♪ Hello and welcome to another edition of Northwest Profiles.

I'm Lynn, Veltrie your host, and as always, we're happy to have you with us as we usher in the start of the holiday season.

A reflective time of year that allows us to count our blessings, share time with friends and loved ones, and enjoy a festive meal or two.

Coming up, we have prepared for you a delicious assortment of stories that are sure to warm the soul and remind us all of just how lucky we are to live in a place we're delighted to call home.

The Inland Northwest and western Canada.

So with a feast of stories ready to consume, let's dig in, shall we?

We begin here in Spokane with a true story of Thanksgiving, with a profile of Pingala Dhital.

A refugee who escaped violence in her home country of Bhutan and eventually arrived in Spokane in 2008.

Since then, Pingala has not only made Spokane her home, but she now shares her love of cooking and community with others.

Food connects people.

As a refugee, when I go into Feast, I feel like a some sort of peace, a comfort.

My name is Pingala Dhital.

I am a former Bhutanese refugee.

I was born in Bhutan and I basically grew up in Bhutan until I was 17.

It was really nice living in the country where you are born with your relatives around, going to school, dreaming about future.

Just a very normal life.

But then we did not know what was coming from the government.

We became the victim of ethnic cleansing policy; implemented by the government in 1990.

The government implemented a One Nation One People policy, which means we had to change our dress code to how we keep our hair.

We felt like it was an attack to our culture.

There was a peaceful protest.

Who ever participatedin the peaceful demonstration were tagged as anti-nationals.

There was arrest, rape, all kinds of things which basically forced people to flee.

And the rest had to sign voluntary migration form, saying that I'm leaving the country happily, but which was at gun point.

When we fled, we came to India.

But after nine months, the India government did not want us in India.

They loaded us in a truck and brought us to Nepal.

Then the bilateral talks started to happen between the government of Bhutan and Nepal.

We hoped that we would go back home in six months, which took them 15 years.

The whole new generation were born in the camp.

I got married and had kids, and after 15 years, the talks ended in a deadlock.

We did not know where to go.

Then we learned the US actually came up with an offer to resettle over 60,000 Bhutanese refugees.

So we came to Spokane in 2008.

At first I was worried.

Being so far away and being a first family, not having anyone, we accepted this is our fate and we have to make the best out of it.

So that's that was our attitude.

We learned about Dan Todd, who started the Inland Curry.

He invited me as a as an international chef to do an event one evening.

He started talking about a rotation like kitchen.

That was his dream.

Feast World Kitchen is a place where people can try international food.

The food that we find at Feast is where former refugees and immigrants can come and cook their ethnic food.

You know, food.

It's our story with Ema Datshi, that's from Bhutan.

And then you come to Paneer, which is India.

And then the tofu, I got in Nepal, and with the American abundance, you can bring everything together.

That's how I build my recipe and my menu.

For me, it's basically living your past life and connecting to yourself.

And I think it's growing.

And Spokane is loving feast.

And so which is really inspiring to see our city allowing Feast to grow.

I work for Thrive and I manage a program called Mahima, which means grace, where a group of women will come.

They make jewelry together, they laugh, they have tea together.

Then we start talking about deeper issues.

But I work with the counselors to create that cultural humility so that the services will be more effective.

We empower and we validate and equip refugee women to thrive in Spokane community.

And with that skill, and the strength they can come together and build a stronger community.

This is the purpose of my life, like because I didn't get to do what I wanted to do.

Now I find it's very fulfilling, very satisfying to see somebody smiling, somebody getting to do what they love to do.

I just want to dig a little deeper into my own life project and why we have to be here this far away and why we can't go back to the place where we were born even to visit.

Everybody goes to their home country, but we can't.

So that's my next project.

Life doesn't stop where you are.

The cycle keeps going.

If you would like to support Feast World Kitchen and others like Pingala, please visit feastworldkitchen.org.

Now for our next story we enter into the world of dance with a visit to Los Bailadores Del Sol, a Yakima dance company that entertains and educates people about traditional Mexican folkloric dance.

Meet the company's co-directors and discover how they are taking steps to preserve dance traditions that date back centuries.

[Music] [Jay] I guess you can say I have it in my blood, but I myself have been dancing since I was about six years old in the dance group.

