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36 The Chronicle November 29, 2011 Campus Cupcakes made with love Nancy Ellis The Chronicle Madeleine Kassinger, 21, is in love with baking cupcakes. That’s why she opened the Mad café in downtown Oshawa. Kassinger is creating a home away from home, with her delicious cupcakes and her café’s soothing atmosphere. “It’s like we are the house of kids and people come to call on them here,” Kassinger said about her café, which is populated with students from day to day. She explains that students come into the café and ask if their friends are around or if she has seen them that day. This impresses her, she said smiling and taking another sip of her red eye. She spoke with energy and excitement despite admitting she was drinking a red eye with cream and sugar because she was “extra tired”. The café, which opened in June, has long been in the works. Kassinger, who studied what the city needed before writing her business plan, discovered that sometimes things take a bit longer to get organized. Originally she wanted to open a “cupcakery” but later changed her mind to include a café, finding the café a better fit for Oshawa. Her café promotes locally grown and organic foods—even some vegan foods—and coffee. Of the nine sandwiches available right now the chicken avocado is their signature offering, Kassinger said. There are also a couple of soups that change regularly, ready for consumption and made out-of house but with organic vegetables. Kassinger feels strongly about keeping things local and always improving. Her mother Gabi Kassinger does the homemade cooking in the kitchen behind the counter and the staff works hard to keep the place CUPCAKES: Baker Madeleine Kassinger, 21, opened the Mad Cafe, located in downtown Oshawa. clean, efficient and relaxed. “I want to capture the crowd that is more relaxed about living,” she said. She wants them to enjoy their space and company.Her education helped her when it came time put together a business plan. She completed Fashion Management at George Brown College. In that two-year program she was required to write a lot of business plans, which helped her apply for a bank loan. Facts about baking The café has a warm feeling with a brown ceiling and white walls. Populated with original photography and travel posters. Tables and chairs, a vintage • Madeleine uses 100 per cent butter for her buttercream icing—no shortening • She boils pods of vanilla bean to use for her baking • She is always actively searching for more local and organic products • The chicken and roast beef is cooked in-house every morning sofa and a white leather couch are inviting and comforting. The large front window of Mad Café looks out onto King Street near the UOIT Regent Theatre. As a former student herself, she offers a 10 per cent discount to all students knowing full well people want to buy organic products but a lot of decisions come down to money. UOIT, Durham College and even hair styling school students can get the discount by showing their student ID. While going to school she got a job at the local Starbucks. Intrigued by coffee and its exquisite art, Kassinger began what she describes as her “yellowbrick road” towards the ownership of her café. She doesn’t attribute where she is today to anything she specifically did. She admits, “It just happened that way.” Two other experiences she deems important in her life journey this far, are working for Mark McEwan at his upscale grocery store and studying in Germany for five months. Working at Mark McEwan’s grocery store in Toronto she met his executive chef, who was only 24 years old herself. She was inspired by this young woman’s vision and started to think things were possible. Nancy Ellis “I actually ended up doing some of the things I learned,” she said. “I learned this (skill) but it’s in a different field… maybe I can do something with this.” Kassinger explained about her education and inspirations. “I liked food (the industry) so much better because everyone eats food,” she said. While in Germany studying at the Goethe Institute, learning the language and meeting international people, she got to cook. She baked cakes for everyone she knew who celebrated a birthday. This is where she figured out “okay this is what I’m going to do.” Kassinger’s inspirations took hold after she baked a ton of cupcakes in the summer of 2010 at her cottage. After that she was prompted by friends to do something with her talent. Worried about not having any training, she made her move— not to attend more school, but to embrace learning as she went. For Christmas snow is no more Ashley Bain The Chronicle With the Christmas break quickly approaching the thought of a vacation is on most people’s mind. “This time of the month is our busiest,” says Neil Cruickshank, a travel consultant at Durham Travel in Courtice. “A lot of people are taking advantage of the fact that the kids are off.” With the main objective of escaping the cold, people are hoping to trade the ice and snow for a more tropical climate. “We get a lot of requests for Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican,” said Cruickshank. “Jamaica is a popular one as well.” But don’t get sucked into a cheap price tag because you’re desperate to get out of here. According to Cruickshank, many resorts’ prices may look good but because they are only say three stars, they will leave you with bad food, bad rooms and a bad vacation. “There are parts of places, say Cuba, where people think, ‘Wow, what a good price, I can’t pass that up’ but when they get there they realize why it was such a good price,” said Criuckshank. “If you’re paying $300 to go to Cuba for a week and a half, you have to realize you’re going to get the real Cuba, not the tourist Cuba that everyone wants.” When vacationing there are a few things you should look for when picking a resort. “You want to find a resort that offers activities that you can do on the resort, like karaoke or different shows that you can go see at night,” according to Cruickshank. “The number one most important thing you want on your vacation is a good room and great food, and of course an overall great experience. Don’t settle on something because the price is cheap.” But when it comes down to it, the one thing every traveller worries about is money. “To get everything that will have you saying ‘Remember when we went to Cuba that one Christmas? Wasn’t that a great trip’ you should be prepared to pay anywhere around $800 to $1,000. Now remember, depending on where and what dates you go, prices will change,” said Cruickshank. “Book through a travel agent, “says Cruickshank. “They can look out for deals for you and suggest things you would never have thought of on your own.”
