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Blogging by mail

Monday, October 27th, 2008

On Friday I received my secret blogging by mail parcel. I love participating in blogging by mail and food blogging by post (the European version) as it’s so much fun sending and receiving parcels! It’s a great way to get to know other people and cultures. It turned out that this time my parcel came all the way from Ohio in the US, from a fellow Daring Baker: Fran at Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie. Thank you so much for your lovely parcel, Fran! And thanks to Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness for hosting the event. And the parcel that I sent? It is travelling to another continent….

Below you can see all the great things that I received from sweet Fran:

There’s something special with handwritten letters. I will make someone happy with handwritten letters written on the included stationary.

I’ve always been wanting American measuring cups so that I don’t need to convert all those recipes that I try out, so I was very happy for these.

I love mustard! And the silicone pot holder will come in handy.

The tangy lemon heads are my kind of sweets, lovely! The jellies were bought at the farmer’s market, I havn’t tried them yet but they look very promising.

I love cookie cutters and this pumpkin shaped one will surely be used during this week with Halloween coming up! On the picture you can also see cute party bags and even cuter cupcake sticks with animals!

Mmm, oatmeal scotchies. Delicious!!!

The cats were very curious when the parcel arrived

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EBBP#7 Childhood Sweets

Tuesday, June 5th, 2007


Tanuki is smelling the cute marzipan frog from Pille in Estonia.
First a quick introduction what Euro Blogging by Post is all about. Every second month or so, European food bloggers send food parcels to each other. Yes, real food. And we even dare to eat it :-) Every participant gets an e-mail with the receiver’s address from the organiser (this time Johanna), posts a parcel with food to the receiver and then waits for another parcel in return from a secret sender. This is an excellent way of getting to know the other food bloggers and to try foreign food and ingredients. This time EBBP had a theme, childhood sweets. The round-up with all parcels sent and received can be found here.

I was so happy when I read the sender name for my ebbp#7 parcel on the dispatch note from the post office which I received yesterday. Lovely Pille from Nami-Nami, our Canadian apple cake queen from Estonia! And queen of rhubarb of course! The only small downside was that my husband voluntarly went to the postal department in our grocery store to pick up the parcel, but they were already closed so I had to wait until today to actually get the parcel. But the parcel sure was worth waiting for! Pille had prepared a great parcel consisting of her Estonian childhood sweets, a buttering knife from Tallinn, a cute cat fingerdoll and a brochure about Estonian food.

I immediately recognized the sweets with cows on them, Lehmakomm, as there is a Polish equivalent called krowki (small cows) which is one of my favourite childhood sweets! The marzipan frog is so cute that I don’t want to eat him (yes, I’ve decided that it’s a male frog), but as I love marzipan I will have to do it. I really like the sweets that I’ve tested so far and now I’ll have to hide the chocolate from my husband! :-)

Thank you Pille for a wonderful parcel and all effort, I really enjoy everything.

A brochure about Estonian food and a buttering knife from Tallinn.


Marzipan frog and 4 kinds of chocolate.


Lehmakomm and Miisu.


Magus Korsik (sweet bread sticks) and a very cute cat fingerdoll (as Pille wrote: “I know how much you like your cats”).

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EBBP#6 – An Italian parcel from London!

Thursday, October 5th, 2006

Have I ever said that I love EBBP? Well, probably :-) Today I felt really special when I received a food parcel from Simonetta and in her letter saw the words “[...] a cake that I made for you. [...]”
A cake, baked in the UK, for me :-) Aaah :-) Myself I baked Biscotti with Lingonberries and white chocolate especially for my own EBBP recipient, but you have to admit that her sentence makes you feel special anyway. Here are all the lovely Italian treats from Simonetta *lucky me*:

Chocolates from Modica (Sicily): Simonetta had them sent from a wonderful chocolate shop called Bonajuto. Three of the chocolates are with chili pepper and they are all made using an ancient Aztec recipe. They are unique in their preparation and texture, they contain almost no cocoa butter, so they are crunchy and crumbly with a crystal like apperance. They smell lovely and I can’t wait to try them.

