| RobinKate & other swap buddies: I took a few more photos and finally uploaded them all. So first off, there's Robin's very nice note with pics of her beautiful children and her letter on top of the well traveled swap box - from Michigan to Vermont to California:
Robin's box contained all goodies from New England - look at the bounty she packed: Robin remembered that I like to bake so she included these awesome little yellow bowls for measuring out ingredients - just like Alton Brown :). This bounty pretty much covers breakfast, lunch, and two dinners! There's Robin's homemade blueberry jam with Cointreau & Drambie (yummmm), the cutest cutest corn bag filled with corn muffin mix - more to see on that further down :> ..., pumpernickel bread flour from King Arthur (can't wait to try my hand at making a loaf), Vermont Curry sauce mix with apples & honey, and Bove's vodka pasta sauce (hmmm, maybe I'm sensing a second theme here.....LOL!)
wait - there's more. Everyone knows that all good swap boxes from Vermont must contain maple syrup, so take a look at this: not only a big jug of maple syrup, but maple syrup vinegar, maple candied walnuts (which btw I love on salads). Here's a good picture of the corn muffin mix - is that the cutest? (still more on that below)
Then, Robin included a copy of one of her family's favorite cookbook Journey Around Cape Cod & Islands Cookbook. Robin, I will try Indian pudding - I've never made it before but I do remember it on the menu at Durgin Park at Fanuil Hall in Boston - I'm know homemade will be delicious. In the spirit of New England, we made clam chowder last night for dinner - just like the recipe in the book - it was so good!
This morning I just had to make the corn muffins:
Since this swap is all about imagination - have you ever read the Spenser novels by Robert Parker? The setting for the books takes place in New England and Spenser is a fellow who, among other interesting things, cooks and bakes for himself & his SO - in about every other book there's a couple paragraphs about his corn muffins. From the looks of these I'm thinking these must be as good as Spenser makes .......
There is more, so I'm going to list the rest; take a peek at the link below for more pictures: Candy jar for penny candy (son loves this!) - Robin tells me that this is what was in the wrapped bag from her posting "wow, shopping can be expensive" thread. Do you all remember that? Little did I know .... Cookie cutters in the shape of a cow and a house; I'm adding those to my collection. A King Arthur flour bowl scraper - yes, i'm always looking for my scraper so now I have two! Ice cube tray in the shape of apples - I'm trying those out now; I put them in the freezer yesterday. Robin - thank you very much for the best box; I really appreciate your thoughtfulness! Great swap! ann ps - I took sooo many pics but I wanted to make sure you could see that everything made it! |