Blogging by Mail!

I was up pretty early this morning seeing as the clocks have gone back an hour. As I was padding round the flat in my dressing gown, the doorbell rang. Not a usual occurrence at 7am! When I opened it I was greeted by the postman who (slightly alarmed at my state of undress) handed me my blogging by mail parcel from Greg in New York!

Blogging by Mail is a terrific event organised by Stephanie over at Dispensing Happiness.

As you can imagine, I almost snatched the parcel from the postman's hands, so eager was I to get a look inside. I LOVE receiving parcels and Greg from Oatmeal Cookie Guy had selected a fantastic assortment of goodies for me. Thank you so much!


Upon opening the box, I saw a tempting packet of garlic bagel chips poking out from beneath the packaging. These will be a great pre-dinner snack next time I have people over (...then again, maybe I won't be able to wait until then). There was also a letter from Greg explaining his choices and how he'd gone for a New York City theme within the box.

It is clear that Greg is, in fact, a mind-reader. Despite having never met me, he seems to know instinctively that I have a trip to NYC planned for early next year. His box of treats could therefore not have been more appropriate!

Want to see what was inside?

Here we go....


Just look at all that great stuff. First up, and what you can't really see, is a nice little T-shirt from The Doughnut Plant. I'm already in love with this place and simply HAVE to visit when I go. Those people at The Doughnut Plant are clever people too - the T-shirt is size small. I am far from size small (too much Food, Glorious Food, don't you know)but the T-shirt is plenty big enough. Those doughnut tree folk have realised that their doughnut-loving clients may not be that 'small' either but if they can get into a 'small'-sized shirt then they'll feel good about themselves and feel they can get away with eating more doughnuts. Cunning hey?

To help me seek out this heavenly-sounding doughnut emporium, Greg has handily included a map of NYC. This will come in super handy for my visit. He's also sent a Zagat guide of the city's restaurants. I use this guide for London restaurants too so am familiar with the format and am sure it will be indispensable next year. I also love the inclusion of New York magazine - like Greg, I think you can learn a lot about a place from reading the local press. The property pages caught my eye - seeing how prices compare to London is interesting.

Next we have a great-looking cookie. I've heard about New York black and white cookies but haven't tried one before. Normally I would have dived straight in, but it is still early... I'll wait until after breakfast I think!

Talking of typical New York foods (and breakfast, for that matter), I also got an authentic bagel! I absolutely adore bagels, especially filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese. I plan to eat literally hundreds of bagels during my trip.


I also got some violet candies which smell just like the violet creams we used to have at Christmas when I was little.

Greg also sent me his favourite CD. I haven't heard of the band Hem but I've been listening to the CD since the parcel arrived and it is lovely. Their music has a melodic, almost lullaby-like quality with hints of a folky-country sound. That makes no sense - a music journalist I am not! You'll just have to get the CD and have a listen. Great to be introduced to a new band though - thanks, Greg.

Finally, Greg sent me a scratch card with a chance to win $1000 a week for life. This was under the condition that if I won, I'd split the winnings with him.

So, did I win?

Let's see....


I'm afraid not! Never mind, maybe next time...

Thank you so much, Greg, for a fantastic NYC parcel full of fun goodies. And thank you to Stephanie for all the work that goes into organising this terrific event!

What about my parcel, you may ask... Well, it hit the post office this weekend (late, I'm sorry) and it is heading across the pond to San Francisco. Bonnie, hope you'll enjoy the contents as much as I'm enjoying mine...