Letter from the Editor - January 2019

Hi All,

I sort of took over this issue... I guess this time around I had a lot more to say than usual.  Regardless, I hope you enjoy it. There is a great interview from Dahntahn Donuts and an amazing piece of art that is posted as well.

The next issue will be out in April... if you have anything you would like to submit, please email your submissions to holidaycafe.nicole@gmail.com

Stay warm and see you all in the spring.

Nicole

Dahntahn Donuts Interview Questions

Food trucks have recently surged in popularity. How did you come up with the specific idea of a donut truck?

Once decided on the food truck concept we started looking at what types of food trucks already existed in the Pittsburgh market. We noticed that while there were come dessert trucks, which is what donuts could be considered, there were really no morning trucks! So we asked ourselves what quick fresh breakfast item people love and could quickly grab and share with friends and coworkers, and that’s donuts of course! 

Your website mentions monthly specials. Can you give us any details as to what those monthly specials look like?

We are always thinking of new and exciting ideas for our monthly special. We have had raspberry tart which was a great donut with graham cracker crumbles and raspberry drizzle. Currently we have a delicious blueberry lemonade while we try to channel a summer vibe! It’s a light, refreshing lemon icing with crumbles of blueberry pop tarts on top!  It’s refreshing with both tart and sweetness! 

The Dahntahn Donuts menu is full of specialty donuts like s’more, pb&j, and maple bacon. Where do you get the inspiration for your unique donut recipes?

We spend time just kind of trying new things when working on the truck. We also wander isles at the grocery store and think “what would be good on a donut?!” Of course, we always are also open to suggestions, look at classic favorites, and check out donut shops when traveling for work or vacation! We love talking with other shops. 

All of your donuts are made-to-order. Do you actually make the donuts in the trucks from start to finish, or do you simply top them on the spot for customers?

Everything is made start to finish FRESH on the truck every day. We get to an event about one hour before window up. The batter is mixed fresh and then placed into the fryer hopper. Each donut comes off the line and then is topped right on the truck! Donuts are finished with toppings as they are ordered. Lots of times the donuts are so fresh we have to warn customers to be careful as the donut itself is still very warm! 

Does it ever become difficult to make donuts in the confines of a truck?

Space wise, not really. Where we struggled originally, though, was making sure we were level! The donut fryer needs to be almost perfectly level so a leveling system was something we had to figure out and fast! 

What exactly is your donut sundae?

One delicious mess of six donuts! Our donut sundae can almost be topped to match any premium donut. The donut sundae is a boat filled with six fresh donuts and smothered in delicious toppings! This is great to split with friends or family especially at events or festivals! We recommend forks and napkins for this one!! 

Your website says you like to serve customers in “fast, simple, and convenient locations.” Where can customers most often find Dahntahn Donuts on a daily basis?

Dahntahn Donuts can be found all over Downtown, Oakland, North Hills, and South Hills. Several days a week we are specifically requested and booked outside of complexes or buildings around the Pittsburgh area. Businesses and complexes book us often to come set up outside their locations. We are always open to working with and talking with new potential locations. You can track our location on an awesome app called Mobile Nom that shows you where trucks are and when they are open for the day and upcoming days. 

What types of events do you most often cater?

We have done bridal and baby showers, weddings, birthdays, family picnics, and Corporate events so far! Anything you might need donuts for, we are glad to work with you and come up with the right fit!

Do you have anything else you would like to add?

Come find us! Check out our social media pages, give us a like, and see what’s new. We love meeting Pittsburghers and people just visiting the city. We also are constantly announcing specials and flavors on social media so give us a follow on Instagram @DahntahnDonuts or find us on Facebook! 

Rachael Bindas is a freelance writer and editor from Pittsburgh, PA. She focuses mainly on fiction, yet still harbors a deep love for poetry. She is the author of the Children's book, Before the Sun Wakes Up. Her work has been featured in Totally Allure, Moledro Magazine, Aeons, The Curious Element Magazine and The Holiday Cafe.

