A Marshmallow World

Our turkey (click here for yesterday's post) arrives tomorrow. With all that extra weight, it's finding it difficult to get airborne.

One of San Geraldo's family's traditional holiday dishes is their version of cranberry salad. I'll share the recipe later.

The recipe requires about six cups of cranberries. In past years in Spain, San Geraldo found containers of tiny cranberries for huge prices. About one cup of little cranberries for about €7. The price of that side dish would be too steep even by San Geraldo's standards.

This year, during a visit to Ana Crespillo's fruit market, San Geraldo discovered big bags of cranberries. Ocean Spray (the brand we always bought) from Massachusetts. They were less than €3 a bag, so he immediately grabbed two.

Given that the recipe comes from South Dakota, one of the ingredients is, of course, marshmallows. (It's a wonder they don't stuff their holiday turkeys with them!) Marshmallows are not a common ingredient around here. So, after San Geraldo struck out in his search, I decided to see if I had any better luck. I didn't find any in the first store I tried.

Store #2
I searched the shelves and then asked a cashier.  The conversation, all in Spanish, went like this:

"Hi. Do you have malvaviscos?"

Her eyes opened wide, she threw back her head, and said, "What?!?"

I told her they were called marshmallows in English.

"What are they?" she asked.

I explained that they were made of mostly sugar. They were white, usually. They could be little or large (hand gestures). And they were soft... "Like little pillows."

Her eyes grew even wider, "!Qué maravilloso! [how marvelous]," she exclaimed.


If At First You Don't...
I decided to give it one more try in the last store on the street.

"Hi. Do you have malvaviscos? They're called marshmallows in English."

The cashier said, "I've never heard of that."

So I repeated my description. "They're made of mostly sugar. They're usually white. They can be little or large (hand gestures). And they're soft... Like little pillows."

She gasped, "!Qué maravilloso!"

Later in the day, San Geraldo finally found a British version (very large and very pink) that will do in a pinch. But Judyshannonstreetwhat (click here) flies in from Seattle Christmas Day and I've asked her to bring a bag of mini-marshmallows if she can.

Then I'll have to head back to both stores so the women can sample our marshmallow world.