The last Friday of the first month of the new year!

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Today is the last Friday of the first month of the new year, the 2021 year, and where has it gone?

Mondays are captured by the part time gig, the rest of the week have me adventuring to Paynesville for hanging out with my stepdad, weekends hold variables of low key to high energy. 

New things are incoming for Atomic Collars (found 2″ pink webbing & rose gold hardware!) plus sewing like a fiend. Plus a new way to post the images to the website that invokes the feel of retro & atomic.  Awesome things are coming!

Sessions are less frequent in the January – March timeframe, often due to cold. Though this Jan has been quite tolerable without a single negative temp day (we’re still getting into 10 and below, just not negative!). The pause in sessions allows for reflection, some updates to be taken care of to the website, and any tweaking to service, workflow and the many many areas of a business.  This has captured a fraction of the month’s time. 

Add in ample TV (daytime TV… oh the drama in the soaps!), assorted meals, a bit of furnace repair and odd bits and ends and you’ve got January in a pod. 

How’s your first month of the new year been?

Today, January 29th is:

– National Big Wig Day (wear a big wig to raise funds for the American Cancer Society Look Good/Feel Better division)
– National Corn Chip Day
– National Puzzle Day

Upcoming virtual event: Union Depot’s Doggie Depot! 

Taking place on Saturday February 6th (the last weekend of Winter Carnival) Union Depot will be hosting their dog friendly event virtually. Pop in the morning to do guided yoga with your pup, then visit the vendors and watch the crowning of the King & Queen at 1 pm! There will be tons of giveaways throughout the day. 

For all of the details: Union Depot Doggie Depot 

Vintage Recipe Time!

From our beloved 1896 Cook Book – Friday, January the twenty-ninth, the menu submitted by Harriet Mann of Evanston, Ill. 

BREAKFAST
Quaker oats
Codfish in puree of potatoes
Bread and butter
Hominy drop cakes
Coffee

LUNCHEON
Sardine salad
Cracker toast
Fairy gingerbread
Cheese
Tea

DINNER
Scotch roll
Shred cabbage
Riced potato
Togus bread
Cheese custards
Bread and butter
Bananas
Apples
Shells

Breakfast starts fair (Quaker oats have been around since 1877!) then whisks us into an interesting protein – codfish for breakfast? Interesting! Luncheon holds mild minus the sardine salad, with dinner ramping into a vibe of Scottish heritage (though Togus bread comes more from Canada than Scotland…). Not exactly sure what shells might be. 

Upon searching, shells make be a baked cake or pastry, baked so there is a bowl that fruit or filling can be added to. Intriguing. Togus is a steamed bread with a cornbread base. The recipe is found in this blog post!

Recipes include: Codfish in Puree of Potatoes, Hominy Drop Cakes, Sardine Salad, Cracker Toast (buttered soda crackers heated until golden brown), Fairy Gingerbread, Scotch Roll, and Cheese Custards. 

 

FAIRY GINGERBREAD
One cupful of butter, two of sugar, one of milk, four of flour, one-third teaspoon soda, one tablespoonful ginger. Beat the butter to a cream; add the sugar gradually, and when light, the ginger; the milk in which the soda has been dissolved, and finally the flour. Turn baking pans upside down and wipe the bottoms very clean. Butter them and spread the cake very thin upon them. Bake in moderate oven until brown. While still hot cut into squares with a cake knife and slip from the pan. Keep in a tin box. This is delicious. With this quantity enough for several days may be made. Remember to spread it as thin as a wafer and cut it the instant it is take from the oven. 

*Moderate oven: 350-375

SCOTCH ROLL
Remove the tough skin from about five pounds of flank of beef. With a sharp knife cut meat from the thick part and lay it upon the thin. Mix together two tablespoonfuls of salt, half a teaspoonful pepper, one-eighth teaspoonful of clove, and one teaspoonful of summer savory. Sprinkle this over the meat the sprinkle with three tablespoonfuls vinegar. Roll up and tie with twine. Put away in cold place for twelve hours. When it has stood so long, place it in a stew pan, cover with boiling water and simmer gently for three hours and a half. Mix four heaping tablespoonfuls of flour with half a cupful of cold water and stir into the gravy. Season to taste with salt and pepper and simmer half an hour longer. Good, either hot or cold. 

