A Slice of Italy in Malaysia: Savoring the Delight of iMarigliano Panettone

Every year, the arrival of panettone signals the beginning of the festive season in our household. A gift from my sister-in-law in England, this beloved Italian delicacy has become a hallmark of our Christmas celebrations. This year, the panettone's origin traveled even further, gracing our home directly from Italy.  The two loaves of panettone including shipping from Italy cost RM400.

The star of this festive package? Two luscious loaves of iMarigliano Panettone, one in the classic flavor and the other generously adorned with the richness of chocolate. 

As we unwrapped the carefully packaged panettone, the aroma of butter, eggs, dried fruits, and a hint of alcohol wafted through the air. What awaited us inside were two masterpieces from iMarigliano—one in the classic flavor and the other a decadent chocolate variant. The moment we sliced into these golden-brown beauties, we knew we were in for a treat.

The texture of iMarigliano Panettone is nothing short of extraordinary. Unbelievably soft and fluffy, each mouthful is a delicate dance of chewy softness and rich, robust flavors. Every bite is a testament to the craftsmanship behind this Italian creation, showcasing the perfect balance of ingredients that create an unrivaled taste experience.

Traditionally, the panettone sent by my sister-in-law lasted for a month or two, becoming a delightful post-Christmas treat. However, the iMarigliano Panettone proved too irresistible. In just two weeks, both loaves disappeared, without a chance to make their way into the fridge. 

As we bid farewell to this year's panettone, the anticipation for the next Christmas has already begun. The memory of iMarigliano Panettone's exquisite taste lingers, creating a yearning for the festive season to come around once more. 

Health Freak Mommy's Morning Routine

Glimpse of a health freak mommy's breakfast...

A slice of homemade bread (spelt flour + wholemeal flour) with a teaspoon of Nutella chocolate hazelnut bread spread and sprinkled with a teaspoon of superfood chia seeds!  And of course my must-have mug of hot match :D





That's not all, the first food that goes into my tummy at 5:15am everyday is a mug of apple cider vinegar with psyllium  husk. That will surely do its 'drain declogging' job half an hour later haha!  Half an hour later a mug of low fat milk with coffee goes in.  After my daily exercise, it would be fruits on an empty stomach and half an hour later, the REAL breakfast, which is normally all the carbs 'allocation' I give myself. I try to eat my 'carbs allocation' in the morning, keeping it low at noon and try to maintain an almost carb-free meal after 6pm and strictly no food after 9pm.That's how I maintain my 45kg weight  for years, which is only 2kg of weight increase after 3 kiddos.  Pre-kiddos weight had always been 43kg since my teenage years :)

My Kind Of Breakfast

While most Malaysians prefer to dig into a packet of nasi lemak, char koay teow, porridge, fried noodles, chee cheong fun and kuih for breakfast, my kind of breakfast is pretty simple and wholesome. I still prefer bread (strictly no white bread. Only wholemeal bread or multi-grain or multi-seeded bread) or the occasional whole wheat cereals.

Here's my kind of breakfast : a mixture of tuna with hard boiled egg, raw onions, a squeeze of lime juice, chopped spring onions, mayo and ground pepper... spread on a warm toasted wholemeal walnut bread. Yums!! And a big mug of hot green tea to wash away the fat and to jump start my metabolism.

More Mouth-Watering Food From Penang

This is by far the 'bestest' apam I've ever eaten :

Coconut-Banana-Sweet Corn Apam. It's super soft and fluffy, has generous amounts of eggs (which makes the apam soft and fragrant), santan, grated coconut, bananas and sweet corn. I can easily tuck into 5 apams at one go and yet not feel jelak or full. I'm already missing the apam and craving for them now!





... and this old man makes them and sells them on his cart along Jalan Burmah. There are 2 carts selling apam along Jalan Burmah and both tastes just as good. I really wonder how this man makes profits when the apam he sells only costs 30 sen each. And yes, he uses his bare hands to make the apam and packs them for you, if you don't mind. And Lord knows what he did before he touches the apam and packs them lol! But hey, what the heck, that's one of the reasons why hawkers' food always taste so good because of all the 'kar liu' (added ingredients) muahahahah!




And this delicious pandan kaya from Rainforest Bakery & Pastry at Chulia Lane is one of the best I've ever tasted. The kaya is really rich in eggs and so tasty that I always eat it on its own, the way I would eat ice-cream. Hubby bought the kaya for me during my 3-week stay in the hospital with Baby in May. When we were in Penang last week, I asked him to get me another tub. I had wanted to get 3-4 more tubs before we left for Ipoh/KL but we forgot all about it.






The bread and buns at Rainforest are also tasty and free from preservatives, so said the person who sold them to hubby. This bakery makes marvelous artisan breads and the first thing you see on entering is the shelves stacked with loaves of all shapes and sizes, offering Baguette, Ciabatta, English Blommers, Farmhouse, Mixed Grains, Rye, Wholemeal and pastries.

Vanilla Ice-Cream Sandwich

Doesn't this bring back sweet old memories? I remember buying ice cream sandwiched in a bun (which only cost 50 cents then) when I was little when the ice cream man on a tricycle came ringing his bell peddling his ice creams. And they tasted heavenly! There wasn't a thought of guilt and fear that my weight would shoot up after gorging on the sinful treat. That's the fun thing of being a kid - you just eat whatever you fancy and don't have to worry about that darn waist line or bulging belly. Now, before anything goes into my mouth, I have to think twice first!