The Homestead

Mary has been painting since the age of 12.  Throughout her life, she dabbled in oils, and now, since she has retired, Mary has been at it full time.  Her mediums have expanded to include acrylic and pastels.  Three years ago, Mary became a certified Alexander wet-on-wet* instructor.

Additionally, over the last few years, Mary has been exhibiting all over the Pittsburgh area.
For eight years, she has been teaching acrylic painting at Pat Catan’s, as well as various companies that offer painting parties, and through her own DaVine Creations-paint parties in the home.  Her recent endeavor is teaching at Paint Parties and More located in White Oak, PA.

Mary has more exciting news in the paint arena as she began free painting lessons on her YouTube channel.  The painting above is an example of one of her finished paintings that she instructs via her YouTube.  She does this as a step-by-step process using acrylic paint.  It’s fun and simple, and most people can accomplish the painting as she provides outlines that help the viewer draw the actual subject.  All materials used are listed for the viewer’s convenience.

If you would like to learn to paint, check out her channel.  All one has to do is subscribe and enjoy the journey.

Musings of New York City

I had the fortunate opportunity to take my oldest son to New York City for a quick trip. We boarded a bus at 11pm one cold rainy night in December to wake up in New York City at the crack of dawn the next morning.

Way back in September he came home from school talking about September 11th and the events that took place that day, a few days later it was brought to my attention of a great bus trip that was going to be going to the city in December.

 So I went home and asked if he wanted to go... of course he did... so I made the arrangements. I have never been to NYC either, so I was equal parts excited and scared... mostly scared that I didn't want to get lost or the even more important, somehow get separated from the boy. Excited because I wanted to see every possible thing I could in the short amount of time I was there. I knew that wasn't possible, but I was going to try.


Our first day there we walked and walked and walked some more... clocking in over 20,000 steps. We saw the Empire State Building, the tree and ice rink at Rockafeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Macy's windows, the iconic ball for New Year's was already up and waiting for the countdown. I hailed my first ever cab and funny enough we ran into some people that we know (who live on our street). We went to the M&M store and Hershey's store. We checked out the Lego store and Disney. Then we crashed and needed food... Bubba Gumps was our dinning choice. The kid said it was the best fries and chicken fingers he has ever had. We still had a few hours to go before we would get to our hotel room and neither of us were going to make it...

We were beat, so we headed to our hotel. The next morning we were dropped off in Chinatown. It was POURING DOWN RAIN... I cannot even begin to stress how soaked we were. We walked around with another group of people that was on the bus with us. We went to Tribeca and made our way down to the memorial. Between the rain and the fog, it made the whole experience of seeing the memorial that much more... I remember watching the coverage on the news at work that fateful day.  Words cannot even express the feeling of seeing the memorial in person.

We eventually made our way back to get picked up and headed home. Of course we couldn't leave without seeing one scandalous thing though right?? I mean we were doing really good... he didn't even notice the guitar playing cowboy that wears nothing but his tighty whities in Times Square...

But then... we went to the McDonald's and he went into the men's room to wash his hands... Let's just say what he saw in that bathroom made him laugh and made me cringe... He of course had to FaceTime his dad right away and tell him the story too... he ended up texting it to him though...

And, let me just say right here, that he was on his very best behavior the entire time. He listened to my every word, held my hand without any issues, he's nine so sometimes it can go either way about holding hands... He did question me a lot if we were lost and continuously made me prove on the Google Map that I knew where I was going.  So little faith in my navigating abilities, so I told him the story of when my mom gave me and my grandmother the wrong directions to get home from West Virginia and how I had to use my old school atlas to get us home... that calmed his concerns.


We had fun and the only complaints from either of us were when we were just too tired to go any further... We both want to go again next year... see some more of the things that we missed out on this time around...