[Music] Los Bailadores del Sol was originally established in 1981 by a group of educators.

In 1984, it was taken over by a gentleman by the name of Basilio Rodriguez, who basically took it up all the way until 2009, where my niece and nephew and then I came along as directors shortly after.

My name is Cynthia Deloza, co-director of Los Bailadores del Sol.

So I collaborate with Jay and we get together to talk about what we would like to teach, what our vision is for the group.

I also help break down the steps.

I model a lot with Jay.

[Jay] And see how shes looking at me and Im looking at her?

So we teach dances from all across Mexico, from different regions and different states, and so we have a variety of of different dances that we that we're able to perform.

Some dancers from the state of Jalisco, which is what weve been teaching our beginners class and some from the state of Veracruz as well.

Two completely different region, two completely different states.

Ah, Jalisco is on the Pacific side, kind of central part of Mexico, where Veracruz is on the eastern side of Mexico and more towards the peninsula.

So it's a lot more humid.

And so the costumes actually reflect that, and they represent that because in Veracruz, our customers are all white, you know, lightweight, just a lot cooler based on the area that they're from.

Where for Jalisco, it's big, traditional sombreros for the men and the ladies have the big colorful dresses.

And the men, are more of a, um, masculine, I guess, you know, when they come out in their charro suits, theyre representing basically a Mexican cowboy, if you will.

You know, the women with the dresses they just they bring all the color and the elegance into it.

[Music] It can be a little bit...um, I guess I would say, just difficult, [laughs] for the girls just because they're not just thinking about footwork anymore.

It's footwork and skirt work, [laughs].

Yeah, so.

When you have that skirt on though, its.

it can be very heavy.

You get a total body workout when you have a skirt on.

At practice, it might be a little bit on the stressful side, you know, getting off the kids to like pay attention or want to do it one more time or so.

We really just teach the girls, you know, it's hard right now, but when you're performing it, you just feel beautiful.

But the day of the show, that's where, you know, we see the kids really shine, really get excited.

You might have some hiccups here and there, but you just feel this sense of pride knowing that they worked so hard to even just perform the one dance that they've, you know, that they're doing or two dances that they're doing.

But seeing some growth from when they first started to being on that stage, at that point, it's, it's very rewarding.

[Eva] My favorite thing about it is doing performances.

I do get some butterflies because sometimes I worry that Im going to forget the dance.

But then once I am out there and I hear the music then its like all fine.

You know, when you're in front of a crowd, at first it's a little scary, of course, you know, but then your adrenaline kind of kicks in and the music starts going.

And yeah, you just know, like for me, I just know this is my culture and this is what I want to be able to share with people.

And there is a difference between the dance styles.

For example, in the state of Jalisco, the ladies dresses are flowing and there is a lot of movement, where in the state of Veracruz, there are a lot more still.

They're not moving them quite as much.

The guys in Jalisco dancing will have their hands behind their back.

Veracruz, they have them straight down to their sides.

[Music] The music is different.

There's a different style.

[Music] For Jalisco, it's kind of a traditional mariachi, where you hear the trumpets and you hear some of the traditional music that you might think of when you think of Mexican dancing.

[Jalisco Music] In Veracruz, There's a lot of smaller guitars.

They have harps and things like that.

And so the music is a lot softer.

[Veracruz Music] If you can think of more of a Caribbean feel to the state of Veracruz versus Jalisco, which is more of the mariachi band.

So yeah, so they're both a little bit different, but very unique and very, very beautiful [Sounds of the fair.]

And I really enjoy the whole of preparing for a show, just getting together with, you know, some of the other female dancers and helping each other put, you know, our hair pieces on or you know, getting all the extra fluff, I guess that, you know, the lashes, the makeup, the, you know, all that good stuff, getting them all that together and really just bonding with some of the kids in our group or with our own family members.

That's my favorite part, I guess, is all the backstage stuff.

You know, where we're not just performing.

We're you know, we're making memories.

We're spending time with our families, our friends and just knowing that we're creating those memories.

It's it's very heartwarming.

[Cynthia] I just feel as being a Mexican-American, it can be difficult.

You know, sometimes we just lose our sense of culture.

You know, we kind of develop our new culture, you know, being around whatever community you live in, you develop that culture, which is 100% okay.

