this is my last post on this topic
the original question was

Is it true there are no marshmallows in Italy?

the family lives on an isolated farm NOT NEAR A CITY
there is no mother
I am taking the DH brownies to make with/for the kids.
ditto the marshmallows- something to do for fun

I did not ask about other suggestions, although you posters have taken it upon yourselves to give lots of ideas - some appropriate- some not.

I especially like the board game idea, although that's a tough one as they are (obviously) Italian

Fodors -informative and entertaining as usual,
thank you

I don't understand at all why you would take a packet mix? Italians sell divine pastries etc everywhere. What can the attraction possibly be for a packet mix? As for pancake mix, surely any self respecting cook would make a batter from scratch - it's very basic.

Ok, I'm not Italian, but if an American brought me a packet mix as a gift, I would think it was cheap and lazy!! I'm sure that if Italians wanted brownies they would make them from scratch.

Don't hit me, I'm just shellshocked!! I'm happy to be corrected, but still amazed!

bellalinda wrote: "this is my last post on this topic"

Umm...

How could you sign off on this without re-affirming that you are Canadian?

Canadian! Then let me correct my above post.

"- And if you still don't know, my Swiss kids love getting CANADIAN dollars. It's a novelty item that can always be exchanged at the local bank if desired."

Make it really special and make your own marshmallows! And if you're going to take a brownie mix, make it Ghiaradelli double fudge or something like that. THOSE are as good as homemade, and better than MY homemade!!

poor bellalinda,

we just won't let her thread rest even as she begs us to.

Have a wonderful trip to Italy next week whatever you bring!!

gruezi

>>Italians sell divine pastries etc everywhere.<<

Really? I live in Italy. There are few regions of Italy where the pastries could be called "divine" by any stretch of the imagination. I settle for edible sometimes if I need a sugar fix that bad.

Piemonte, Sicilia, Napoli (but not just beyond it), here and there in the Veneto. And every now and then a panificio that makes some family recipe, but not very often. In a few of the less popular Italians cities (Perugia, Torino, Genova, Milano) the Italians make memorable chocolate.

I have posted twice in this thread an exchange from another message board discussion about the reputation of Duncan Hines cake mix in Italy (and Europe in general). If Americans treasure imported brands from Italy, why can't Italians treasure imported brands from America?

By and large, Italians don't accept gifts with the secret thought the giver is cheap and lazy. Most of them know what poverty is, and sharing any food is considered generous, and taken in the spirit in which it is given. More to the point of bellalinda's thread, Italians are very realistic about children, and their childish pleasures. Toasting American marshmallows and making American brownies with the kids will be considered gracious behavior by the surrounding adults.

<<I am taking the DH brownies to make with/for the kids.
ditto the marshmallows- something to do for fun,>>

<<Ok, I'm not Italian, but if an American brought me a packet mix as a gift, I would think it was cheap and lazy!! I'm sure that if Italians wanted brownies they would make them from scratch.>>

Did you read Bellalinda's posts? Or Greuzli's? Zeppole's? Tuscanlifeedit's? How could you possibly "be sure" about what all Italians want? And once again, these are not gifts for adults, they are for the children.

I was taught to say "thank you" when I receive a gift whether I like it or not, as were my children and grandchildren. I cannot imagine anyone considering a gift as being "cheap and lazy" even if they may not like it much. That says more about the receiver than the giver.

well, I don't agree with that at all. There are lots of gifts that are cheap and lazy.

For example, let's say you are hosting foreign relatives in your lovely house for a week, providing many meals, giving them lots of local information and even being a tour guide a lot, etc. and as a hostess gift they stopped in a gas station and bought you a $1 air freshener for your car?

Would you truly not think that was cheap and lazy?

If you would, then it is really a matter of quibbling over what one's barrier is.

I personally would find it extremely odd if any houseguest of mine presented me with some prepackaged box cake mix from a grocery store as a hostess gift, and in poor taste. I don't know about lazy, it's just weird. Some candy for kids may be another store, but for adults, junk food and packaged mixes seem very odd hostess gifts to me, unless some relative has given you a shopping list of course.

I wouldn't say anything to them, of course, as I was raised to say thank you for any gift, but I would be thinking a $1 air freshener was cheap and lazy.

sigh... I really hope bellalinda has already boarded her plane...

g.

I really hope Bellindas host reads english, as the instructions on the box are in english ,, and apparently she expects the HOST to make them with the kids, NOT her.

Gee, as a busy mom I love it when people give me something to do with my kids,, especially when it will involve doing dishes, LOL

Here is a direct quote of what bellalinda said:

<i>I am taking the DH brownies to make with/for the kids. ditto the marshmallows- something to do for fun</i>

So I don't think she needs to have the instructions for the host.

gruezi

She'll need to have instructions from her hostess when she wants to use the oven and has to convert Farenheit into Celsius ......

ok
I'm back - it's just too hard to resist
not even 24 hours- I am weak!!

this for Padraig &amp; Pvoyageuse

In Canada we are celsius

this for bozama - the busy mom (Padraig, in Canada, we spell it mum) who doesn't have time to read the thread

there is no hostess, and there is no mom, and I will be doing the dishes

I'll dive in without reading the above posts. Either I take something small and obviously from my home city (Seattle being smoked salmon, coffee, chocolates, etc.) or I wait until I'm there and simply bring a bottle of wine or bouquet of flowers as is more local tradition.

bellalinda,

I'd like to bop a few of your responders over the head too...

I don't think I ever seen so many people with reading comprehension issues ever before in my entire year here on Fodor's.

gruezi

So, gruezi.... you're right...enough is enough.

Have you ever had Ben and Jerry's peanut butter ice cream with Peanut Butter cups? Even tho I live in NYC I'd kiss anybody who brought me that -

I have enjoyed and laughed through this whole thread. Take the brownies and marshmellows and throw some graham crackers and hershey's chocolate in a ziplock bag...I brought the s'mores makings (in my suitcase) for my cousins in Germany--it traveled fine--and they begged for more...
Enjoy your trip.

WEll Bellinda, we DO not spell &quot;mom&quot; , &quot;MUM&quot; here in Canada,, not at least in the last 46 years I've lived here, geesh, I don't know if I would talk about reading comprhension issues till you sort out your spelling issue.

Mum is a British term. Are you of British descent, that would explain perhaps your mistake.

I think most posts have been helpful .The thing with this type of board is most of us LIKE helping others, and yes, sometimes that means over helping them,, but you haven't come off as particularily gracious.

And dear, the way your post read &quot; I am taking the DH &quot; I thought it meant you were taking the brownie mix to GIVE to the DH for him to make with kids.. excuse my misunderstanding you,, you must be great with kids ,, all your patience and all....

Most everyone I know in Italy and France would not like mashmallows as it has so much unneeded ingredients and maple syrop was once my mistake. Three families didn't like it too sweet. But, theses families only eat fresh foods. I think the children would prefer t-shirts