It’s that time of month again…"Foodie Pen Pals" time!  I didn’t participate in January, so February was my first month back.  I actually got paired with a dud this month.  I sent my stuff to the lovely Crissy from near Las Vegas, who doesn’t have a blog.  I didn’t receive anything from the person I was supposed to, but Lindsay took pity on me and sent something my way!

All kinds of good stuff, including the blog-world-famous chia seeds, granola, almond butter, and in the plastic bag…chocolate covered almonds.  Those are gone.  WAY gone.

Thanks Lindsay!  I was thrilled to get this package!!

Wanna be part of foodie pen pals next month?  Here are the rules:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for March, please send  an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
–WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. – this is SUPER important so you get on the right list!

You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!

***PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, you WILL GET A RESPONSE within 48 hours. If you don”t….please re-send your email or contact Lindsay via Twitter (@LeanGrnBeanBlog). Last month we had a few emails get lost as spam so we’re trying to avoid that!

This month’s foodie penpal was from Erin.

Cute holiday "spreaders".  I want to use these on a cheese ball, but haven’t.

The chocolate is awesome, and the nut mix is delicious plain or on salad.  I had some of the hazelnut spread on wheat bread, which was a little weird, but not bad.  Probably would be better on plain or maybe pumpkin spice bread….

Sadly the mug didn’t make it in one piece, but it’s the thought that counts!

And a cute card!  Thanks Erin, you rock!

New to the program?  Here’s what foodie penpals is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. *US Residents only please at this time- hopefully we can expand soon!*

If you’re interested in participating for January, please send  an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)

I sent my goodies to Sarah at the Smart Kitchen this month—go read about what I sent!

On another gift note:  I participated in a blogger gift exchange sponsored by Jill at Run with Jill.

Here’s what Nina at run (dance) love sent me.  Gu, feetures socks, a little necklace, and some other stuff.  Awesome!!  Thanks so much :)  I sent some goodies to Elizabeth at Running for Bling.  It was fun to participate this month!

Don’t get married right after the holidays unless you are okay with being a few pounds heavier than the previous month.  Or if you have better will power than me…which is possible, but unlikely. 

I’m okay with it half the time (the time I continue to eat) and the other half of the time I’m beating myself up.  I realized today that I’m now at a point where things are how they will be on Monday, and I THINK I’m okay with that.  For instance, I may weight three more pounds than I did pre-Thanksgiving.  I can still wear all my clothes, so that’s not a problem.  I never was able to quit biting my fingers and fingernails.  Did I try?  Not terribly hard, but nonetheless, my fingers are going to be gross for my wedding day.  Oh well.  I still have faint sports bra tanlines too, and I tried to get rid of those.  At least my skin (especially my face!) looks awesome, my hair is shiny and healthy, and my arms have never been more muscular.  Sure, a few less pounds would have made them look better, but I think it’ll do. 

So do I fast for the next three days, or plan menus which involve mac and cheese and wine?  I think we all know the answer.  We’ll just say I’ve purchased the ingredients to serve mac and cheese on New Year’s Eve, and tonight will definitely involve at least one glass of wine. 

I have been continuing to kick my butt (and get my butt kicked) at the gym and running outside (thank goodness for lovely weather), and I’m still making every effort to eat lots of fruits and vegetables.  I’m just not quite able to kick my cookie habit.  I think that’ll just have to wait until we return home from the cruise, and then the pressure will be off, and I’ll have plenty of time to just relax and get back to my weight goals.  (By relax I mean teach ridiculous amounts of children, but I think you get the point—no wedding to plan, no wedding pressure). 

How about you?  How’s the holiday weight gain treated you?

Last night Chris and I went to Niche for dinner.  Since we aren’t exchanging gifts this year we wanted to treat ourselves to a nice dinner instead.  We had gone one time before—on Chris’s 30th birthday and it had been fantastic, so we were really looking forward to our dinner.

We decided to splurge and try the Chef’s tasting menu.  Our friends had been the week before to celebrate a birthday, and they highly recommended it.  If you want to do the tasting menu, they ask that all members of the party do so, though if you have dietary restrictions they are happy to accommodate. 

We decided against the wine pairing—neither Chris nor I like white wines, and I don’t care for dessert wines or port either, so it didn’t seem like the best idea.  We saw other diners doing the pairing, and I’m sure it’s great if you are open to all different kinds of wine.

Chris looking very handsome!

I was not quite ready for this picture.  However, we noticed that people were giving us funny looks so we stopped taking pictures—Chris was embarrassed. 

So, I turned off the flash for the food pictures—I didn’t want people to stare and make Chris feel uncomfortable.  Yet, the food was so beautiful I wanted to take pictures! 

This is in a little eggshell!  It was great—weird, but delicious.  (Maple Custard)

Lobster:  Possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten.  Our friends raved about this one as well.  Laura:  I need you to recreate this at home and invite us over.  Seriously.  THIS is what I am thinking about today.

Scallops, very tasty!  Next came a sorbet—I didn’t bother to photograph it as it looked like a small scoop of sorbet. 

Steak.  Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.

And the grand finale, bread pudding!  The things on the side are the marshmallows.

All in all it was a fantastic meal!  We will return in a few years, or who knows, maybe next year for our first anniversary?

After dinner we decided to drive over to Frazer’s to cap off the evening and meet up with a friend.  My trainer Mike works there (as a server, not a trainer) and we were able to chat with him as well.  It was a fun evening!

Chris kept commenting on how shiny I was.  I guess the dress is pretty shiny, and the earrings too.  Whatever, it’s the holidays!  I’m supposed to shine, right?

I was thinking about how last night’s meal fit into my top restaurant meals ever.  Other top meals:  Capital City Club restaurant when I was in high school (I think that’s what it was called—it was my first fancy restaurant meal ever and I still dream about the caesar salad), Lola in Cleveland, and well, perhaps, our first time at Niche!  Chris wanted to add the steak house "Craft Steakhouse" that he went to this summer in Vegas with his friends as one of his top favorites.

What are some of your all-time-favorite meals out?