As of Wednesday, January 4, 2012, Cafe Solstice will be closing its doors in Mt. Lebanon. Thank you to all of our friends, families, and patrons for your support. Keep an eye out for updates, as we look ahead to the future.

That’s right.  In addition to our buttery, milk and egg laden baked goods, we also offer a variety of vegan baked goods.  From our muffins to our cookies and cupcakes, we can substitute in an egg substitute, soy milk, and butter flavored Crisco.  We’ve been testing them out, and we think we’ve got them down.  Some of our friends and family didn’t even notice the difference when we had them do a taste test!

If you’re looking for a good place to get your vegetarian or lactose intolerant co-worker some yummy baked goods, we’d love for you to stop in.  Are you that vegetarian or lactose intolerant co-worker?  We’d love to see you too!  In addition to our daily baked goods, we also offer baked goods to order.

We will be having Breakfast with Santa this Saturday (12/17) from 10:00-12:00.  Bring the kids down for some breakfast (or lunch) and get a photo with Santa!  Santa will also be sharing some of his cookies with the kids to make it an extra special morning! (We will have non-dairy, vegan cookies for those tykes with dietary restrictions, too.)

Please also remember that we are accepting donations of toys and tote bags of non-perishable food items for those in need this holiday season.

We know, it’s the holidays.  And, with our family being from Western New York, we’re going to be taking some time to celebrate the holidays back home.  Our holiday hours are as follows:

Friday, December 23, 2011 – CLOSED

Saturday, December 24, 2011 – CLOSED

We will be back up and running on Monday, December 26th!

In addition to our home-cooked food, we also do fresh, homemade baked goods.  Why go with those boxed brand cookies, when you can have some delicious, homemade cookies instead?

We offer regular cookies (made like Grandma used to make them with all the “bad” stuff like milk and eggs), and we also offer dairy free and vegan options.  You can check out our baked good options here.

You can order your cookies (or other baked goods) by December 19th to have them ready in time for Christmas!

Give us a call at (412) 343-6580 for more details

As we mentioned previously, we are working with a few local charities this holiday season. In an effort to help those in need, we are accepting donations here in the cafe (Mt. Lebanon – on the Terrace Level of the Executive Building across from Rolliers).  We even decked out our donation boxes in festive holiday wrapping.  Now, all we need is your donations.  Stop in, grab a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, and drop off a toy or a tote bag of non-perishable food items.  Help us make someone’s holiday a little brighter this season. We want to see these boxes overflowing with donations!

And giving we’re doing!  Or, well, donating to be more specific.  This holiday season, we’ve got a few different projects we’re glad to help with.  And, we hope our patrons will help too.

1.  Christmas Crazy:  One of my awesome friends has come up with an awesome project to give back to the community.  Essentially, her goal is to bring the joy of Christmas to those who are less fortunate.  By raising money through her website, and through donations at locations such as my humble cafe, she’s looking to make this Christmas awesome for some great kids who may not otherwise have a Christmas.  As for how I get to help?  I will have a donation box on site at Cafe Solstice, to accept donations.  Bring down some toys for the kids at Alle-Kiski HOPE Center and the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.  If you prefer monetary donations, you can either donate through the Christmas Crazy link here, or you can make a donation in person at Cafe Solstice.

2.  The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project:  Another great lady I’ve had the pleasure of working with has organized a local drive to provide tote bags to the Pittsburgh Food Bank.  Have a spare tote bag (or two, or three…) hanging out at home?  Why not put it to some good use?  Tote bags are being collected at various locations throughout the City, including Cafe Solstice, to be repurposed for use through the Food Bank.  You can find out more about the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project through their website.

3.  Singing Rooster Coffee Drive:  We’ve had bags of Singing Rooster Coffee available since shortly after opening our doors a few months ago.  For $10.00, you get a premium bag of Mountain Bleu Roast, Haitian coffee.  What does that $10.00 do?  It goes to help rebuild Haiti – specifically it helps to go toward building a much needed medical center.  Instead of spending upwards of $10.00 on a bag of coffee from Starbucks, how about spending that $10.00 and knowing that it goes to help someone in need this holiday season?  Not sure whether or not you’ll like it?  Stop in for a sample.  We’re pretty confident that if you try it, you’ll likely want to buy a bag (or two, or three…).  And, it’s nice to know that you’re helping someone else in need by doing so.

You can donate to one of these great things, or a combination of the three.  Either way, we simply hope you donate.  Help make the holidays a little brighter for those in need.  You’ll make their day.  And, you may even find that that makes your day a little bright too.