Blogging By Mail 2008: The Little Things

Way before i started this site of mine, i was reading food blogs. Enthralled as i was by the beautiful photos and chatty recipes of fresh, gorgeous dishes and cakes fresh out of the oven that made me just wanna take a bite of my computer screen, i always found myself looking forward most to the time of the year when annual Blogging by Mail event took place.

Shortly after the packages were sent out, food blogs everywhere would have posts showing off the beautiful packages they received. I loved looking and reading about all the interesting little things that had been put together with such thought, very much feeling the anticipation and excitement myself, and the whole idea of that people were sending out packages to others they barely knew and sharing part of themselves in the process.

So it probably is an understatement when i say that i was really excited when this year’s Blogging by Mail came round. I fired my details off to Stephanie, the lovely host of the event, changed my mind about all the little trinklets i would put in my package only about a million times (so many things, so limited space!), sent it off and eagerly awaited the arrival of my package.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, nothing came in the mail for me. And off i went to see the world, temporarily forgetting about that package. So imagine my surprise really when i came back from Melbourne and found out that not one but two packages arrived from me.

A few emails later revealed that the sweet Stephanie asked a bunch of food bloggers if they were willing to send out packages to those that had participated in the event and had yet to receive their packages. As it turns out, my original parcel wasn’t quite lost in the mail like Stephanie and I thought- it just took a little time to find its way to me.

This was the first package i received, from the wonderful Rachel. With chocolates, lemon candies, gums and hot sauces, it was like Rachel was a woman after my heart. She even included a book on Chicago which gave me a real feel of what the city was like- it does seem like a gorgeous place to live in- and a wonderful letter detailing the items she included (click here to read a copy of it on her blog). I especially loved the really cute cupcake liners and stencils- i can’t wait to use them. Thanks so much Rachel for the really thoughtful package!

The other package, from the amazing Deb, came as a surprise in a surprise- not only was her parcel completely unexpected, many of the little items came wrapped in really cheery paper. I totally loved that element of surprise and really felt like a kid on the morning of Christmas day as i was unwrapping each item.

Every item i unwrapped had my jaw dropping. There were little jam and chocolate sauce bottles, beautiful patterned napkins, Hawianian salt and pineapple sugar. She even included a bar of coffee soap which i’ve started using and absolutely loved, packs of post, a Hawaiian dessert cookbook with a little pack of bookmark tabs. I was just really blown away by how thoughtful this package was. Thank you so much for the amazing package, Deb! I can’t wait to start using the Hawaiian salt and pineapple sugar.

Once again, thanks so much ladies for the wonderful packages- i truly felt like a kid on Christmas day. A huge thanks to Stephanie for organizing the event- it has been such fun!