30 Days of Gratitude Day 18 - Food Swaps

I know I have mentioned this before but one of the coolest food events that I attend roughly once a month is the ATXSwappers food swap. I've met some really good friends through this group and always, always come home with a basket of unique and delicious homemade goods. It's because of this that I jumped at the opportunity this past November to be a part of a super-cool food blogger swap set up by Jodi Bart of Tasty Touring, a friend and fellow Austin-based food blogger. She asked members of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance if they were interested in swapping with local Boston food bloggers. She then set those of us that were interested up with a swap partner in Boston. I could not have been set up with a cooler, hipper blogger. Pam from Cave Cibum has good taste and this is how I know – she is a regular shopper at Trader Joe's, something I used to do weekly in California ten-plus years ago and now only get occasionally when my husband goes on business trips. She loves to read and in fact, she actually has three blogs and works in a book store. You can check out her reading blog here. It's funny, between the two of us and only exchanging a couple of e-mails, we somehow basically put the same types of items in our swap boxes. She sent local honey, I sent local honey. She sent local chocolate, I sent local chocolate. She sent a copy of Edible Boston and I sent a copy of Edible Austin. I swear, neither of us knew what we were putting in each other's package. I think this is just how food lovers think. We only need to know preferences and allergies and we can pretty much take off with the task from there. So tonight, as I am continuing to munch on some of the local Boston goodies from Pam, I am grateful for the opportunity to trade food and to meet new friends. Or maybe I should instead simply say I'm grateful for a food blogger's version of a pen pal, the food pal... I'm jus' sayin'!