Pesto: Simonetta writes that it’s made with the right type of Basil, the one from Liguria.

Sbrisolona: A typical crunchy cake from Verona which Simonetta baked for me. It’s originally from the neighbouring town of Mantova but it has spread all over the nearby provinces. It smells wonderful and I have already nibbled on it. So yummy!!! I will most likely kindly ask Simonetta for the recipe…

Trofie: A regional pasta.

Thanks again Simonetta for your lovely parcel! Thanks also to Johanna for hosting! You can read Johanna’s roundup here.

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EBBP 4 – A parcel from Italy

Wednesday, March 29th, 2006

Bay leaves from a nearby tree
Bay leaves which Ilva has picked from a nearby tree. The background reveals a snowy Stockholm.

First a quick introduction what Euro Blogging by Post is all about. Every second month or so, European food bloggers send food parcels to each other. Every participant gets an e-mail with the receiver’s address from the organiser (this time Andrew), posts a parcel with food to the receiver and then waits for another parcel in return from a secret sender. This is an excellent way of getting to know the other food bloggers and to try foreign food and ingredients.

Yoshi can't resist the rubber duck!
Yoshi can’t resist the dubber duck!

This month I was blessed with a parcel from dear Ilva at Lucullian Delights. One month ago I had the opportunity to meet sweet Ilva at the Swedish food bloggers tapas evening here in Stockholm, and I really hope that we’ll meet again. She’s a really nice and kind person, bubbling with happiness! I was really happy when I realised that it was Ilva who was my secret sender and her wonderful parcel was really considerate, I love all the things that she sent me! Thank you!

Here’s what Ilva sent me:

Fagioli Zolfino

Fagioli Zolfino which is a typical local bean that only can be found in Ilva’s district.

Chickpea flour

Chickpea flour so that I can make the Ligurian dish Farinata which I’m really looking forward to make.

Dried goodies

A bag of dried tomatoes, peproncino, oregano and capers. According to the bag the contents should be put in glass jars and then covered with Olive oil. Mmm, yummy!

Octopus ink

Octopus ink to make black fish and sea fish risotto or to colour homemade pasta.

Lovely chocolote

Bacetti which are Italian chocolates. I’m actually eating these while writing this post, mmm :-)

A lovely parcel

A cute rubber duck to the cats! They love it!

Fresh Bay leaves from a tree in Ilva’s neighbourhood. This must have been the best thing with the whole parcel, because it felt so personal. Imagine Ilva picking these leaves from a tree at home and then sending them to me in snowy Stockholm!

Thank you so much Ilva for this lovely parcel which made me really happy! The contents or your parcel will bless me with wonderful hours in the kitchen experimenting with Italian food. And of course a thank you to Andrew, the man behind this event! His round up of this great event can be found here.

And my parcel which I sent out? The receiver of my Euro Blogging By Post 4 parcel was Johanna at the Passionate Cook, which I can reveal as she has already blogged about my parcel here.

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EBBP #4 – the dispatch

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

Mail box
(photo from Posten)

Today on my way to work I finally posted my Euro Blogging By Post #4 parcel, to a happy recipient somewhere in Europe. A parcel full of goodies, which actually got stuck in the mailbox to that point that the door neither could be closed or opened. In pure panic I got too physical with the mailbox, but then I finally heard and saw that the parcel fell down safely into it. Now I just have to wait for my own secret parcel. This is so much fun (except for that time when my parcel that I sent for the international Blogging By Mail got lost in the mail… :-/ ) Thanks Andrew for arranging this lovely event!

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Euro Blogging by Post 3

Friday, January 13th, 2006
A secret box from Anna!

I love participating in the blogging by mail/post events. Who doesn’t like surprises or, most of all, foreign foodie gifts? And it’s such fun to prepare the parcel that you send out as well. Another great thing is that you get to know about food blogs that you maybe never have encountered before, as you all know there are so many that you can’t read and know about all of them.