But we should always, always be tied to where our history came from, where, you know, our family members have come from.

[Sounds of the fair] We don't charge anything to our students.

We're just teaching it.

We're out here, we're doing it for free, and we're trying to pass that culture and those traditions on to the next generation.

In the way that I see it is that our culture, our tradition, the beauty of the traditional Mexican dancing, it kind of lives and dies with each generation, right?

So if we don't pass that along, then that's it.

That's as far as it goes.

And I feel like it's, it's our duty and our responsibility to be able to pass that on to the next generation.

Those Bailadores del Sol travels and performs throughout the Pacific Northwest.

And if you want to find out more, including where and when you can by following them on Facebook.

For our third course, we head south to Lewiston, Idaho, just outside the city on Craig Mountain, you'll discover beautiful Lake Waha.

The lake has a long history with the locals who back in the day would flock there on hot summer days.

Today we're stopping on the way at the locally famous Waha Grill to enjoy a fine meal with a generous side of local history If you lived in Lewiston, Idaho, in the late 1800s and wanted to escape to summer h Lake Waha was the place to be.

Back then, the 19 mile trek could only be reached after a ve four hour, horse and buggy ride the two mile long lake was a bea setting for a cool summer break.

The word Waha is the Native Amer meaning subterranean water or be In the old days, go back 100 yea This was quite a place.

And where the old saloon was on the corner.

That was a stage stop.

For many years, Waha was the fir on the stagecoach line between Lewiston and Cottonwood, As the area grew in popularity.

Dances were held every Saturday and a hotel with nearby cabins sprang up to accommodate summer In 1892, the original Waha store which served as a post office, s stop and store was built near th Eventually Waha had two stores.

Well, the story is Harvey Hartle the old one, but he sold it to a And that guy was a terrible man business and Harvey realized tha So he offered him $10,000 about a year later to buy back.

And he laughed and he said, okay I'll build one right below you, So about a week or two later, they bought two and a half acres from the 21 ranch.

Behold below.

There was the Craig Mountain sto at that time.

And then changed to Waha was about ten years later.

The last remaining historical bu The general store burned down in but the Waha bar & grill remains Opened in 1975 and originally na the Craig Mountain Store.

The Waha Bar and Grill has had its share of owners come and go.

The current owners, the Haywards made operating the grill a famil Well, we didn't choose it.

It chose us.

Wendy and Adam decided they needed a change.

So they sold their home, packed up everything they owned, and bought a restaurant.

We found it online, actually.

And because my son in law is a chef by trade.

It was kind of a natural curiosi So we came out and looked at it and we really liked it.

We love the closeness of the com just fell in love with the area.

Wendy and Adam brought along four adult daughters, two sons in law and eight grandc We all pitch in and help each ot We have grandkids that are from baby stage to teen the kids that are too small, they really warm the hearts of p coming in here with their smiles And then all of us, you know, share in the cooking and the ser and the other duties like cleaning and such.

So it really works well as a fam The Haywards have made a few cha to the grill here and there, but the biggest change is a reva by their son in law, David, a culinary school graduate with of experience in high end restau But the food here at the Bar and is probably better than it's been for years.

Several of the owners was terrib terrible cooks, terrible, you kn probably better now than it ever was, you know?

When the Haywards celebrated their one year anniversary of ow they threw a party for the commu Well, I've learned a lot since I've been here.

There is quite a lot of history with the stagecoach running thro And we used to be older general that burned down and there used to be an ice cave And so there's a lot of curiosit and nostalgia here.

And there was an ice cave and you could go back in there.

It was partly back in the mounta and it was probably 40 degrees, 38, 40 somewhere.

And that's where they kept all their beer and their cold dr But in the summer there was a ba and it was a sawdust floor.

And people, when it get 110 in t come up and in the summer that was always full.

People bellied up to the bar in and that ice cave.

One thing that Wendy and Adam di back from the past is the genera Serves a lot of the community that lives up here as we are not really close to to The community really relies on this place as a place you know, coming together and having a place to eat, but, you know, a place to just gather and meet each other.

And so it's been here for so lon that people do rely on it.

And we try and we try to be there and available for them.

In appreciation of the local community that supports them.

Waha Grill is serving its annual free meal on Thanksgiving Day.

Now our dessert course.

