Last Christmas, we raved about Loison panettone. Usually, panettone is ignored in our house. But, when Loison was given to us by Lucita Luciani, we loved it. We devoured it should be the descriptor as we would eat it for breakfast and snacks.
This year, 2020, the Oriel sisters came, @christinaoriel and @carinaoriel with gifts of sunflowers, @republiquela’s panettone and other munchies. The panettone was so good, it disappeared in a couple of days, inspiring my hubby to make a panettone loaf in the bread machine.
We were disappointed as it did not rise as much and we kept up our dialogue on what to tweak, to discover what needs to be changed: flour, yeast, time?
He baked another and it rose a bit more, but not quite the desired texture so, it is taking almost a week to finish this ‘not quite there loaf’. We could have thrown it, but, the frugal us decided not to.
So, our desire for the best panettone is still unrealized.Guess what? At 915am, our doorbell rang – it is our favorite octogenarian neighbor, Larry who gets more charming as he ages and my 5yo granddaughter’s best friend, according to #princess2015la (Larry always stops gardening to ask about her day).
Larry was carrying a gift towards the opposite way and when I opened the door, he hands me the panettone from Republique, a gift for hubby, my granddaughter and myself. He relates the story too that Marge is the finest pastry chef married to Walter, from Switzerland. Then, I finish it by saying and she comes from the Philippines. That reminds me to buy her cookbook.
Would you not be smiling after all these loving encounters over panettone, a week apart?
Lord, thank you for giving me these loving neighbor and friends who are family to us and openly give their hearts to love us.