So what is the point of all of this??  Well, I guess mostly that if you get the opportunity to take your child and do something amazing with them... do it... don't wait or put it off.  It doesn't have to be a weekend trip just do something, a meal, a movie, a trip to the museum.  Life is a precious thing, take the time to enjoy it with your child or children... they will thank you for it.

Holiday Traditions

The month of December was incredibly hectic to say the least, but there were also plenty of quality moments and family traditions.  My sister came over one day and we baked Christmas cookies together.  We went to a few local Christmas outings where we saw Santa and another event that had an ice sculptor.

We decorated our house for Christmas and presents were wrapped.  Traditional Christmas Eve and Day meals were prepped and made.  One of my absolute favorite meals of the entire year is the Feast of the Seven Fishes with my family.  While we don’t do the ‘traditional’ fishes and we have adapted it to the ones we enjoy, it is one of my favorites.     Then we hightail it over to the husband’s parents for a huge spread of ham and potatoes and so much food, I feel like I need to be rolled out of there by the end of the night.

But isn’t that what the holidays are – eating a ton of food with your loved ones.  I know, it’s more than that…

Another one of the things that is slowly starting to become a Holiday tradition for me, being the second year in a row that I have participated in it with my dance class… (yes, I am still dancing, I wrote about it last year and I still love it).

The Monday before Christmas my class went to a Lawson’s Nursing Home to perform for the residents.  There were probably about 15 or so men and women gathered around to watch us perform our Christmas Show dances.

While the space was small and we had to be extra mindful not to leap into an unsuspecting person’s lap, the residents seemed to enjoy themselves.  One woman was very inquisitive, she wanted to know about us.  After going through our dances, giving introductions and taking the group selfie in front of their Christmas tree, we left the home to go back to the dance studio.

Going there, makes me miss my grandparents but I leave with my heart filled… and that my friends is why I participate in this night.  It’s not the party or gift exchange that we do afterwards (yes, December is a big foodie month for me.) it’s the doing something nice for other people – visiting and doing something as simple as performing a few dance numbers for someone that might not have family that visits them…

The holidays aren’t just about monetary things and I am glad I can be a part of something that means more than a monetary gift.

Nicole Leckenby is co-founder/editor of The Holiday Cafe. She works full-time at the University of Pittsburgh and she has two amazing boys at home that keep her busy, along with a whole host of other things.  

Pap

I published this piece a few years back, in the first issue of the Holiday Café actually. This February marks the 25th anniversary of my grandfather’s death… I cannot believe it has been 25 years… all the things he missed seeing…

To update the first paragraph of the original story… I found the statistics for 2018 on the National Cancer Institute’s website … In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 609,640 people will die from the disease. We need a cure and we need to end this horrible disease.

Over 1.5 million people will be diagnosed in 2010 with some form of cancer and nearly one out of every four people in the United States will die from cancer. Shocking statistics, perhaps, but the number of those who die from this horrible disease is dropping. Medical advancements and early detection are keys to going into remission and beating cancer. Unfortunately, the medical advancements were not as they are today back in 1994.

When I was a toddler both of my parents worked, which meant I obviously had to have some sort of adult supervision during the day. Mom would drop me off at my grandparents and then she would catch the bus downtown to go to work. I think I was pretty fortunate to have my grandparents watch me when I was a youngster. Especially since I am sure daycare was not as popular back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s and not as regulated and managed as they are today.
It’s weird the things that you remember from childhood. I remember watching my mom walk to the bus stop from my grandparent’s place. And other things like my grandmother making me lunch and creating a little table out of a chair so I could watch TV and eat my lunch in their living room, or begging my grandfather to play Barbie’s with me or the very distinct layout of their home, even how there was a mirror above where the sofa was located.