The Chronicle November 29, 2011 37 Entertainment Full show for Whitby venue Amanda Darrock The Chronicle Amanda Darrock NO FEAR FOR THE DYING: The Dying Arts founders Mike Portoghese and Joe Torchina express their playful personalities both on and off the stage. The Christmas spirit gets a musical touch as Hollowick prepares to rock the Wrokstarz Club and Venue in Whitby on Dec. 16. “It’s going to be a great time,” says lead singer Nathan Peyton. The show, which also features the musical talents of Patrick Dorie and The Honest Thieves and The Bootleg Glory, starts at 8:30p.m and is hosted by Matt Diamond of 94.9 The Rock. Tickets are available through the bands, Isabellas café, or at the door. Dying Arts visit DC Amanda Darrock The Chronicle Struggle is an experience that can make or break a person. For Toronto Indie band, The Dying Arts, struggle has forced them to strive for their goals. With an upcoming show at E.P. Taylor’s on Nov. 29, an album that will hopefully be released next February, and all after going public with their music in September of this year, the four-piece band has much to look forward to. “A lot of things aligned for us to meet up,” said Joe Torchina, drummer for the band, about how he met singer/guitarist Mike Portoghese and started the band. “We were on two different ends of the spectrum, didn’t know of each other‘s existence.” Torchina was introduced to Portoghese through his drum teacher. Torchina had been seeing a drum teacher to help with his application to Humber College for the jazz music program. Portoghese was looking for a drummer, which would hopefully lead to a band. It was through this meeting that the Dying Arts gained its foundation. They jammed together a couple times before Torchina went back to school. They parted ways, but call it destiny, they met up again a year and a half later, and this meeting was the determining factor as it helped Portoghese as a musician. “Joe waited around for me to catch up. I’d never really played in a band before. I’d played with guys but he was like my training wheels,” says Portoghese. Working on songs as a duo, the song added an additional guitar play, Daniel Scuglia, and a bassist, Simon Poole. Using the five or six songs that Portoghese had written previous to starting The Dying Arts, they have collaborated with the songs that Torchina and Portoghese had originally worked on to create musical masterpieces. It was Scuglia who came up for the name of the band. It was while he was creating a guitar riff he made the comment “this is a dying art.” Everyone in the band loved it. “It’s intelligently crafted garage punk with a growly, dirty sound to it,” says Torchina. Influenced by bands such as The Stooges and Radiohead, the band aspires to create only raw, power sounds. “I like music with real passion, not fake bloated music,” said Portoghese. When the band is not working on their own music, they focus on their other aspirations. Poole is a musical composer, Scuglia works as a Fed-ex delivery man, Portoghese works in video as a director and FX specialist, whose recent accomplishment was winning an MMVA award for his work on the Danny Fernandez ft. Belly video entitled Automatic. “We try to keep it separate, even though people may give a second look at the band and say, “oh, the singer won an MMVA”, but I don’t want people to give attention because of that. We want them to focus on the music,” said Portoghese. Torchina focuses his life on drumming. After being misdiagnosed with HIV during a routine checkup, Torchina went through a very dark period where nothing mattered. This misdiagnosis made him reconsider his life, which included a four-year relationship, a job in the chemistry field, which he had acquired a degree in, and plans to buy a house. Six weeks after his first diagnosis he was told that he did not have HIV. His next move was to break up with his girlfriend, quit his job, and use the money he had saved for a house to spend the next six months drumming. “After that, life is pointless if you’re not doing what you love,” said Torchina. “Music to me means struggle,” said Portoghese. His songs, which have a hint of angst, come from a 10-year let down in his video career. After graduation he was getting known for low-quality rap videos which were hindering his hopes to make better videos and make it in his career. Portoghese kept getting stepped on by others in the industry until last year, as he worked on the FX for videos, he would make directors videos huge and never get credit. He would write songs based on this feeling of letdown and disappointment. Through their music, they have gained notice in the industry, including John Wozniak from Marcy’s Playground, who heard the band and has been helping them by allowing them to record in his milliondollar studio. This studio is where Led Zepplin recorded Whole Lotta Love. They are looking to have their album out by February of next year. After their unveiling show at Silver Dollar, the band looks forward to performing at E.P. Taylor’s on Tuesday, Nov. 29 for students. “We are excited to get out to the public and perform,”says Portoghese. A new Occupy event for Oshawa Hillary Di Menna The Chronicle Bola, at 20 Simcoe St. N. is hosting an art event Dec. 3: Occupy Wall Space. The event will take place in the evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The first floor of the downtown store will show artwork, including pieces done by shop owner Monique Brent. The second floor will be celebrating the SlowCity Magazine 3 launch party. There will be music and performances by Durham Shoestring Performers and poet Allison Worne. “This is an event not to be missed!” said Brent. Art on display will be for sale.
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