*Totally not the recipe I thought it would be! Rolls = a fluffy bread served with dinner. Google agrees that Scotch roll are bits of bread, not beef! 

Best of luck on the recipes! Have fun adventuring in the snow (we’re due for a bit more tomorrow) – we’re taking snowboard lessons tomorrow! EEEEEEEEEEK! Give your pup tons of loving!

If you want to banter, suggest ideas for the blog, set up your session, you can reach me via call or text 320-428-0135 / or via the socials: Facebook & Instagram

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Mid Month Friday + 2020 recap

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An odd snow day to start the mid month out on – crusty, crunchy – and not the 4-10 inches that were forecasted to blanket mid Minnesota today (granted there is still ample time for a rather large dumping of snow…)

Thus far the month has been tolerable for temperatures, with adventures in sledding and the idea of snowboarding (hasn’t happened yet, lessons will be in the works first!) while the daylight is stretching longer into the day with a formal sunset of 4:58. 

Today is: 
– National Hat Day
– National Strawberry Ice Cream Day (National Ice Cream Day happens July 1st!)
– National Bagel Day (first known mention of bagels is 1610, though they could have been around before!)

Our favorite bagel: french toast or blueberry!

Totally realized we didn’t do a recap of the AWESOME clients from 2020! 13 total sessions!

New friends, old comrades (Eli & Margot, Stewart, Kaedo, Willie & Dani) and a horse named Peas too!

Who’s who, from the top:
Rowdy, Clarabella, Mishka, Davey, Eli & Margot, Huey, Ozzie, Stewart, Kaedo, Willie, Stella, pack of 4  (Frankie, Maple, Trim & Billie Jean), Dani and Peas. 

* Fun note: Stella’s session was the very last of the year – it was on New Year’s Eve! And those baby bulldog wrinkles!!!!!!!

Vintage Recipe Time!

Before we adventure into today’s recipe… we made a graham muffin recipe! It was… successful, though the muffins ended up quite dense and non muffin like. No butter in the recipe from 1896, not sure if that is what made them so unique in shape and consistency.

2 batches baked, second batch gained a splash more of milk, ginger & mace. They rose a bit more but still the mouth feel was rather dense. Further experimenting will be needed. (The adventure will show up on the side blog Banterings).

With no further ado: Friday January the Fifteenth, 1896, submitted by Mrs. M. A. Sacksteder of Downer’s Grove Ill. 

BREAKFAST
Cerealine flakes
Liver and bacon, sauté
Bread and butter
Squash griddle cakes
Coffee

LUNCHEON
Welsh rarebit
Togus bread
Mother’s cake
Raspberry jam
Tea

DINNER
Tapioca cream soup
White fish au gratin
Potato puffs
Parsnips fried in molasses
Chow-chow
Cream cakes
Orange sherbet
Drip coffee

No idea what chow-chow is… a quick skim of the book and no recipe. Hmmm… onward to the Google machine!

Chow-chow is a pickled relish, pickled in a canning jar,  typically consisting of green tomatoes, cabbage, onion and peppers or a combination of carrots, beans, cauliflower or peas. They can be mild or spicy, with a distinct flavor profile pending on what region of the states you’re in. Southern chow-chow is usually just chopped bell peppers, green tomatoes, sweet onions and cabbage. Northern chow-chow can consist of cauliflower, carrots, beans, onions, bell peppers, and whatever else was leftover from the garden. 

—

Cerealine flakes were made from corn (flattened between rollers into flakes) and the first dry breakfast food retailed in America. Seems its consistency was akin to porridge more than our notion of cereal. Production ended in the just before the 20s as the market filled with crunchy cold cereal options (corn flakes arrived on scene in 1906) and Cerealine fell out of favor. 

