DUKAL Teaches the leaders of tomorrow

By Heather Llorca-Kropp (Director of Martketing)

     DUKAL had the unique opportunity to participate in the St. Johns University Executive in Residence program this spring.  The program is a semester long class where 3 teams of students were given real business strategy projects by various companies.  The students would meet with us periodically during the semester and conduct strategy sessions where they would learn our business and be given advice on the project by our Marketing, Operations and Finance Executives.  At the conclusion of the program they came to our board room to present 3 different business plans.  We were very impressed with the outcome of their efforts!

    We entered into this expecting a fun experience and ended up having a rewarding and meaningful time with the students.  We looked through their eyes at the work that we do every day with renewed energy and excitement.  Sometimes in our career we become so accustomed to doing things a certain way, working with the students reminded us of the potential that can come by looking “outside the box”.    The experience made me feel very positive about the caliber of young leaders that will be entering the workforce this year and leading us all into tomorrow.  I genuinely enjoyed meeting them all and being a mentor to such a fantastic and enthusiastic group of young people.  Who knows?  Maybe one of them will go on to create and run the next innovative and progressive company of our time! If we gave some inspiration for them to do so, that will be the greatest reward of all.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Written By: Maggie Karl (Manager Contract Manufacture)

Annual DUKAL St. Patty's Day Lunch

 Yesterday Gerry treated his Irish and Irish food loving employees to a traditional feast of Corned Beef and Cabbage, so I thought I would treat our blog readers to my Irish Soda Bread Recipe!

We lovingly refer to this as our “Irish Soda Brick” because it’s a very heavy bread, a sweet and dense treat that’s delicious straight from the oven or toasted with your morning coffee.

Maggie’s Irish Soda Bread   

3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Bread Flour*
1 cup Granulated White Sugar Zest of 1 Large Lemon**
1 Tbsp Baking Powder

3 Large Eggs
1 cup Milk***
¼ cup Buttermilk

1 cup Raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a standard loaf pan.

Combine dry ingredients and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Lightly beat 3 eggs, add milk and buttermilk, then mix in dry ingredients until just combined.  Mixture will be thick, but if it looks too dry add another splash of buttermilk.
Stir in raisins, then pour mixture into greased and floured pan.  Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when knocked on. 

Notes:
*This was the first year I used bread flour and I really liked the texture.  This bread was still dense but was slightly spongier than the other loafs I made with 4 cups of all purpose flour.  That being said, you can certainly use all non-purpose flour if you don’t happen to have bread flour on hand.

**The more lemon zest the better.  You can add some orange zest if you like, too.

***We only ever have 1% milk in our house, so that’s what I use, but any percent will work.  You could also use all buttermilk, or all regular milk, as long as the total volume of wet ingredients remains the same.

Support for Breast Cancer Research

By Dianne Tuzzolino (Sales Administrator)

Support for Breast Cancer Research comes in all different sizes, shapes and colors…

Just ask the folks at Body Stylz Tatoo and Piercing Studio in Avon Lake, Ohio….seems they are running “Tattoos for a Cure” October 19^th – 23^rd. 

Get a tattoo of a cancer ribbon for $10.00 and the proceeds go towards Breast Cancer research…That’s for the people who really want to shout out their support for this great cause. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve!

Don’t want a ribbon but still want to help? 10% of any other tattoo is donated as well…

What a great unique idea… 

DUKAL was asked to make a donation of product for the event and we were glad to help. Many of the DUKAL employees have friends or family affected by cancer…and in many cases breast cancer. Anytime we can help we try to do so…we wish everybody at Body Stylz much success during the event! 

Check out their Facebook page or website for even more information

Body Stylz

If you live in the area of Avon Lake~ stop by and say hello! Maybe even get a tattoo for this important cause!

Some of the ladies at DUKAL are big fans of “ink” as well...they proudly show of some their art in support! 

Hounds on the Sound

Written by Suzanne Carlino (Graphics Manager)

      DUKAL participated in, as well as was a proud sponsor of the 2nd Annual Hounds on the Sound Dog Walk event which was held on October 2nd.
     The DUKAL 2010 Make A Difference campaign continues to make great strides!  Hounds on the Sound is a collaboration between the New Rochelle Humane Society and Pet Rescue.  They teamed up to host this walk to raise funds for cats and dogs in need.   Proceeds from the event will benefit both organizations.  The walk had a great turn out with over 600 walkers and dogs walking hand in paw for a great cause.
Kiki, my mixed breed and I were joined by fellow DUKAL animal lovers along with their dogs and made the trip to Glen Island Park in New Rochelle, NY.  What a fantastic venue to support such an event!  The walking paths followed the perimeter of the island which sits overlooking Long Island Sound.  In addition to the walk, there were over 40 vendors with great products and services for our four legged friends.  Add in the food and the music and you could not have asked for a better day!
Kiki didn’t know what to think of the event at first as she doesn’t get out much and is basically the queen of our castle.  She did enjoy sharing the car ride with Bailey who is a puggle and is far more reserved than Kiki, and was the least bit phased by all the commotion of the day.  But then introduce Wagner a full grown black lab who only wanted to play with every other dog in sight and we had ourselves a dog gone good time!!
       If you get a chance to attend one of these events I highly recommend it!  Nothing beats spending a beautiful day with some special people and your most loyal friend!

Suzanne Carlino, proud owner of Kiki

Written By Kiki

Written By Kiki

       Wow my friend Bailey is here, I love playing with her!  Why are we getting in the car?  The car means the groomer or the vets!  Maybe I am going to training; since Bailey is here and she goes to school with me.  Nope no training, where are we going?
      In the car there is my mommy, 2 two legged people, Bailey and me. The car ride was nice, but we need fresh air. Finally we are getting out of the car, come on get my seatbelt off so I can get out! There are so many dogs , I wonder if Bailey see’s what I see?  Which way to go there are so many dogs, my mommy is walking around looking for something maybe a bone or a treat for me! Bailey is excited but she is not showing it she is very calm.
     Oh boy, I just met Wagner and he is so big, I need to hide he will not leave me alone!  Good we are walking around now, there are doggie treats everywhere.  My mommy bought me something, yeah!
           I guess we are going now, my seatbelt is going on.  Bailey and me had so much fun we walked, we played, saw other dogs and got treats. In the car we go, and now I can take a nap!