“I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.”  – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I’ve always loved traveling and exploring cities both in the US and around the world. I was born on the East Coast, but traveled and lived on the West Coast for many years only to return to the East Coast again.

There is a sense of joy in loving wherever you are, however, there are certain qualities each city has that one may become nostalgic for, whether it’s the transcendent skyline with the Golden Gate Bridge in SF or the excitement of New York’s Times Square. So often, it’s the food that you miss, the smells and unique flavors – the New York poppyseed bagels, the SF sourdough bread. Sometimes, like Proust’s madeleine, just one bite and sweet memories come flooding back like a waterfall.

And sometimes, by opening a package, you can get a taste of a city you’ve never been to that gives you the sense of being there. I found all this and more with GothamBox.

I got to sample the San Francisco Box and I loved it! It came in a big brown box and unwrapping it was like a mini-Christmas. I have really missed SF!

Here is my SF box! I was super-excited to open it. It was full of goodies.

Here is a picture close-up:

Inside?

Nana Joes Granola: Nana Joes Granola was created by Michelle Pusateri from locally sourced ingredients to evoke the taste of granola that was made in your own kitchen. Nana Joes combines the perfect balance of ingredients with natural flavors to create a truly delicious granola.

I’ve eaten granola for years and this is really a special blend with just the right combination of flavors – All granola blends are made using the finest organic ingredients. Mine was the Sunset Blend with Pecan, Mulberry and Coconut – unbelievably good!

Coco Tutti:  CocoTutti creates wonderful award-winning small-batch chocolates using the finest ingredients and masterful artistry.

These were beautifully packaged, melt-in-your-mouth creamy with a great mix of flavors. Very unique and meant to savor. Delightful decadence.

 The Chai Cart: The Chai Cart has its roots in San Francisco’s street-food culture. The Chai Cart’s mission is to provide the same wholesome goodness of chai that’s enjoyed across India everyday by using high quality, pure ingredients in small batches.

 I got two lovely packages. One with Masala Chai and one with Mint Chai. The Masala Chai is their signature blend with cardamom and ginger and it transported me back to days at the ashram waking at 3 am and being greeted with a hot mug of Chai. It was so genuine and delicious. It was wonderful with milk and a bit of sugar.

The Mint is a delicious herbal blend with mint, ginger and lemongrass. Very fresh and intoxicating.

 La Palma: La Palma has been serving tortillas for over 50 years. Located in the heart of the Mission, La Palma uses the freshest ingredients to produce the finest machine and handmade Mexican tortillas, tamales, pupusas and sopes.

An ex-boyfriend of mine taught me how to make wonderful tortilla creations, and these were so delicious, you could even eat them plain, but browned up and with veggies, cilantro and guacamole they were heavenly.

Oh, and there were Peeps inside! How fun! And also, a wonderful hand-written postcard of SF and the Golden Gate Bridge.

At $20 a month, this is a whole lot cheaper than a plane ride to SF and an incredible treat.

Today, I received my NYC box! 

I opened it and immediately this incredible scent filled my room. The most fragrant coffee smell! Heartbreaker Espresso with Cherry Blossom, Marzipan and Tangerine roasted fresh at Cafe Grumpy! I ground the beans and then my kitchen smelled amazing. The taste is really fresh, rich and wonderful and it kept me going throughout a hectic day.

Cafe Grumpy roasts premium coffee daily and manages to stay in front of the quality curve by sourcing their coffee directly from farmers in Central and South America and roasting the beans themselves in their Greenpoint, Brooklyn roastery. The coffee is packaged in sealed valve bags.

 Next, Roni-Sue’s Beercorn. This is beer & pretzel caramel corn with candied mustard seeds and I can honestly say I’ve never tasted better. What an amazing combination of savory and sweet, with locally grown popcorn, Martins Pretzels, cultured butter, pure cane sugar, agave, Brooklyn Brewery beer syrup, malt syrup, sea salt ad mustard seeds. 

Warning: Extremely addictive! Hide this or it will be gone asap!

Rhonda Kave has been making chocolate and snacks for over 25 years. She’s applied that experience in crafting this BeerCorn: The perfect snack for brew lovers and a favorite treat at Good Beer NYC!  

And… Rescue Chocolates. From each chocolate purchased, 100% of the net profits are donated to animal rescue organizations around the country. How sweet is that? My bar was the Peanut Butter Pit Bull flavor. It was very tasty with crispy peanut butter and dark 64% chocolate. 

 All Rescue Chocolate is 100% vegan and every flavor highlights a different rescue issue on the packaging. 

I also got a hand-written postcard of a gorgeous skyline in Downtown New York.

So, you’re probably wondering how you can get your own Gotham Box, a monthly carefully-selected box from local businesses in the “Gotham” (or city) you choose. Right now, the cities available are New York and San Francisco, and they are expanding to include others. You can switch up your cities or stick to one if you subscribe for only $20/month. And, you get full-sizes, not samples, with shipping included. 

Here’s one of the coolest parts: For every box sent, they donate a meal to feed someone in the community, so, yes, paying it forward which creates more abundance and joy overall.

It’s really quite fascinating as to how GothamBox came about so my next blog piece will be a guest post from Jonathan Chin, the co-founder and “Mayor of Gotham City”. You can find that here.

But, you may be wondering how you can get in on all these goodies. And, yes, every month will be new delights! You can sign up at GothamBox.

You can also connect with GothamBox and follow the latest news and fun on Facebook and Twitter.

And, a bit more good news! Just come back here on May 1st for the amazing Mother’s Day event we’re having since GothamBox is one of my sponsors and has generously offered a prize package containing a 2 month subscription to GothamBox including a box from SF and a box from NYC.

Lots of surprises in store! Don’t miss it!

 PS: I’ll be signing up for sure! Beauty boxes are fun and all, but this is truly nirvana.