VeganMoFo 2019 #30: Care Packages From Around The World

Welcome to the penultimate day of MoFo 2019!

Earlier this year, Dim Sim was having a really rough time with a lot of urinary issues, as well as a seizure, and I was so stressed and really struggling more than I normally struggle. My mental health isn't the greatest - I have significant depression and anxiety - and Dim Sim is my everything. When she is unwell, I really struggle extra hard.

So when I got home one day to a beautiful care package from my lovely friend Jojo, I cried a little. Fizzy dino lollies (excellent for my renewed dinosaur and Jurassic Park love), chocolate, stickers, an awesome pin (she said it was a magic Dim Sim), and such a cute postcard. Oh, my heart. I have been lucky enough to meet Jojo and her partner Nick a few times. We spent some time hanging out at VidaVeganCon in Austin, but also they spent some time working at an animal rescue near Brisbane a couple of years ago, so we got to hang out and eat food and have fun then as well.



A little while later, I also got a surprise package from my friends Sarra and Mike, who live in Seattle. Despite visiting Seattle a number of times, we didn't connect until after my last visit there, so I have never met them in person - yet. But I know one day I'll be with them, enjoying one of their famous back movies and junk food nights, and that is definitely something to look forward to. This package had loads of savoury snacks (I was so excited about those Pizza Chips, they were amazing!), some sweets, a couple of things for Dim Sim, and some cute little fun figurines. Also another very awesome postcard.





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Thankfully Dim Sim has been doing better lately. She is so precious, and I really need her to be well! Her favourite 'bed' is not really a cat bed at all, but a bed she has made for herself. We call it her Chair Cave. We have a chair in our sunroom, and she likes to sleep on it but underneath a blanked draped over the top. If anyone else sits there, she gets miffed! Here she is, snuggled in and looking a bit put out to over this intrusion to her privacy.

VeganMoFo 2019 #26: X is for Xocolatl

X was always going to be a bit tricky. But thanks to Google, there is this handy list of foods that start with X. I decided to take the easiest option, and go with Xocolatl. From that webpage 'the English word chocolate is derived from the Spanish word for it, which was derived from the Aztec language Nahuatl. In Mexican pre-Hispanic traditions, the Aztecs prized cacao beans and used them as currency as well as food for the upper classmen. They transformed cacao into a beverage called Xocolatl, which later came to be known as "chocolate.'

Earlier this year, I did a package swap with a friend who lives in Philadelphia. I put together a fun package, the regular size for package swaps, to send to her. But then... oh my gosh... I got sent the biggest box of goodies I have ever received. I was amazed! And inside, it was full of chocolate! Also some other cute stuff like pins, stickers, lip balm, and more... oh my! Anyway, if you don't believe me how much chocolate was inside this box, behold!



Yeah, it is bounty of chocolate. And strangely, I haven't eaten that much of it. Almost like I was too overwhelmed by the sheer amount... where to begin? You will be proud to know that I have overcome this, and have started sampling my way through. Let's take a closer look!

A big theme of the package was Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, which are my dessert island food. I love these so much! She sent a few bags of the minis, and also included a bag of these Unreal mini cripsy PB cups. I'd seen Food For Dissertating post about them, and I was curious to see how they measured up. I am super picky about my peanut butter cups. Verdict: I really like them! The chocolate is good and dark, I like the salty crispy peanut butter filling. Justin's is still my number one, but these are not far off.



I love Little Secrets, they are so crunchy and fun! I have tried the regular ones, and the salted peanut ones. So far the salted peanut ones are my favourite! But I still have the almond ones to try.



I also got a hefty stash of original sized Justin's PB cups, as well as some of their cashew and almond butter ones to try. I haven't tried any of the non PB ones yet, but I am looking forward to trying them!



I don't know how I haven't tried any of the Little Secrets Crispy Wafers yet, I was so excited to get them! I imagine they will be like Kit Kats? Who knows. I need to get onto eating some, for research! I love the Peanut Chews, they are salty and peanutty and chewy and chocolatey. The eggs are some peanut butter filled easter eggs. The chocolate was a bit thick in these, I like a good peanut butter to chocolate ratio.



