on chocolate to do so. I can't remember. What I do remember is wanting to try it, and getting laughed at by my housemate and weird looks from my partner. So I guess now I don't have to share! I've always loved sweet and salty, so I'm looking forward to cracking into this.

Also I got a really cute spatula, perfect for Kids Cooking Thursdays. I'm sure my two eldest will appreciate that you thought of them Lauren! And since Master Four will be starting school next year, the little Cupcake Caddy will be great in his lunchbox - it's a plastic cake box that exactly fits one cupcake, how cool is that?

Somehow Lauren picked up on the fact that I'm a sucker for American candy, and included a pack of Mike & Ike's, Peanut Chews and Mallo Cups. They are all made near the city she lives in, as are the Herrs potato chips. (And yes, we have Salt & Vinegar flavour here - it happens to be my favourite flavour! lol)

Ghiradelli chocolate and Blueberry-Lime jam

I've heard lots and lots of people says how good Ghiradelli chocolate is, and now that I've tasted some, I'm almost upset that Lauren sent it to me. Because I know it's not likely that I'll be buying it online often (if that's even possible) and I extremely doubt I could find it for sale over here. Which is a damn shame, because my oh my is this chocolate goooooood. It's 60% cocoa, but it doesn't have the bitter taste I've come to associated with very dark chocolate. It had a very deep strong chocolate flavour, without being bitter, and a very deep sweetness. It had almost a fruitiness to the chocolate flavour, and I really think I need to start spending more on chocolate, if this is what the good stuff tastes like. Maybe I could set up an exchange program, fancy chocolate for Tim Tams anyone?

The other item next to the chocolate is Blueberry-Lime jam which sounds like an awesome combination. I think I'll have to have some of that on lunch tomorrow.

The green box at the back of the top photo is really neat. It's a mint plant/seedling... sealed inside an eggshell! You crack the top off, and water it, and the plant grows. How cool is that?

And last, but not least, is some Olivier herbed salt. Lauren and her husband use this all the time apparently, and I know how that goes. Whenever you get a new herb or spice you try it in everything, and everything seems to go with it! And I'm definately with Stephanie... I never thought I'd be someone who get excited by salt, but now I know better. Vanilla beans too. I'm a sucker for fancy ingredients, even if you don't see me cook with them a lot. Unfortunately, I cater not to you, my audience, or even to my own tastes, but to DP who likes simple food, and to two preschoolers, who will eat the fancier stuff, but let's face it, with sun-dried tomatoes at $20 a kilo, it's not really something you let a 3yo snack on! Still it's nice to play grownup once in a while, and don't for a second think the kids are getting anywhere near my new chocolate stash! Perhaps I'll let them share the Mike & Ike's. Maybe.
Blogging By Mail is hosted every so often at Dispensing Happiness. I don't know how often, so maybe you should just follow the blog, it's a great read anyway!