—

Recipes included with this entry: Liver and Bacon, Welsh Rarebit, Togus Bread, Mother’s Cake, Tapioca Cream Soup, White Fish, Parsnips Fried in Molasses, and Orange Sherbet. 

WELSH RAREBIT, quick
Grate one pint of cheese. Sprinkle on it half a teaspoonful of mustard, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a speck of red pepper. Heap this on slices of buttered toast and put in the oven until the cheese begins to melt, when hurry to the table. 

TOGUS BREAD
Three cupfuls of sweet milk and one of sour, three cupfuls of Indian meal and one of wheat flour, half a cupful of molasses, one teaspoonful of saleratus, one of salt. Steam three hours. Good hot or cold. Enough for several meals. 

sweet milk = regular milk
sour milk = buttermilk
Indian meal = most likely corn meal
saleratus = baking powder

ORANGE SHERBET
Two gills of orange juice, one of lemon, one cup of sugar, one pint of cold water. Strain and freeze. 

gill = half a cup or 4 ounces

Been sewing like a fiend for Atomic Collars. Bin neckties and a pair of martingales, oh my! Plus there’s a new look to all of the product images – something that fits the “retro” feel of Atomic Collars. Take a gander and let me know what you think!

(Plus there’s a batch of plaids, upcycled from scarves in the ready in waiting stage! EEEEK!)

Stay warm, cozy and snuggled in with your pupper! 

Ample ways to chitchat – about the recipes, questions about photography, just general banter, setting up a session and beyond – email / call or text 320-428-0135 / Facebook or Instagram. 

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Enter in the New Year!

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Enter the New Year! 2021! We arrived at midnight, a huzzah and retirement to bed, after dusting the last of 2020 from our sleeves. Onward we forge!

Seems its time for resolutions, plans for the betterment of the future, often forfeited within the 3, 6 and 9 month range, all because our habits are quite solid (partnered with your beliefs, they are quite the beast when it comes to changing them).

If you’d like some reading material into habit changing & beliefs:
– James Clear, author of Atomic Habits:  “How to Change Your Beliefs and Stick to Your Goals for Good” & “How to Break A Bad Habit and Replace it with a Good One” – tons of blog posts & Atomic Habits is a good read as well
– Unf*ck Yourself & Stop Doing That Shit by Gary John Bishop (both solid reads, I will be revisiting them this year)
– The Psychology of Winning by Denis Waitley (the book is a little aged, but solid information)
–  I Am Going Rogue’s blog post “Unfuck Yourself” (focuses on limiting beliefs – seems rather new)

Understanding the rerouting of habits and beliefs, let’s now forge into our resolutions!

BUSINESS RESOLUTIONS:

PERSONAL RESOLUTIONS:

  • Weight maintenance
  • Less chaotic organization
  • Cook from the cookbook collection (or bake from them!)
  • Be more active throughout the day
  • Complete projects, courses, things started
  • Draw weekly & read frequently
  • Forge stronger friendships

What resolutions do you have for the coming year?

VINTAGE RECIPE TIME!

We’re at the beginning, the year still 1896. Our Fridays have aligned as the first day of the 2021 year is a Friday, as was the New Year’s day of 1896! 

The preface introduces us to the cook book as “This is a Cook Book by the people and for the people.” It also notes that there are three holiday menus – New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas (the latter two introduced to us last year.) Overall all the menus were prepared for a family of five whose style of living does not exceed an annual expenditure in provisions of a hundred dollars for each person! (As in all menus could be purchased & prepared for $500 for the year!)

The New Year’s Day menu starts us off, the beginning of the year and the book. Submitted by Miss Maud Schultze of Peoria Ill.