Euro Blogging by Post 3 is hosted by Johanna from the lovely blog the Passionate Cook. She choose “Comfort Me” as theme, which I think was an excellent choice. That’s just what we all need during winter!

Yesterday, after a long day at work, I came home finding a dispatch note in the mailbox. As sender the mailman had only written “England”, so I was very curious when I walked to the post office to get my parcel (or actually the grocery as they nowadays handles all parcels). When I got the parcel in my hand I became even more curious as I didn’t recognize the sender at all. Anna from England… Hmm…

Anna in England turned out to be Anna at Baking for Britain, a blog that I never had seen before. Lovely blog and photos. And her parcel was great! Dear Anna sent me lovely gifts. She made me really happy and it was a pleasure to open it, as she had wrapped all gifts individually in food magazine paper with beautiful food photos and instead of scotch she had used cute food stickers! Everything was perfect and she put so much effort on the parcel. She had read on my blog that I really want to visit Japan one day, so she even sent a mix for Green Tea ice cream. Anna actually spent a whole month in Japan last year! Lucky girl! I will probably try the ice cream mix this weekend, it sounds really exciting. Anna also sent me a book that sounds just lovely, “Apricots on the Nile”. It is written by Colette Rossant who grew up in Egypt. She was sent to Egypt as a child during World War II where she found comfort among the cooks and servants in the kitchen. The book is full of recipes and as I’m planning to start reading it tonight I’m really looking forward for this evening. As mentioned earlier the theme for this Euro Blogging by Post is comfort so Anna also sent me Bath fizzers and face masks! How cute and considerate. Unfortunately we don’t have any bath tub, but if everything goes as planned we will have it in Stockholm. Anna’s homemade Grasmere Gingerbread that she also sent are lovely, I really like oatmeal in cookies and biscuits. Furthermore I received Moroccan green tea, Liquourice Comfits (and as Anna wrote herself: the name sounds comforting), Vanilla pods and Rosemary chocolate. The Vanilla pods (mmm, smells so good) will be used when I bake and the other things I havn’t tried yet but they all sound delicious.

I could write so much about Anna’s parcel, but I will stop here and leave you with the photos of all gifts. Thank you so much again, Anna! All the things are really comforting and I’m so happy.

A big thanks also to Johanna who hosted part 3 of Euro Blogging by Post. Her round-up with links to all posts about the comfort parcels can be read here.

Vanilla pods Moroccan Green Tea with Spearmint

Vanilla pods and Moroccan Green Tea with Spearmint

Book and Magazine Liquorice Comfits

Apricots on the Nile by Colette Rossant, Waitrose Food Magazine and Liquorice Comfits

Green Tea Ice cream Bath Fizzers and face masks

Green Tea Ice-cream mix, Bath Fizzers and Face masks

Grasmere Gingerbread from Cumbria Chocolate with Rosemary

Homemade Grasmere Gingerbread and Chocolate with Rosemary

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Blogging By Mail 2

Tuesday, October 18th, 2005

Last Friday morning when I checked my mails I was really surprised. There was a mail waiting for me from Sue in San Fransisco, which turned out to be my secret swap partner for this great food package exchange event that Samantha at The Samantha Files has arranged. Sue had FedEX:ed my package just 2 days earlier and when she looked at the status on their homepage, it said “incorrect address” so she asked me to track it down. Of course, no worries! I was really curious about the contents so I immediately phoned FedEX. The strange thing is that the address was totally correct. I think that I spoke with them 3 times, and I finally decided to go get the package myself at their local office as they wouldn’t deliver it until Monday (today). As we were going to IKEA to buy another BILLY bookcase and some other things (after rearranging the furniture we amazingly got some extra space for another part to our existing BILLY combination), we had borrowed Fredrik’s parents car so there were no problems for us picking up the package in the industrial estate which happened to be just on the way to IKEA. When we came home after the shopping, I finally got to open the package! Thank you so much Sue, I love everything. Thanks for the effort and all the lovely contents!