I haven't tried any of these yet. These are all new to me brands! I am especially looking forward to that 95% Wicked Dark one. I hope it is really dark. Blog friends know I like my chocolate dark, angry, and bitter with the world.







Theo is one of my favourite brands, plus it is from Seattle! I have had the cherry almond chocolate before and it is one of my favourite flavours of theirs. The peanut butter cups are OK, they are definitely third behind Justin's and Unreal. The peanut butter just isn't strong enough in the chocolate for my preferences.



And finally, I told Amanda that I was amused by ridiculous things. And boy did she deliver with this block! As often with ridiculous things, the flavour isn't quite as ridiculous as the description. This tastes like a caramelised banana chocolate, with some crunchy bits in it (which seem to be the charcoal coconut, but they don't add much flavour). Anyway, it is really nice, as well as funny.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



In happier clinic cat news, sweet Jed continues to be happy, healthy, and adorable. Here he is in one of his many beds.

VeganMoFo 2016 #30: Package Swap with Cadry from Cadry's Kitchen

30th: Food Gifts – Do you like to give food as a gift? Or receive? Show/tell us!

Why yes, I love giving and receiving food as a gift! Sometimes it can just be something little, or something from somewhere exciting. Other times it can be a big box of goodies! I love participating in package swaps, where you get to experience the joy of both giving and receiving a fun food box! Back in July (so long ago, I have been remiss in taking so long to post it, but it works well with the prompt), I did a package swap with the wonderful Cadry from Cadry's Kitchen.

I was so excited to actually meet Cadry at VidaVeganCon last year. Here we are!



But you all want to know what was in the box, right? Well, so many good things! For starters, when I opened the box everything was actually tucked snug inside this fantastic Fruity Oaty Bars lunchbox. My old lunch box is falling apart, so this was timely!



Within the box, there was a letter, a package, and a cute Iowa postcard. Iowa is were Riley Finn comes from in Buffy, but most importantly it is where Cadry lives!



Behold the insides of the box! Photo credit here goes to Cadry. And yes, that is an adorable pack of vegetable-shaped erasers in a little grocery bag up in the top right corner.



Lots of chocolate, which I approve of. Including my most favourite and beloved Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. I am obsessed with these, they are the only peanut butter cups worth eating in my opinion. There was also some delicious Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Almond and Cranberries, which passed my very specific dark chocolate requirements (nice and rich, not too sweet). Some Peanut Butter Nonos, which were great (I had some earlier in the year that I brought in Australia and they were weirdly bitter, but these ones had none of that). And some Dark Chocolate Little Secrets. If you haven't heard, Little Secrets are blowing minds as the best vegan M&Ms around. They also have some fun flavoured ones (though not all of them are vegan, so check before you much). These lived up to the hype, they were great!



Sitting just under the erasers in the photo is a little bubble-wrapped jar of locally made strawberry and rhubarb jam. I love that Cadry sent such a local product, though I am sad that I can't get it here because it was great. The perfect blend of sweet and tart. Strawberry jam is my favourite jam, but the added rhubarb component made it even better. I enjoyed it over crumpets.



Also included was some locally made pasta. I was really excited to try this, because it was definitely a cut above the normal dried pasta I got from the supermarket. For maximum deliciousness, I had to make Cadry's own Garlic Butter Noodles with Red Wine Mushrooms, which she also enjoys with this pasta. Mine does not look as pretty as the photo on her blog, but I bet it was just as delicious! This was so simple and so tasty, a perfect way to enjoy this pasta.



This was a wonderful package, full of sweet treats and local goodies that I enjoyed very much. Plus those erasers, almost too cute to use! And my nifty new lunch box. Thank you so much Cadry for such a fun box! You can see what I sent Cadry on her blog, here.