BREAKFAST
Milk porridge
Hominy and meat croquettes
Apple johnnycake
Apricot and fig sauce
Coffee

DINNER
Clear soup
Bread sticks
Stuffed whitefish – creamed oyster sauce
Roast venison
Currant jelly sauce
Ringed potatoes
Onion ormoloo
Walnut and watercress salad
French dressing
Cheese “fingers”
Celery
Timbales with preserved strawberries
Hot clear sauce
Ice pudding
Glaće chestnuts
Pralines
Raisins or dates (creamed)
Coffee

LATE LUNCHEON
Sliced venison with mustard
Bread and butter
Sponge cake
Oranges
Tea

Break in the New Year with some cheese “fingers” and ormoloo… and we’ve got a grand start to the year! Recipes included in the Cook Book are for: Milk porridge, apple johnnycakes, apricot and fig sauce, clear soup, stuffed whitefish & creamed oyster sauce, venison (as the main dish for a holiday dinner an eight pound haunch roast will be very fine;  six pounds, however, will be sufficient; the saddle is the next choice), currant jelly sauce, piquante sauce, walnut and watercress salad, cheese fingers, timbales with preserved strawberries, ice pudding, glaće chestnuts, pralines and cream dates. 

The ormoloo seems to be an onion pie of German descent (recipe for onion pie shows up on page 144), Google searches have it as a mashed onion dish similar to mashed potatoes. Ice pudding is frozen, in a way similar to ice cream. 

Below is a trio of recipes that could be an adventure to try:

APPLE JOHNNYCAKES
Mix a pint cornmeal with a scant half-cupful sugar, a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful cream tarter. Dissolve a half-teaspoonful soda in a little milk and stir into the meal, adding milk to make a batter as for pancakes – a cup and a half will be about the quantity. Add three very thinly sliced sour apples and bake in a moderate oven thirty-five minutes. 

Moderate oven = 350-375
Totally dog friendly! Share in moderation!

CHEESE “FINGERS”
When pies are made take a piece of pastry dough, roll out very thin and cut into strips as long and wide as a finger; spread on each strip grated cheese sprinkled with salt and pepper. Lay on another strip, pinch together, brush with yolk of egg, bake in a slow oven. If no pie crust is at hand a half-cupful flour, a tablespoonful butter and a little ice water will make a great plenty. 

Slow oven = 300-325
Time = try 10 minutes to start

Dog friendly! Share in moderation!

TIMBALES WITH PRESERVED STRAWBERRIES
For ten timbales beat the yolks of six eggs to a cream and add gradually five tablespoonfuls of sugar. Mix five tablespoons flour with six of milk, beating out the lumps; grate in the yellow part of the lemon rind and add the juice of the lemon and the sweetened yolks. Beat the six whites very stiff and add them to the mixture. Butter ten cups and nearly fill them with the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar; set them in a pan of hot water; let it nearly reach the tops of the cups; cover with sheet of thick paper; bake for half an hour in a hot oven; turn each out on a plate, add a spoonful of preserves and pour over them a hot sauce made of one one tablespoonful of flour, mixed dry, in a cup of sugar; add one-half cup of butter, a pint of boiling water. Boil ten minutes; add the grated rind of a lemon. Serve. 

Hot oven = 400-450
You could share these with your dog too!

Happy adventuring into these vintage recipes! 

Into the coming year we’ll continue to explore vintage recipes, chat about things from resolutions, and photography, to sessions and everything between.

If there’s any topic you’d like to explore and brain pick with me, let me know!

Want to get in touch, share your adventures in the vintage recipes, chit chat or snag a session, you can find us at: , Facebook or Instagram. Otherwise enjoy the snow with your dog (or snuggle in for the winter if your pup is a freeze baby!)

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Twas the Friday before Christmas

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Twas the Friday before Christmas,
the tree aglow,
the presents below,
Lists were checked twice
seems this year everyone was mega nice!
Plans for epic gingerbread
danced as ideas in our head.
One week until the day,
we celebrate family and open gifts, hooray!

Indeed, we have entered into the week before Christmas. And what a whoosh this month has done in moving forward. Soon we’ll be into the new year, full of resolutions and hope for a year of new “normal” to come. 

Tips for pictures of your dog with Christmas lights on a tree

The tree is decorated, with bulbs, ornaments and lights galore. How adorable would it be to capture your dog (or kids, or both) in front of the tree? MEGA adorable indeed!
 

