A Little Bit of Spain

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My ex-daughter-in-law recently returned from a trip to Portugal and Spain, and she came home bearing gifts. Unfortunately, one of her suitcases was confiscated because she forgot to declare the items inside, an expensive lesson learned the hard way. Thankfully, she was able to keep a few things and shared one of them with me: traditional Spanish cookies called mantecados from the Monasterio de Santa Inés (the Santa Inés convent) in Seville. They’re sweet, similar to shortbread, and absolutely delicious. Across Spain, cloistered nuns bake these treats, and they’re especially associated with Christmas. She told me how the purchase works: the nuns use a torno, a wooden lazy Susan, so they never have direct contact with visitors. You ring a buzzer, speak through the wall, place your money on the torno, and it turns back around with the cookies or pastries you ordered. I find that fascinating. Spain is on my bucket list. I’d love to go during the famous tomato-throwing festival, La Tomatina, and also visit cloistered nuns in Seville and Madrid to buy some of their handmade goods. Have you ever been to Spain, or would you like to go? This photo is one of the cookies she brought me back.