For more package swap fun, check out the one I did earlier in the year with Kimmy from Rock My Vegan Socks, which you can read all about here. Due to exorbitant prices charged by Australia Post for shipping, package swaps are something to be done sparingly. However, if you are an overseas buddy and would like to package swap, I am definitely open to it. :D

What's the best food package you've received?

And that is a wrap on VeganMoFo 2016! I hope you have enjoyed my posts, I have certainly enjoyed reading all of yours! Can we nap now?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This photo is from several years ago, of me giving Possum a hug. You can tell he is totally into it. Possum was almost 20 years old when he passed away. We had a very close relationship when he was growing up, though when I went away to uni for 9 years, he switched his allegiance to my parents. He lived with my three girls for his final years after I moved home, and dealt with going from an only cat to having three cousins with exceptional grace. He was the most handsome boy that was ever handsome.

Package Swap with Kimmy from Rock My Vegan Socks

Over the last several months I have been lucky enough to become good blogging buddies with the wonderful Kimmy from Rock My Vegan Socks. We got to know each other better when we interviewed each other for one of last year's MoFo challenges. Our blog friendship started just months after the last VidaVeganCon, which sadly meant that even though we were both there in Austin, we didn't know each other yet! So we haven't actually met in person, but I am pretty sure that one day we will.

Kimmy and I just recently did a package swap with each other. This is super exciting for me, because the US has so many amazing things that we just can't get here! I also had a lot of fun putting together a box for Kimmy, shopping around for local products that I hoped Kimmy would not have seen before.

The international postal service was actually fairy swift, and we were both in possession of our boxes not too long after posting. Of course, mine arrived while I was away for the week. When I got home I was so excited to open it up. It was in a pink postal bag (pink is my favourite!), and reaching into the bag and pulling out goodie after goodie... it was like a magical santa sack!



As you can see, Kimmy sent me a big range of exciting things to try. Most of which I had never heard of before! I have kept them in the pink postal bag they came in, and every now and then I just dip in and see what I pull out to have a little snack on. So much fun.

New things I have already ripped into:

• Living Intentions Gone Nuts Mequite Pod Maple Walnuts: I admit I am not a huge walnut fan, I often find them bitter. I am a huge maple fan, however. When I was younger in my pregan days I loved honey-roasted nuts, and I find maple nuts to be even better. So I was cautiously optimistic about these. Oh. My. Gosh. These are so incredible! The maple flavour is intense and there is absolutely no bitterness. I could eat the entire package in one sitting, but I am carefully portioning it out to maximise the number of times I can enjoy these.
• Go Raw Carrot Cake Sprouted Cookies: I love carrot cake everything so I was looking forward to these. They are fun! Itty bitty crunchy cookies with a lovely carrot, coconut and sesame flavour. They are sweetened with dates, but they are happily not too sweet. I have enjoyed a handful of these with a cup of tea in the afternoons.
• Barnana Chewy Banana Bites: I don't know why exactly, but I was super excited to try these. I was right to be. They are made from bananas and banana powder, and are yummy, chewy, creamy banana bites. Way better than any faux flavoured banana lolly.

Things I still have to try:

• Alternate Baking Company Lucious Lemon Poppyseed Cookie: I definitely know ABC cookies - they are some of my favourite! I haven't had this flavour before, but I do love lemon and poppyseed in general, so I know it will be good.
• Zouq Golden Lentils: Pretty psyched to try this savoury snack. I think they would be super great as a crunchy salad topper.
• Turbana Plantain Chips: I can get plantains here, but I haven't had plantain chips before.
• Righteously Raw Bite-Sized Chocolates Maca and Divine Mint flavours: I can see these being a handy afternoon chocolate snack. I am particularly interested in what the maca flavour will be like.
• Tropical Blend Crunch Dried Fruit: Crunchy, fruity goodness sounds great to me. I think this will be great for a snack but also to put on top of my overnight oats or smoothie bowls.
• Eat Pastry GF Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix: I have heard good things about Eat Pastry's mixes in the past, so I am keen to try one out.
• The Good Bean Crispy Crunchy Chickpeas: More fun snacks and salad toppers.