Here are some tips to get those perfect Christmas light pictures:  

  1. Decide if you want a silhouette or to see your dog
    – silhouette = turn off the lights in the room minus the tree (the tree will be your light source)
    – want to see your dog = leave the lights on in the room, add light if needed!
  2. Move closer to your dog! Arm’s length or closer! This will make the light turn into adorable little dots of light
  3. Move your dog farther from the tree and move closer to him
  4. Zoom in! Telephoto lenses (should work similar with zooming in on a cell phone) will make the background look closer to your dog plus the lights of the tree will look more out of focus (dots of light). 
  5.  Using a fancy camera? Use a wide aperture! The most background blur will occur at f2.8-1.4. (If you don’t have a lens with that wide of an aperture, zoom in and move closer to your dog to get more blur and dots of light.)

Guess who was thrilled to be the model this morning? Yup that would be sir Bender.

A quick rearrange of the living room, an handful of treats and the rug moved into position (Bender doesn’t like to sit on the wood floor because he tends to slide) and we were in photography mode. 

 (Camera specs for the techy: Nikon Z6 II camera + adapter + Tamron 35-150mm f2.8-4 lens)

Sitting close to the tree.
46mm at f3 then zoomed to 85mm at f3.5. See how zooming in made a difference in the background and lights?

A little farther from the tree.
35mm at f2.8 then zoomed to 145mm at f4. See the difference in the background? Plus how Bender looks a little less like a bobblehead in the closer image? That’s telephoto compression!

Farther from the tree.
62mm at f3.3 then zoomed to 102mm at f3.8. 
* Due to where the couch was, I was a bit farther back from Bender, which is why the full body image is a little more zoomed than the first two. Also notice how dark his eyes are – he was directly under the ceiling light. Direct overhead light isn’t typically flattering. In this instance, I’d say add some light from the front, over your left or right shoulder.

Don’t have a flash? Grab a lamp! Aim it the direction you need to fill in with light. No lampshade will be a hard & bright light, while a lampshade will diffuse the light making it softer and dimmer. 

Popped over to Paynesville for a visit and brought along the Z6 II (newest in the arsenal & it’s mirrorless!).

Axle was ecstatic to see me and was insistent on being petted. He’s the dog who will use his paw to pull your hand towards him if you stop giving him chest scritches. 

Oh the greys! What a world of difference a few years makes! 2020 vs 2016. Awwww… he will be turning 10 this year!

Tootsie the moose!
Lily has the longest wiskers...
Snuggles, in classic form - ignore the camera & find the warmest place to snooze!

Onward to the vintage recipes!

A side note before we launch into a vintage Christmas dinner – we found a cookbook for dogs! It’s called “They Everything Cooking for Dogs Book” by Lisa Fortunato. It features 150 recipes that are for dogs, and sound tasty enough for people to have too! The future may have us pulling some of those recipes to share with you!

Onward! The menu for Christmas was submitted by Miss M. E. Wright of Cairo, Ill. It may be the most in depth for recipes in the 1896 cookbook, spanning from page 579 to page 581.

BREAKFAST
Fruit
Maizena and cream
Potato and ham sandwiches
Finger biscuits
Raised flannel cakes
Coffee

DINNER
Raw oysters with sliced lemon
Thin bread and butter
Tomato bisque
Lobster chops
Roast goose, apple sauce
Giblet gravy
Stuffed onions
Mashed potatoes
Wild cherry and almond sorbet
Celery salad with mayonnaise dressing
Grated cheese
Salted wafers
Christmas pudding – foam sauce
Kisses filled with whipped cream
Grapes
Nuts
Dates
Coffee

LATE LUNCHEON
Slices of roast goose – deviled
Celery salad with sandwiches
Cocoa
Fruit

A rather robust and filling menu! Most likely dinner was served between noon & 3 pm, hence the late luncheon of a lighter meal that follows. Recipes included under the entry: Potato and Ham Sandwiches, Finger Biscuits, Raised Flannel Cakes, Lobster Chops, Roast Goose, Giblet Gravy, Stuffed Onions, Wild Cherry and Almond Sorbet, Christmas Pudding, Foam Sauce and “Devil” for Slices of Goose. 

