For this month, I got pen-palled up with Joan from Glasgow. Usually, I give my pen pals free reign with their parcel, but I am slowly starting to change my diet a bit, so I asked Joan to send me more or less healthy stuff and to go easy on the dairy, refined sugar, caffeine and a few other random things that I am trying to cut out.
Here is what I got:
First up, a quintessentially Scottish postcard with a cute highland cow.
Then , and I was pretty thrilled by this, Joan baked for me! I got some apple sauce muffins and a carrot-and-ginger cake, all made with pretty healthy ingredients. She also included the recipes for both. The cake was really nice, with a big citrussy hit from the orange, and the muffins were just the right mix of sweet and wholesome. I will definitely make them again myself.
I also got some delicious Lindt chocolate, again with orange notes and some almond pieces, which I really enjoyed. And don't you tell me that chocolate is not healthy. All I'm saying is superfood!
I think Joan laughed when I asked her if there were any good-for-you Scottish delicacies (and in the light of deep-fried everything, whisky, and buttery shortbread that is probably a justified reaction), but she found one and included oat cakes in the parcel. I think I will need to eat those quick, before I give up cheese...
Joan gave me a silicone cooking liner, similar to ones I am actually already using, so this will be good when I've worn those out. I can really recommend these sheets, I use them for baking and oven-frying. They really work, you can omit any oils or butter for greasing as absolutely nothing sticks to them, and they can be cut to size and used over and over again.
The second non-edible item I got were toastie pockets, which I have been forever curious to try, but was always too sensible to buy. I've tried them now, and I think my toaster is not made for these. Instead of 'use up to 100 times', I used the first one exactly once and already melted a hole through it. Sorry, Joan!
Last, but not least, I got some rice paper cake decorations. Joan was really sweet and wrote that these were meant as a reminder to show myself some love. I really appreciate the care that Joan took in assembling my parcel and loved unpacking it. Thank you!
If you want to find out more about Foodie Pen Pals, you can click here or the link in my sidebar. The swap is organized by Carol Anne from Rock Salt. The whole idea originated in North America, so if you are a state side or Canadian foodie, you can also sign up over there.
Oh, and my parcel went to Lithuania.
oh my! these are so great! How lucky you are, really! :)
ReplyDeleteI bet that carrot cake, and muffins were adorable.. as they look like! :)
They were, and I love baked goods. It's part of being German, I think, getting excited over cake or bread. :o)
DeleteI confess, the carrot cake wasn't up to the usual standard - flavour was lovely, I seem to recall, but the texture was a bit suspect! I've never really got the hang of the whole plain flour/baking powder thing... Other than that, I'm delighted you enjoyed your parcel. Too bad about the rubbish toaster bags! ;o)
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, oatcakes are also rather good with soup, as an alternative to bread...
Great photos and a lovely blog, Annika, I've really enjoyed being your pen pal!
Joan x
Thank you, Joan. It's funny, I hardly ever bake with self-raising flour, I never knew such a thing existed until I moved to the UK! :o) Good tip for the oatcakes, too! I love dipping bread in my soup and trying to cut down on grains is the hardest part of my diet change!
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