Wednesday, August 25, 2010

When I first moved here, American foods were virtually non-existent. With time, one by one, my grocery store began to carry a few life support items, to the annoyance of the general population but to the elation of one bi-cultural shopper.

The first life raft? Cheddar cheese! I'll never forget the day the lady in the milk section pulled me aside... "I got this in just for you... but people are in a stir over it! They say we have enough good cheese in Switzerland without importing gross cheese like this. But I'm going to keep it in stock for you!"

We ate so much of it my kids don't like it anymore. But not to fear, the next item was even better... oreos. Oh! Just saying the word evokes a deep feeling of reverence. The Russian often comes home with four or five boxes for me (they're as expensive as gold!), and we eat them dunked in milk (the kids would tell you that I do most of the eating. hmmm).

And then there was the day that rice crispies appeared on the shelves. But alas...no marshmallows. My friends, I have waited for seventeen years to see marshmallows in the stores. I have brought them back smashed in my suitcase from the US, I have ordered them online for ten dollars a bag, I have begged family and friends to ship them to me, but this summer... oh this summer! I walked into my grocery store only to behold a gigantic pile of marshmallows on display. I nearly cried. Really!



And today... we are having rice crispie treats just like they used to make 'em for potluck dinners and birthday parties; they'd always be placed alongside the jell-o moulds and marshmallow salad (who ever named that a salad, anyway?).



If any of my European friends want the recipe for this, do let me know! You can get everything you need at Migros. yay!

4 comments:

Evi said...

Merci, merci, la recette de cette cochonnerie tu me l'as déjà donnée il y a fort longtemps et tu ne croiras pas, il y a dix jours seulement que j'en ai fait pour la première fois :)
Et comme c'est moi qui vérifiait si s'était bien refroidi et que je me trouvait toujours à nouveau à la cuisine (ne me demande pas pourquoi), eh bien, c'est moi qui ai mangé plus de la moitié. C'était bon, mais trop aussi. Je crois que la prochaine fois que j'en mangerai ce sera chez toi parce que c'est meilleur... il y a comme quelquechose de "american spirit" ;) Mmh...

Costea Andrea Mihai said...

my wife make's wonderful marshmallows :)

Southern Lady said...

That is so funny! I can't imagine moving to another country and trying to make some of the dishes that we are used to here. When I traveled to Greece and Italy I loved browsing through the stores and markets to see what ingredients I would have to do without if I lived there. Carla

penny said...

Hi Allison,
This is a delightful tale of how priceless the simple things in life really are. We take so many things for granted and only miss them when they are out of our reach.
I'm glad you are able to have a few tasty treats back in you life, especially Oreos!..yum ;) they are my favorites too.