Green Tea | Lake Michigan-Upon-Thames

This month, I sent my parcel off to Alice in London, and in turn, I got my parcel from Rachel in Liverpool. It’s probably one of my first all-British swaps in a long time.

Rachel was assigned to me as her very first foodie penpal experience. I started thinking back to a couple of years ago when it was my first time. I remember it being very nerve-racking, and in hindsight, knowing what I know now, I’d love to do the first couple of people again. However Rachel seems to have skirted the ‘nerves’ issue, and she produced a most wonderful box of goodies for her first time out of the gate.

In honour of Halloween, I received a pumpkin orange parcel.

Square pumpkin?

Of course it was just a Sainsbury’s plastic carrier bag (other supermarket bags are available) protecting the box, and I did ask if she wanted me to refund her 5p for the bag, but she declined my offer. But I thought how appropriate it was to have a Halloween orange box this week.

So after carefully peeling the pumpkin box, I reached layer number two.

Pink polka dots

This was looking interestinger and interestinger. And like the most exciting game of ‘Pass the Parcel’, I peeled off this pink film to find . . .

Blue polka dots

I finally got to the prize! But it was so fun to have layers to get through first.

The box revealed

And this is what greeted me when I took the polka-lid off. My heart started racing immediately. See that magical looking red ‘f’ there in the middle of the box? I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT! And if I had a heart condition, it I would have been in trouble as I also spotted some familiar cookies in the box, too. But more on that later.

Marshmallow fluff

Of course my hands went straight for the fluff. For those of you who have never experienced a fluffernutter, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’ve already decided to make fudge with this. Marshmallow fluff makes the most delicious fudge. I seriously encourage you to explore this opportunity (after you make a fluffernutter, of course).

And because the human mind always goes to the familiar first, I reached for these next.

Oreos

I so rarely buy these here, so I was delighted to have them provided to me without any effort. Before I open these though, I need to buy more milk. You just can’t have Oreo cookies without a lot of very cold milk. It’s the best.

I next reached for this large box of tea.

Chocolate tea

So I have this theory in my head that trendy ‘green tea’ that is sooooooo good for you, will taste awful, as most things that are ‘good for you’ do. But how on earth can a tea named “Fudge Melts” taste bad, I ask you? I am really looking forward to brewing this up. I am picturing it enveloping the entire house in a blanket of chocolate scent. What could be better?

I next spied a familiar logo. Rachel had included a package of Guinness mini caramels, wrapped in chocolate, and they taste like Guinness.

Guinness caramels

Now’s the time that I confess that even after living in this country for almost 30 years, I have never tasted Guinness. I love the way it looks. But I really want it to taste like a root beer float. And I suspect it’s not going to. So as not to dispel my imagery, I have avoided tasting it. However, I feel mixing it with chocolate and caramel would be fine. It would be like tasting it, without having to compare it to a root beer float. Those will be open tonight after dinner, I think.

Ahhh . . and finally something I can claim has a ‘healthy’ label . . .

Perk!er bar

I have had Perk!er bars, but haven’t tried this one. However, I love quinoa AND goji berries and cranberries. So it’s a winner all ’round, right? This looks packed full of goodness.

Next, I found these two packages.

Garlic seasoning

and

Chilli seasoning

I cook with fresh chilli and fresh garlic ALL the time, so I was very excited to see these. What a great way to always have these things on hand, especially if you’ve just run out of the fresh stuff.

And finally, the last pouch I pulled out was one of my favourite flavours of all time. I love Nandos chicken, and now I can do it at home without having to put up with having to go up to the counter to order my food. I even have (pretty much) unlimited soft drinks here, too!

Nandos sauce

So Rachel – your first parcel was outstanding. I hope yours was as spectacular as this one was. You really couldn’t have picked out better things for me, and I thank you for that. Well done, Rachel. A gold star for your first time!

If this has piqued your interest in foodie penpals, please, please RUN – do not walk – to this website below to sign up for Foodie Penpals. Go to http://thisisrocksalt.com/foodie-penpals

I love when my Foodie Penpal writes to me just after the lists have been sent out, and Jaye did not disappoint. Despite being in the middle of her sister’s wedding plans, I still received a very interested email (and subsequent response). And how she ever found time to shop and post everything in the middle of all that, I’ll never know. But Jaye did a great job!

Not only did she shop, but she took the time to hand-write this note, which really puts me to shame with the (much shorter) notes I usually send out.

Jaye’s note

Now it’s not surprising if you read Jaye’s blog, that tea would be included in the package.

Tea

But don’t think this is just ordinary tea. This is delicious, thirst-quenching tea. I’ve had both of them already. I liked the green tea a lot – it was quite smooth. And the English breakfast was the perfect way to start my Bank Holiday weekend.

The next thing I pulled out of the package was this Rum Raisin Fudge.

Rum Raisin Fudge

I’ve tried rum raisin ice cream before, so I was anxious to get to the fudge. And it was SO tasty. I love that it came from Cardiff, too (where Jaye’s living, by the way). I am rationing this so that I don’t go through the entire (rather large) piece of fudge in one sitting of Grey’s Anatomy . . .

Out next came the chilli almonds. Wow – this is a taste you don’t want to miss.

Chilli almonds

These almonds are dusted with a smoked chilli powder – just enough to give you a bit of heat when you’re eating them, but not too much as to blow your head off. I never would have put chilli with almonds – but thank goodness someone did.

And you may or may not believe this, but as I was walking to the front door to greet the postman who handed me my Foodie parcel this month, I was thinking that I really had a taste for popcorn, and I wondered if I actually had any in my larder. I quickly forgot that thought when I saw what the postman was handing me, but I couldn’t believe what I saw next in my parcel when I opened it.

Popcorn

Really? Is this how it works now? I only have to think of things and the postie will deliver it to my front door? (** George Clooney . . . George Clooney . . . George Clooney). So how clever was Jaye to think to put this into my parcel? (The popcorn . . . not George Clooney 😦 )

I then started getting a whiff of what might be coming out next.

Dried chillis

I mentioned in my introductory email to Jaye that I liked spicy things, so in my parcel were two different types of dried chilli. One is a smoked Naga Ghost chilli, and one is a Chipotle Meco Chilli. I already soaked and sliced up most of the Chipotle chilli for one of my weekend dishes, and it really added quite a bit of depth. I am saving the Naga chilli for one of my braver days. It was the ‘smoke’ scent that I could smell as I was opening up the parcel. These also came from Cardiff – looks like from a place called Clancys.

I then pulled out a package of Welch cakes from one of Jaye’s local, independent deli’s called Wally’s.

Welch cakes

I’ve never tasted Welch cakes before, but I put these away till breakfast the next day, warmed them up and plied them with lashings of butter. I had to try two of them, just to make sure I liked them (I did). But before I could get at the rest, other family members piled in. So – those were a very distant memory all too quickly.

And finally, I pulled these out of the parcel.

Savoury powders

These are powders that I am going to experiment with on my aforementioned popcorn, although the Spice of Life curry powder already made a small debut in one of my dinners last weekend. But I think the horseradish, beetroot and chilli powder will make spectacularly interesting popcorn flavours.

Jaye – you outdid yourself with my parcel. You listened to what I said I liked, and you ticked every box. You’ve made me very happy. Thank you very much for a wonderful bounty of goodies!

Lake Michigan-Upon-Thames

A Gale of two cities . . .

Tag Archives: Green Tea

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