So, can you guess who ate this sinful vanilla ice-cream sandwiched between 2 slices of white bread for breakfast yesterday? Of course it's not me though I'd love to sink my teeth in them. Of course it's not my gals either. It's my maid. I gave her half a tub of vanilla ice cream and she finished off the ice cream with bread for breakfast yesterday!

A Carb-Filled Breakfast

I had a real sinful breakfast heavily laden with carb today. I ate a slice of pandan layer cake, a slice of light and moist cheese cake, a large slice of green tea, wolfberries and sunflower seeds bread and a cranberry cream cheese bun! Hubby didn’t know that his mother had already bought buns and a cheese cake from our favorite bakery in the afternoon and he bought more buns and a pandan layer cake from this bakery when he picked Alycia up after ballet class yesterday evening. So how can I resist those tempting carbs sitting nicely on the dining table, you tell me? What’s the meaning of life if I can only drool on my favorite food and not eat them, right? It’s big time torturous if I were to force myself to eat cabbage and grapefruit all the time. I’d rather have a little indulgence and I can always get a pack of Slimquick if I need to get slim quickly. But right now, I am in no great hurry to get slim quickly.



My favorite cream cheese and cranberries bun


The bun filled with generous amount of cream cheese and cranberries.




Light and moist cheese cake.




Pandan layer cake.

My Favorite Bakery

That's my favorite bakery. I managed to take a pot-shot of the breads and cakes that were just out from the oven on Sunday before I was told that I can't take pix in the bakery. For this, I will not divulge the name of this bakery.


All my favorite cakes and breads - the cheese cake and mini chiffon cakes are really tasty.


The green loaves on the shelf are made of wolfberries (kei chee) and sunflower seeds, one of my favorites.

This bakery is really thwarting my diet plan as hubby and I will surely visit this bakery at least twice a week and spend quite an amount on my favorite multi-grain loaves, wolfberry loaves, cranberry cream cheese buns, cheese cakes, banana pudding, green tea cakes and chiffon cakes, walnut wholemeal bread, red bean and coffee bread, ham and cheese loaves, sausages rolls (Aly and Sher's all-time favorite) and much more. How am I going to shed off those extra pounds from my baby belly you tell me, sigh.....


After visiting the bakery, we headed to the restaurant for dim sum. Baby C refused to sit on her pram and wanted to be carried whilst I ate. Fortunately, I managed to rock her to sleep and I quickly finished off my meal before she woke up. Her forty winks is truly a forty-minute shut eye and sometimes even shorter and it is during this forty minutes that I have to eat and work speedily, swallowing my food without chewing them properly most of the time :(

Ham and Cheese Bread

Yesterday, I asked hubby to buy me a loaf of black sesame wholemeal bread and a green tea chiffon cake from the bakery. Since he had been really busy yesterday, he only managed to go to the bakery late in the evening and those items that I had wanted were all sold out.


Instead, he bought a loaf of ham and cheese bread with cuttlefish flakes.... and it was really tasty. Even the sick cat Alycia who had no appetite for anything else loved the bread.

and a honey cake which is plain, not too sweet and tasted just right.

We Love Bread

That's our favorite black sesame wholemeal bread fresh from the oven at the bakery. Since I've not been making my own bread lately, we've been buying fresh nice bread from this bakery. They sell black sesame wholemeal bread, walnut wholemeal bread, sunflower seeds bread, cheese and ham bread, dragon fruit bread, red bean bread, yam bread, pandan bread, fuji bread and much more. Anyone who steps into this bakery will surely be tempted to get a loaf of their unique bread.

Some other of my favorites at this bakery are their plain chiffon cake, green tea and red bean chiffon cake, moist and soft cheese cake and banana pie. Very tasty and fresh. Can't wait to go to this bakery later to get myself a banana pie. Fattening but damn shiok!

The bakery even slices the loaf of bread for you after you have picked your choice of bread.

Most Expensive Bread I've Ever Eaten

The other day, sil got us a loaf of bread from Bangsar Village. It's a Japanese bread and it cost RM18 for a long loaf. You can also get half a loaf at RM9. It's one of the most expensive breads I've ever eaten but I must say it tasted really good - creamy and tasty. You can even eat it own its own without putting any jam or ham on it. This bread is also available outside Jaya Jusco at Mid Valley. Alycia and Sher call this 'cake bread' as it tastes a tad like cake too.

Wolfberry Bread

No, that's not a pomelo, it looks like a pomelo skin but it's actually a 'kei zhi' or wolfberry bread that my mil bought from the bakery. Very unique eh, bakeries these days are mushrooming everywhere and in my housing estate alone, there are more than 5 bakeries, so these bakeries are whipping up extraordinary products to entice customers. No more run-of-the-mill kaya buns, coconut buns or cheese buns but you see new items like wolfberry bread, sotong ink bread (which is black in color but taste really yummy as it is slightly saltish), yam custard buns, black sesame seed bread and the list goes.

So how does this bread taste? Well, not really to my liking as it feels like biting onto a herbal bread. I love herbal soups but not herbal bread (the smell of herbal is a little too strong), though there are many sunflower seeds inside the bread but the smell of the wolfberry in the bread just couldn't agree with my tastebud.