Maizena = brand of corn starch (yes you can still get it today!)

The eye catchers for recipes: Finger Biscuits, Raised Flannel Cakes, Wild Cherry and Almond Sorbert and that lovely Roast Goose. 

FINGER BISCUITS
Mix and sift three times one quart flour, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder and a teaspoonful of salt. Stir in sweet milk enough to make a soft dough. Flour the breadboard and turn out the dough on it, touching it as little as may be. Beat to a cream two tablespoonfuls butter, one teaspoonful lard and one tablespoonful sugar. Spread this on the dough, double the dough over it, flour it slightly and press it out with the rolling-pin half an inch thick. With a knife cut the dough into strips finger length. Lay them close together in the pan and bake in a quick oven. They are peculiarly delicate. 

* sweet milk = regular milk
* quick oven = 400-425
* assumed time – try 8-10 minutes

** Share with your pupper – in moderation! All the ingredients are dog friendly!

RAISED FLANNEL CAKES
Boil a pint and a half of sweet milk and let it stand till lukewarm. Add two large tablespoonfuls yeast and pour upon one pint flour, one-half pint cornmeal; one teaspoonful salt and one tablespoonful sugar, mixed well together. Cover closely and put in a warm place. In the morning add two eggs, beaten separately. Let the batter stand fifteen minutes, if convenient, after adding the eggs. Bake on a hot griddle. 

* sweet milk = regular milk
* one-half pint = 1 cup

** flannel cakes are similar to pancakes, give them a flip while you bake them on a hot griddle
** Share with your dog – all the ingredients are dog friendly – remember moderation!

WILD CHERRY AND ALMOND SORBET
One quart water, one pint white sugar, juice of one lemon, six sweet almonds, blanched and pounded; one bitter almond, a wineglassful of wild cherry sirup. Freeze in a freezer; when half frozen add the beaten whites of three eggs. Serve in glass cups. The yolks of the eggs can be used in the mayonnaise dressing for the celery salad. 

*wineglassful = 2 oz = 1/4 cup

* sweet almonds are the ones you snack on, bitter almonds contain cyanide – don’t eat them raw! Better to use an almond extract. Exact amount – seems it’s better to err less with the extract.
** DON’T SHARE with your dog! Almonds aren’t good for dogs!

ROAST GOOSE
Select a young goose, which can be told by a brittle windpipe, white skin, plump breast and yellow feet; the web should tear easily. An old goose is known by its red feet. Singe, draw, wash and wipe the goose. Beat the breast flat with a rolling-pin, draw up the legs and skewer both legs and wings close to the body. Stuff with the following dressing: One pint stale bread crumbs, two medium-sized onions boiled and mashed, one-half teacupful boiled rice, one teaspoonful powdered sage, one half teaspoonful salt, one-fourth teaspoonful pepper, one tablespoonful melted butter and one-half teacupful milk. Roast in a covered pan, allowing rather more than twenty minutes to the pound. Baste frequently with the following mixture: One teaspoonful made mustard, a saltspoonful salt, a dash of cayenne, a large tablespoonful melted butter, a teacupful hot water, a teaspoonful vinegar. This basting is a great improvement. 

* one-half teacupful = 2 oz = 1/4 cup
* saltspoonful = 1/4 teaspoon
* teacupful = 4 oz = 1/2 cup 

** If you don’t wan’t to singe, draw (remove the insides), wash & wipe the goose, you can opt for a ready to go goose. There’s a company in South Dakota that produces geese for eating – Schiltz Foods. A young goose is going to cost $95-150ish, pending size. They also offer smoked and preroasted geese!

We hope you will have a wonderful Christmas filled with cheer, love and family (in a safe way). Kris, Bender, Axle and I send our love to you (if you want a Christmas card, its more likely you’ll get a winter greetings vs Christmas card! Hahaha!).

If you want to send us a card drop us an email – or text us at 320-428-0135 and we’ll send you our address!

Have a wonderful week before Christmas!

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Two Fridays before Christmas…

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Two Fridays before Christmas, egads when did the time traipse so quickly by?