And just in time for the holidays, you might be wondering what does it take for someone to be a mega collector?

Well, you're about to find out when we take a peek at an extraordinary and sizable collection that for many of us symbolizes the holiday season.

Like most collections, it started small.

And in this case was passed down from father to daughter.

A large assortment of treasures on display are gathered in a room highlighting the many years of collecting objects.

Objects that frequently are associated with the holiday season.

With a little bit of family help from her father Hal, C.J Davis has amassed a huge selection of nutcrackers that fills a bevy of shelves in her Hayden, Idaho home.

To put you in the mood, you can't enjoy something like this without a little bit of Bavarian music.

>> I am C.J Davis and I acquired this collection in 1989 when my father passed away and he asked me to keep the collection going.

It's the second world's largest collection of nutcrackers.

I have just under 3000.

My father had probably 1800 and I've collected the rest since then.

And they're all German.

I don't have the Chinese or Japanese nutcrackers or mainly German.

Russian.

Austria.

Higher quality nutcrackers.

Hand-carved nutcrackers.

Every Nutcracker maker makes these four nutcrackers.

The king is how you want to start your collection.

The king watches over your entire collection.

After that, you want to get a guard, someone with a weapon, a sword, something that can protect your king.

After that, you want a chimney sweep in the European homes.

A chimney sweep as a sign of good luck.

Everyone has a chimney sweep.

It could be on their dishes, their linens or curtains.

But everybody has this chimney sweep in their balls.

The fourth one, you want somebody with a musical instrument that can draw attention to your collection.

So those are the first four special ones.

Then the German artists decided to do the doctor, the baker, the candlestick maker, and all of the characters from all the different fairy tales and makes them special to the American people.

>>Some of these nutcrackers actually crack nuts if it is so desired, but most are nt meant to be used in such a manner.

>>They did have a function.

The ones, the German ones.

Now they build them in a fashion where you actually can use them.

The cheaper ones, though, you can't use those.

They break on the first nut.

But yes, they did have a purpose in the metal ones, made by Crackenbush.

Those all had a purpose.

And these more and more of a novelty, I think, of the character or the series of the character, like The Wizard of Oz and this series here of The King's Court, Merlin, the People by the series.

And it's whatever fairy tale or story that they like and they buy the series, but they're not buying them to crack nuts.

This is known as an indirect pincher type where they actually do not crack in the mouth, but they crack in the back.

First nutcracker.

My dad got, a little gnome.

I was six years old and on our way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Iowa to visit my grandparents and we stopped at an antique store and he found this little gnome and he had to have it.

My mom had it.

I thought we were going to have a divorce on the spot.

My mom said, What are you buying that thing for?

And then came two, and then came three.

And then came.

So they came in faster than I could dust.

And we had a bookshelf of them.

And the bookshelf turned into this.

>>It's hard to imagine the Christmas season without nutcrackers, derived from an 1816 German short story called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

The ballet was adapted from it in 1891 and has since spawned an industry associated with them.

Nutcrackers, have been around for centuries and have advanced in design and function to today's eye catching, colorful collectible objects.

>>The German nutcrackers show their teeth where the American makers don't show their teeth and they believe it's a German for folklore that they believe that like a trusty dog, they come out at night to say hail to the and that is to protect their owner.

The American artists don't believe that folklore.

>>Next to the world's second largest collection of nutcrackers, the world's largest, resides in Leavenworth, Washington, at just under 10,000 in their museum, which leads to which leads to CJs plan for a future home for her collection.

This collection is going to join the collection in Leavenworth.

When?

I don't know.

It's got to be pretty soon because of my age, but I'm going to donate it to and it was my father's wishes that it go to that museum and more people in the world can enjoy it.

This has added a lot to my life.

It's fun to share them.

They like to be seen.

They like to be shared, which is quite loud around here, especially at midnight when you hear them all!

hail to thee.

It's so noisy up here.

Wow.

What a collection.

And on that note, and with our appetite for quality storytelling satisfied, it's time to call it a day.

And of course, be sure to join us again for more Northwest Profiles after the first of the year.

Until then, this is Lynn.

Veltrie wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons.

And remember, the Inland Northwest in western Canada offers plenty to see and do year round.

So go exploring.

And when you do take time to enjoy the view.