Things I have tried before:

• Go Max Go Jokerz Bar: My favourite of their range!
• Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg Sachet: I actually was lucky enough to get a packet of vegan egg from another friend as well (it is not available in Australia), and I think it is going to be a super fun thing to play with, so I am happy to have a bit more to add to my stash.
• Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup: Kimmy knows the way to my heart is with one of my favourite ever things in the world. *swoon*

A pretty exciting stash! She also sent a beautiful card.

I am so thankful to Kimmy for this wonderful package! Kimmy will also be posting what I sent her over on her blog. I will include the link here when she posts it, but better yet just go follow her blog (if you don't already!) and you can see when she puts it up as well as read all her other great posts.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim has excellent loaf style.

Cook.Vegan.Lover Package Swap 2011

This year I took part in the annual Cook.Vegan.Lover package swap, and I was matched with Amanda from karMama.


I was very excited to receive a little box filled with goodies. Amanda is from NB in Canada, and sent me some exciting local goodies. This included some sweet potato chips (which were delicious... they are better than the sweet potato chips we get here), some amazing blueberry tea (so good, I can't wait to ice it as well for summer!), some dried cranberries (they are awaiting their fate) and some maple candy (I was so excited to try this!), as well as a really cute little place mat called a Mug Rug, some stickers and some lovely prints made by Amanda herself.

Thank you Amanda! It is wonderful to find a swap buddy who is willing to post to the other end of the earth.

I must apologise for being horrendously late posting this, it was meant to be up by the 21st of October! However thanks to the international postage system, I received my package in late October and was in full MoFo engulfment, and then it was my 30th birthday. That's right, I am now 30! I celebrated with several food related activities, you will be very happy to know, and I'll be popping up some blog posts for that soon!

Have you taken part in a package swap before?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


My Gizmo's paw, holding on to her tail. Squeee.

Welcome back blog!

I have returned after a random and rather lengthy break from blogging. I cannot be sure why I was not, I just wasn't. Part of it may have been a recent change in my job structure. I used to do a 30 hour week with three nights on call, which sucked the big one after doing it for two years! But now I am FREE! Oh yes, I am just your regular 38-hour-a-week with no on-call vet. WOOT! Surely this should mean more time for blogging? Well, there has been some adjusting to working several very long days in a row... equally a tired Susan. A tired but happy Susan. And now I am pretty much adapted to my happy new work life, so here I am! Even though I have been away from blogging, I have still been very busy cooking, baking, taking food photos and - of course - eating!

A while ago (a very long while ago) I took part in a package swap organised by Cooking For A Vegan Lover. My partner was the only other Australian to take part, the lovely Mandee of Cupcake Kitteh. This is the fantastic package she sent me (which was received about five or six weeks ago... oops for being so late in posting about it)...


Check out this fantastic haul! Potato chips, beetroot chips, flax corn chips, sesame crackers, tamari almonds, salts, tapenades, spice blends, chutneys and some delicious homemade cookies! Schmoy, what a spoilt girl was I! I had mentioned to Mandee that I generally prefer snacking on savoury rather than sweet - and she certainly delivered! Totally amazing. :D


Plus as an added bonus, some adorable kitty and cupcake stickers, because she knows I like to scrapbook.

What a great package - thank you so much Mandee. :D I am still enjoying many snackages from it. Anyone who gets Mandee in a swap is going to be very happy indeed!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


My beloved Sahara, demonstrating her favourite hugging position, the bear hug. This has earned her the nickname Bear. Just be sure you have something covering your skin - those claws are razor sharp and she loves to really happy paws the heck out of your shoulder. Which is sweet, but painful. ;)

And now I must go and feed the above cat and her sisters, for Sahara has been pracing across the keyboard and smooshing into my face for the last 20 minutes to remind me it is indeed her dinner time. As if I could ever forget. ;)

I have so many photos to catch up on, so expect some pretty food photo heavy posts coming up soon!

Now, I just have to tackle Google Reader, which I have also been shunning for the last several weeks... eeep, I say. ;)