July's Foodie Penpal reveal day................

Well it's that time of the month again, so it must be time for one thing. Reveal day!

This month I was selected to send my box to Kimberley @ fullasanegg Apart from a dislike of perfumey (is that a word?) tastes she didn't have any preferences so I was able to run wild with my box. You can see what she thought of it here.

I received my box from the lovely Julia @ sthingmissing.    She writes a brilliant blog with recipes that all "have something missing" whether that be gluten, dairy, eggs or meat/animal products proving that you don't have to miss out on great food and treats if you are on a restrictive diet. Her pineapple and coconut semi-freddo recipe is to die for!

 I always try and resist peeking at the box's content before I've read the letter, but after reading she'd made me some gingerbread men I just couldn't resist and had to have a quick peek. They looked so cute looking up at me with their wonderful chocolate shoes. She even sent me a cookie cutter and the recipe so I could have a go at making my own. There is only two left in the photo, the rest had already been devoured by my little boy and his friend. I did manage to try one of the remaining ones and it was delicious.

 Stevie has helped me eat the Cadbury's chocolate mascot too. It was like eating an Easter egg in the middle of July.  We live near to the City of Coventry stadium where some of the Olympic football matches are being played, so it's nice to get into the spirit of the games (any excuse for chocolate!)

I love both mustard and Guinness so I was excited to find this little beauty in my box. I quite like a cheese and mustard sandwich (I'm odd, I know) so that's how I first tried it. The Guinness flavour was very subtle but it was a nice mustard all the same. I'm going to try in my sausage and leek casserole when the weather cools down.
I nearly bought plantain chips to go in the parcel I send this month but changed my mind at the last minute so I'm interested in trying them myself, but I haven't got round to sampling them yet.
The thing I'm most excited about is trying Julia's Tom Yam Kung recipe, she sent me. She told be how she had learnt this recipe from the locals at a Thai cookery school whilst travelling in Thailand. She thoughtfully included some of the ingredients for me to use. Lime leaves are not something I would usually keep in my store cupboard so it was fantastic to find them in my box.

 Another first for me is white tea. I love spiced tea and enjoying drinking fruit teas in the summer but I like my black tea very, very strong so I wasn't sure if the delicate taste of white tea would be for me. I was actually quite surprised as I really quite liked it.
Thanks again go to Julia for putting together my box of treasure.

If you are in the UK and would like to take part next month, fill in the application form here  before the 4th August. If you are reading this from America or Canada they you can join in here