We’ve hit the marker of 14 whopping days before Christmas (the song 12 Days of Christmas could kick up on Sunday, though the 12 days actually occur the 12 days AFTER Christmas), a smooth two weeks before we tear into gifts and celebrate with eggnog and Christmas lasagna.

Additionally, Hanukkah starts today!

This year has been quite a cluster and it has impacted a bazillion small businesses. See if you can aim towards local businesses for your gift purchasing this year.

Understandably the investment for a session with About A Dog Photography is a bigger one than buying handcrafted socks, but there are other ways to help us out. Sign up for the Beyond the Barking Basics course, snag The Dogs of Minneapolis (plus help out rescues!), or pop over to Atomic Collars and snag some swag. 

If you missed it, we created a massive collective list of local and other dog businesses that would love the extra boost this year. Need a refresher? Find the list here!

Sweet butter lettuce, there are two weeks to create a gingerbread house from scratch! Eons of time until you realize how booked solid your schedule has become, plus the part of figuring out which gingerbread recipe to use! (Construction gingerbread will get your miles ahead, though the taste tends to be lackluster.) 

In curiosity, the 1896 was consulted. In its own subheading of GINGERBREAD, just after cookies (which interestingly are found under the CAKE AND CAKES subheading), there are 3 recipes for gingerbread and 12 variations from fairy to World’s Fair. 

Afterwards is found Jumbles to Yolk Rings (17 entries), though they seem to be the misfits categories, not falling under cakes, gingerbread or desserts and puddings. 

History of gingerbread: a simpler variation of it was consumed by ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks, though it didn’t arrive in Europe until the 11th century when Crusaders brought back ginger from the Middle East. Add a transition of breadcrumbs to flour, then the popularization of gingerbread men from Queen Elizabeth I (she made them into the likenesses of the visiting dignitaries!). 

Gingerbread houses don’t show up in popularity until the Brothers Grim crafted the witch’s house in Hansel & Gretel in the 19th century! (Germans were making gingerbread houses as early as the 16th century). 

Current times have us baking records and competing in competitions! (Google: national gingerbread house competition and prepared to be wowed!)

The aim for this year is neither a record or a competition, but instead a crafting of vision (Santa’s house over a reindeer stable… ambitious much?) Not sure I’ll use any of the very vintage recipes, but perhaps. Below is the trio of the gingerbreads, plus a trio of ones that caught the fancy. 

GINGERBREAD pg 20
One-half cup of molasses, one-half cup of sugar, one-third cup of milk, one-third cup of butter, one egg, one teaspoon of soda in the molasses, one teaspoon each of ginger, salt & cinnamon, two cups flour. Bake in flat pan and cut with heated knife. Very good on a cold day with a glass of hot milk into which a trifle of salt has been put. 

GINGERBREAD pg 72
Warm one-half scant cup of butter, one cup of molasses, one-half cup brown sugar, one-half teaspoonful mixed cinnamon and mace, one tablespoonful ground ginger, slightly together, and stir to a yellow brown cream; add half a cup of milk, two beaten eggs, and one level teaspoonful of soda dissolved in the milk, and two and a half cups of flour; beat well and bake in a large shallow pan. 

GINGERBREAD pg 322

Doesn’t seem to exist… Possibly a typo from 124 years ago? None of the recipes around that date have gingerbread. Odd…

* Assumed oven temp: try 350
** Assumed bake time: for cookies 8-10 minutes, for the shallow pan try 45 mins

Gingerbread pg 20 is DOG FRIENDLY! (Moderation of course!)
Gingerbread pg 72 is only dog friendly if you OMIT the MACE! (Mace comes from the same family as nutmeg which is toxic to dogs!)

GINGERBREAD – FAIRY
One cupful of butter, two of sugar, one of milk, four of flour, one-third teaspoon soda, one tablespoonful ginger. Beat the butter to a cream; add the sugar, gradually, and when light, the ginger; the milk in which the soda has been dissolved, and finally the flour. Turn baking pans upside down and wipe the bottoms very clean. Butter them and spread the cake very thin upon them. Bake in a moderate oven until brown. While still hot cut into squares with a cake knife and slip from the pan. Keep in a tin box. This is delicious. With this quantity enough for several days may be made. Remember to spread it as thin as a wafer and cut it the instant it is taken from the oven. 