I also vaguely remember my grandfather getting sick for the first time. I remember things like him lying on the sofa and my grandmother changing his bandages. I remember the word CANCER being spoken in the house. I didn’t know what all this talk of cancer was though… I wasn’t even in Pre-school yet… I was just learning my “near” and “far” thanks to Grover on Sesame Street. I could tell it wasn’t good but I just didn’t know how bad it really was. I was kept in the dark about it for the most part, mostly due to my age. My family didn’t want to tell me all the gory details, and I don’t blame them. At the age of three I wouldn’t have been able to comprehend what was truly going on or the severity of it.

I would think to myself, my grandfather is a strong man, he is very tall and he fought in WWII, he will fight this cancer thing too. Like I said, I had no idea the severity of cancer so I thought it was just like a bad cold or an infection or something of that nature; I had no idea that he had a tumor the size of a grapefruit taken out of him. For the most part, I was right about my pap fighting cancer. He went into remission after several chemotherapy treatments.

For the next 14 years my grandfather would go in and out of remission. Every time the doctor would give my family the bad news, I would just tell myself that my grandfather is a fighter he will survive this, he did it before he can do it again. He won’t quit, he won’t die, he just won’t. He went into the hospital, and we would visit, I always hated going to the hospital – something about that disinfectant smell that freaks me out. It makes me ill, that smell, makes me queasy almost paralyzed. When I was young the doctors wouldn’t let me go into his room. I sitting in the waiting room at Montefiore Hospital as my mom and grandmother would take turns visiting my pap. I also remember a stuffed animal in the shape of a cat that I was given to keep me occupied. Over the years every morning mom and I would go see my grandparents before she would go off to work and I would go off to school. By this time, I was in high school rebellious and angry at the world like all teenagers. We found out that pap had cancer again and he wasn’t getting better this time; he was getting worse and could barely get out of bed. In all the years I had never seen him this sick before. Not eating, not drinking, and not moving. It wasn’t the cancer that was killing him; it was an infection that he somehow got while in the hospital. He was given hospice care and could stay at home.

I remember that cold February day like it was yesterday. My sister and I didn’t go to school that day; it was cancelled because of snow/ice/freezing temperatures. We stayed at my grandparent’s house, I remember locking myself in my old bedroom, curling up in his chair (that was moved there when I moved out) and crying a lot, streams and streams of tears running down my face. I didn’t want him to die but this would be it, this would be the end of his fight. I knew it and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I remember the nurse patting me on my shoulder, telling me it was going to be ok. I didn’t believe her. How could it be ok? I was about to lose my grandfather…

My father came by and took me for food. I would just go home afterwards because mom said she and my sister would be going home shortly. I got home from dinner and mom was still not there. Then the phone rang. It was my sister; I could hardly understand he over the violent crying sounds she was making. She told me to sit down… that is when I knew it… that our grandfather had just died. It was all very surreal, like a scene out of a movie or something, when the bad news is about to come, you tell the person to sit down. Why? It didn’t help me take the news any better. We were both crying hysterically on the phone. Neither one of us wanted to hang up the phone.

I knew he would not be suffering anymore, that this was a better alternative than going through all the radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but damn it I am a little self-fish. I didn’t want him to die. I wanted him to be there when I graduated, when my sister graduated, and for all the other important events in our lives. I knew he would not be suffering anymore, that this was a better alternative than going through all the radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but damn it I am a little self-fish. I didn’t want him to die. I wanted him to be there when I graduated, when my sister graduated, and for all the other important events in our lives.

We buried him on that Valentine’s Day.

It has been 18 years since that fateful day in February. It’s funny the things that remind me of him even today, a TV show re-run or seeing a train from the line he worked, or his birthday. A few years back a friend was having a psychic party, and I went to just see what it was all about. Not that I believed in such things mind you. The woman was very spiritual; she told me a few things about my grandfather then mention that his spirit is with me. Whether she was full of malarkey or not, it was comforting to hear.

Nicole Leckenby is co-founder/editor of The Holiday Cafe. She works full-time at the University of Pittsburgh and she has two amazing boys at home that keep her busy, along with a whole host of other things.