By now, the last of the holiday food plates should be licked
clean and the final crumbs of all fruitcakes and holiday breads
taken care of. However, today I wish to tell you the story of a
very well traveled panettone. Panettone is the traditional Italian
Christmas bread-like cake. Every year in my store we order hundreds
of them from Italy to satisfy all of the wonderful Italian families
in and around San Benito County, as well as a few folks who order
them from our Web site. One year we even shipped one back to
Switzerland, just across the Italian border. But this year our
panettone story really takes the cake!
By now, the last of the holiday food plates should be licked clean and the final crumbs of all fruitcakes and holiday breads taken care of. However, today I wish to tell you the story of a very well traveled panettone. Panettone is the traditional Italian Christmas bread-like cake. Every year in my store we order hundreds of them from Italy to satisfy all of the wonderful Italian families in and around San Benito County, as well as a few folks who order them from our Web site. One year we even shipped one back to Switzerland, just across the Italian border. But this year our panettone story really takes the cake!
A customer named Luca from New York City placed an order for one to be shipped to his friends who have a second home in Vermont. If you have ever been to New York, you know that there are many Italian bakeries and stores in and around Little Italy that must have had hundreds of these cakes on hand to satisfy their customers, but we gratefully accepted his order and sent it on its way to the friends who would be in their Vermont home for the weekend before Christmas.
We laughed a little about the panettone that was baked in Milan, traveled to Rome and then on to California to then be trucked to a distributor in Daly City and finally to us in Hollister. We gave it an extra little pat on its box to wish it well on what we thought would be the final journey to Vermont.
Our shipping manager shipped it via FedEx to arrive at the Vermont home on that Friday. However, something happened out of our control and it was not going to make it in time, and at the same time Luca called to tell us his friends were not going to be in Vermont that weekend, after all. Could we please have it diverted to their other home in Connecticut? After a few phone calls and some tracing, we were able to have it leave Vermont to get to Connecticut on that Saturday. However, it did not make it in time so we had it resent back to the Vermont residence as per Luca’s instructions. We felt that now it was well taken care off, with just a few days remaining before December 24.
But then a few days before Christmas I got a phone call from Luca as the panettone was no where to be found. Luca was very upset that Bruno’s Christmas would be ruined without the panettone. Now he had found out that his friends had changed their minds and were indeed staying in Connecticut after all and we needed to locate the doomed (I had another word) cake for him so that it could be diverted back from Vermont to Connecticut in time for Christmas. It was very important to him that they receive it before Christmas or it would ruin the day for them.
I listened to his discourse on how important this was that we get it to Bruno in time. Luca needed his gift for Bruno to arrive in time. I reasoned with him that we would do our best but there were no guarantees and that even the three men on camels who traveled through the desert with gifts did not make it December 25 but January 6. Their gifts were late as well, if you think a gift has to be given December 25. I even suggested that perhaps they should refuse the shipment if it arrived December 26 and then it would come back to California and we would give it to the homeless. After a little silence on his end, he thanked us for putting it into perspective and we both laughed about how many miles this one Christmas cake has traveled. Milan, Rome, San Francisco, Daly City, Hollister, Vermont, Connecticut, Vermont, Connecticut. And guess what! It made it to Bruno’s home December 24, as planned all along.
Food and fun for family and friends! Such pressure we put upon ourselves to make sure that everything gets done “in time.” Another Web site customer had ordered a set of ceramic artichoke plates to be shipped to her daughter somewhere in Tennessee and they needed to get there in time or the holiday would be ruined for them. We had shipped it out in time but in tracing we found out that it had been on the FedEx plane that crashed in Tennessee a few days before Christmas. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but part of the plane burned and therefore many packages destined as gifts for family and friends were lost. We quickly shipped our customer a replacement set of dishes with our best wishes for a happy holiday. Several days later she said she received the original package and that it was perfectly intact except it smelled a little smoky. And they cooked and served artichokes for Christmas dinner so everyone was happy after all.
Now it is time to put the holiday season behind. Please enjoy this wonderful recipe from my heritage, simply known as January Cleansing Soup. My grandfather always requested this to be consumed the first week in January to get rid of everything left behind emotionally and physically from the old year. Give it a try! Perhaps Grandpa Klink added some alpenkrauter on the sly. We will never know for sure.
JANUARY CLEANSING SOUP
2-3 stalks broccoli
1/2 head cabbage
1/2 head cauliflower
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or bacon fat
1 tablespoon butter
4 cups good quality chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
dashes of hot sauce, as desired
grated hard cheese, as a garnish
In a large saute pan or Dutch oven, cook the chopped vegetables in the oil and butter on high heat for a few minutes, to cause them to brown slightly but not to burn. Reduce the heat and cook and stir for about 10 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender and browned slightly. Add the remaining ingredients, tasting to correct the seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Garnish with cheese, as desired.