GINGERBREAD – WARREN
Good gingerbread can only be made of the dark New Orleans or Porto Rico molasses. The following is a Dixie recipe and infallible: One-half cup butter, warmed till soft; one and one-half cups molasses, three-fourths cup boiling water, three level cups sifted flour, one slightly heaping teaspoonful of soda, one and one-half heaping teaspoonfuls ginger, on and one-half teaspoonfuls cinnamon, one saltspoonful cloves, one saltspoonful nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Put molasses in one bowl and add melted butter, spices and soda. When thoroughly mixed together add the boiling water, the the flour, beating until all lumps are gone. Bake in moderate oven. As anything made with molasses burns easily, the pan must be lined with thick double paper, or, the easiest method is to use two pans, the same size, putting one inside the other. 

GINGERBREAD – WORLD’S FAIR
Here is highly spiced gingerbread that will keep for a long time and makes a fine cake for travelers’ lunch. Thoroughly sift two quarts of flour and one even teaspoonful of saleratus together in a pan. Rub into it one cupful of butter and one pound of good brown sugar; add to the mixture one pint of New Orleans molasses, of the purest quality, six well-beaten eggs, one after-dinner coffee cupful of ground ginger, one tablespoonful of cinnamon and a teaspoonful of salt. This makes a soft dough, too soft to roll. Lift it on to your board with a knife and spread it to an equal thickness with it. Cut into small cakes, lay them far apart in buttered pans and bake in a quick oven. 

* Moderate oven – Fairy & Warren: 350-375° 
* Quick oven – World’s Fair: 375-400°
** Assumed bake times: 16-20 minutes for Fairy,  25-35 minutes for Warren (as a cake), 8-10 minutes for World’s Fair as they are cut into small cakes

* World’s Fair – saleratus = sodium bicarbonate = baking soda
* World’s Fair – one after-dinner coffee cupful = approx 3 ounces = 6 tablespoonfuls 

Fairy is DOG FRIENDLY / Warren IS NOT dog friendly (cloves and mace are a no no!) / World’s Fair is DOG FRIENDLY!

Regular scheduled vintage recipe time!

We harken back to 1896, a Saturday. The menu submitted by Mrs. Mary L. Cavanagh of Iowa City, Iowa. 

BREAKFAST
Grapes
Wheatena and cream
Pork tenderloins
Sanded potato cakes
Apple gems
Coffee

LUNCHEON
Veal toast
Home-made rye bread and butter
Potato rusks
Boiled apples
Tea

DINNER
Beef stew with dumplings
Scalloped tomatoes
Vegetable oysters
Cucumber pickles
Cranberry shortcake
Coffee

Wheatena is a cereal, started in 1879 and made from toasted, ground, wheat cereal. Indeed it still exists to this day, under the same name making it a long standing 141 years old! And we’ve never heard of it, have you? 

The other curiosities: Sanded potato cakes (they aren’t listed in the recipes and none are listed in the index either), home-made rye bread (no recipes given, only one listing, pg 180, the entry right above brains), and potato rusks (they seem to be potato cakes with yeast). Vegetable oysters are made from salsify, a root veggie related to parsnips. Quite interesting!

Next week we’ll skip ahead a week to give you ample time to craft from the Christmas menu, featuring a late luncheon (we feast at the midday dinner!).

This weekend should be the assembly and decoration of the Christmas tree. That means we can talk about getting epic holiday images with your dog plus the holiday lights indoors! Of course Bender will be thrilled…

Until we meet again next week, keep you jolly spreading (safely of course!), give your dog tons of love, and get out into those non December weather temp days!

If you need to get ahold of us (chit chat, scheduling your session, baking success or fail, etc) email:  / text or call 320-428-0135 / Facebook & Instagram

Two Fridays before Christmas… Read More »

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