My Euro Blogging by Post parcel was sent by the lovely Zsofia of Chili & Vanilia and contained a spread of international delights, as Zsofia comes from Hungary but lives in Belgium.
The packet of spice is Hungarian paprika to make goulash - there is an authentic recipe for it in English on her blog (she usually posts in Hungarian) which I will definitely have to try. My housemate Tanya makes a wonderful Czech ghoulash occasionally and I absolutely love the dish, so it will be interesting to see the differences. Zsofia also included a spicy Hungarian Mangalica sausage from a farmers' market, made of organic pork meat. It didn't last more than a day and was truly scrumptious.
There was an assortment of best quality Belgian chocolates - three I hadn't tried before. Galler's White chocolate with Cointreau filling and Dark chocolate with Hazelnut filling were both divine - smooth chocolate and beautifully balanced praline. Yum. The Cafe-Tasse Noir Poivre de Szechauan I'm keeping for a special occasion as I love pepper chocolate. Pierre Marcolini is my favorite chocolatier (myself and some other bloggers went to a tasting night at his Kensington store which was both educational and delicious, but we all very lazily never got around to writing it up), so I'm looking forward to trying the bar of Pure Origine Equateur.
From Zsofia's recent trip to New York, I also got a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which are one of those sweets you either love or hate. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I really can't stand them at all - but fear not! my housemates like them so they shall still be appreciated.
No sojourn to the Big Apple is complete without consuming a few bagels and as she couldn't send hot freshly baked bagels, Zsofia sent a recipe book of bagels and spreads, "The Best Bagels are made at home" by Dona Z. Meilach. Skimming through it definitely makes my mouth water - time to learn a new cooking technique I think.
It was a wonderful parcel that I've enjoyed and will continue to enjoy - thank you very much Zsofia!
I'm with you babe on the peanut butter cups.. why ruin chocolate that way? but the rest of the food parcel sounds mag! Free food? How do I sign up for this? lol
Posted by: Alex | Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 10:08 PM
Dear Christina, I'm glad you enjoyed most of the items..I'm sorry for those pbcups, let's say those were meant for Tanya. Next time I send you the double amount of the sausage, OK?:)
cheers,Zsofi
Posted by: zsofi | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 04:56 PM
Zsofi - No need to apologise! They will still be appreciated! [smile] Though, hey, if you want to send me double sausage I'm definitely not going to complain! ;-D
Alex - start foodblogging girl. :-D
Posted by: Christina | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 05:15 PM
Reese's are great junk food. But, I am an American, and we seem quite attached to our peanut butter, so I reach that others don't get it.
But that bagels book--now that is definately a goodie to dive into! My father in law is making bagels these days, which means he went through an obsessive process of testing recipes and tweaking with them until he got what he decided was the perfect bagel.
Being as he is Jewish--he is picky about bagels. I can't wait to try them the next time we visit....
Posted by: Barbara Fisher | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 10:25 PM
I just really hate the combination of chocolate and peanut and the texture of it. [shudders] Oddly enough I'm a huge peanut and peanut butter fan otherwise!
Ah, sounds wonderful! I've only had them a few times but I do like them a lot.
Posted by: Christina | Thursday, March 30, 2006 at 03:55 PM
the parsley/walnut pesto you sent me for ebbp#4 is so incredible, i had some friends over today and they tried it as well - they asked me for a recipe!
i have never made pesto myself before - so i don't have a clue about the proportion of the ingredients ... are you willing to share this one with me?
Posted by: gerda | Sunday, April 02, 2006 at 07:00 PM