Here are the things that sweet Sue sent me:

Delicious homebaked Toffee cookies. They were really lovely and I’m looking forward for the recipe that Sue will mail me. I will definately bake these!

Great coffee from Peet’s Coffee. We immediately brewed some coffee that we drank to the toffee cookies. Mmmm :-)

Next up were these Penguin caffeinated chocolate mints. Fredrik loves them!

Homemade tootsie roll candies. Very nice indeed!

Sue also sent Pear Jam. I havn’t tried it yet, but I’m sure that it will be lovely!

Hibiscus tea. I love Hibiscus tea!


Black Walnuts. Sue writes that this is the only non-California item. They are from Missouri where she was born. Her family sends them to her once a year for her cookies and brownies. The package is gigantic, almost 600 grams! I will use them well!

I also recievied these two cookie dough scented candles!

And last but but not least: 2 lovely place mats and a wine bottle cover.

Another big thanks to Sue! Thank you so much for your kindness and your wonderful package! Take care!

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Euro Blogging by Post 2

Tuesday, October 4th, 2005
This month I’m taking part in both Euro Blogging by Post 2 ( organized by Andrew at Spittoon)and Blogging by Mail 2 (organized by Samantha at The Samantha Files). For thoose of you who don’t know what it’s all about, it is basically two events where bloggers send each other food parcels. The first one is only for Europeans and the second one is open for everyone. I prepared and sent my food parcels 1.5 weeks ago and Joanna at Joanna’s Food received her EBBP parcel last week. I won’t write my recipient for BBM until I know that the parcel has reached it’s destination somewhere outside Europe.

Anyway, this morning I received a dispatch note from the post office!! Hurrah! I’ve really been waiting for my food parcels so I was so happy. It didn’t say any sender, just that the sending country was the Netherlands. So I almost ran to the post office to get my parcel. At home I finally got to open it, and it was just like Christmas! The parcel was sent by Taina aka Kitchen Queen Tai at Something’s Cooking. Thank you soooo much Taina!!! I love everything!!! She prepared a real thoughful “cat in the kitchen” parcel. Everything was so well-considered!!! She had even drawn a cat on the address label and the card where she had written about all the contents was a cute cat card, “A-Z of cats”.

So, here are the contents of the food parcel:

Lovely Strawberry honey jam, which is the fruity theme that Andrew suggested for this month. Taina wrote in the card that she had read that I looove strawberries and yes, that I do :-) And I definately love this jam as well. It’s the new flavour of the year, and I really hope that we get this stuff to Sweden as well! Mmmm, yummy! I tried it on homebaked dark bread that I baked yesterday and it was perfect!

This month we were supposed to send something seasonal, and Taina sent me Speculaas. Taina says that the Dutch eat these spiced cookies all autumn, awaiting Sinterklaas, which is a Dutch holiday on the 5th of December. I havn’t tried the large cookies yet, but I’m guessing that they probably taste a lot like Swedish Pepparkakor. But I’ll soon find out :-) (I’m really trying not to eat all the contents today…).

Next item I just loved, and I’m really trying to keep my hands of them: mini Stroopwafels. They are so delicous and I can’t stop eating them!!! Stroopwafels are caramel wafles and Taina says that they normally are as big as a coffe coaster. This mini variant is perfect (but I’m sure that the original size is that aswell).

Sweet Taina read that I like salmiak (liqourice) so she sent the cutest candy that I’ve ever seen. They are called Kattekoppen = Cat heads (!!) and they both look and taste really great!

Andrew wanted us to send something from our cupboard which the recipient then is supposed to use in a dish. I got an easy one: noodles. I really love the package!!!

Last but not least there was a mouse with cat nip (fabric, not a real one..) for Bowser, Yoshi and Tanuki!! Taina has 6 (!!!) cats, all Somali/Abussinian. My cats love their present. If they could say “thank you” I’m sure that they would. But on second thoughts cats are self-centred and would probably never thank anyone for anything :-)

Thank you so much Taina for being so considerate and kind, the parcel was wonderful and I was really lucky to get you as my sender. I love all the things and the mouse is so cute.

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