Mid month Friday.  2 weeks prior to the gathering of family and food, 2 weeks prior to the black weekend (which per Target / Walmart / others is the “old” way to do it, so the ENTIRE month of November is Black Friday.) An average Friday, on an average date, back into the winter vibes with the snow and crisp 20s temperatures. The birds are adorable as they fluff into poofs, keeping warm as they squabble over the birdseed bits. 

Ooooooo….

In a curious look up, today is actually an awesome day (no not donuts, cake or coffee). Today is: World Kindness Day.

In all the hoopla of our daily lives, today is a grand encourager to remember kindness. The “new normal” means you can’t dole out a plethora of hugs as a kind gesture. Perhaps it could be shoveling your neighbor’s sidewalk, paying it forward at the grocery store or coffee shop, or giving the extra care and appreciation to everyone we meet throughout the day. Yes, masks make it a bit more challenging to convey a smile when out with others. Give open gestures, bright eyes and trust me, those smiley crows feet wrinkles still show up around your eyes when you do crack a ginormous smile. 

Be kind. 

Not just today, but as we begin to create our new forward momentum in this “new normal”. 

The best way to thwart the early onset winter blues: a sassy husky pup (she was 6 months old during her session). This gorgeous, spunkful gal is Mishka! How freaking cute is she??? She was happy to trample the flowers, sniff and pose for treats during her summer session. She was a total sassafras and an absolute charmer!  Want to follow her sassy antics? Find her on Instagram: meanie_mishka. ( Follow her big brother Shiloh too – shiloh.the.sheltie.)

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
There’s a new camera who is living with the rest of the Nikon pack – the Nikon Z6 II! 

She arrived this week, sleek, sharp and snappy. She’s a mirrorless camera, smaller and lighter, capable of ample pictures per second and a coveted 120p 1080 video (slow motion!). PLUS there’s human and animal face tracking which is mega awesome! We haven’t had much time to play as the snow came the same day she did. 

Camera #4 of the Nikon pack which includes: Nikon D5, D750, and D300s. (The starter Canon still lives here, plus a little mirrorless Sony NEX).  An exciting new adventure!

Recipe time: Into 1896. The date, as always, was a Saturday. The menu of recipes submitted by Alice Caskey of Burlington WI (6 hours away from St. Cloud, 5 hours mins away from Minneapolis, just south of Milwaukee). 

A hearty menu, mushroomed cutlets is interesting (uses the mushrooms as a coating for frying). No idea what cream toast is (could be simply a cream sauce over toast?) and the recipe for the pumpkin soup starts: “This is a novelty and delicious.” The New England apple pie, as most pie recipes in this cookbook has no recipe for the pastry, merely the ingredients to go within the pie. (There’s “a wee dash of red pepper” in this apple pie recipe – plus the recommended apples are Baldwin or Greening.)

The curiosities lie in Mexican stew and the Columbia cake (seems we prefer desserts over savory…).

MEXICAN STEW
A large cupful of cold, cook and minced chicken. Take half the quantity of uncooked ham cut in very small dice, both fat and lean, and fry for a moment in a tablespoonful of butter, add the chicken, a teaspoonful of minced parsley, a dash of pepper, and when very hot stir in two heaping cupfuls of boiled seasoned rice. Toss all lightly together, and give just a dash of lemon juice. 

* Half the quantity of uncooked ham seems to be half the amount of the chicken – half a cup
** Not sure what seasonings might be used in the rice – perhaps Mexican/Tex-Mex influence?
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COLUMBIA CAKE
– Three eggs
– One teacupful sugar
– One tablespoonful butter
– One and one-half teacupfuls flour
– Half a teacupful of cold water
– One teaspoonful of baking powder
– One teacupful of chopped hickory nut meats

Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, add the yolks of the eggs, beat well, add the water, then the flour and baking powder; mix well, add the nut meats and then the well beaten whites of the eggs. 

And… that’s it.
With cooking and baking handed down from cook to cook, it was assumed that the knowledge of how hot an oven and the duration of time for a cake is assumed. 

* 1 teacupful = 4 ounces / 1 cup = 8 ounces, thusly 1 teacupful may be half of a cup
** teacupful is an approximate measure – you would literally take a teacup and use it to measure ingredients / 2 teacups = 1 coffeecup (there’s a wiki on approximate measurements – how many have you heard of?)
*** bake time try: 30-40 mins / bake temperature try: 325 to 450

In the food exploration: mascarpone cheese

Baking & cooking shows, a favorite of mine throughout the year, often mention adding mascarpone to mixtures. So we quested, to the fancy land of Lunds & Byerlys. (Actually the quest was for allspice, but since we were there… Opal apples and mascarpone!). Tucked by the fancy cheeses, somewhere between mozzarella and feta, in a quaint little tub, one of a kind. Snagged. 

The taste test: it’s like an earthy, less tangy cream cheese
(cream cheese is a relative, made from milk, whereas mascarpone is made with cream.)
– eaten with: ginger cookies, in the dinner salad (the blue cheese took over) and on homemade banana bread
– tasty, super soft, spreads like butter

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The next curious in food exploration: persimmons 

Atomic Collars has been sewing holiday scarves like elves on 5 Hour Energys the week before Christmas. (Double the amount in the picture above!). Yeehaw! 

The busy pace is brought to you for the prep of the upcoming Maker’s Market in the Regency downtown St. Cloud on December 5th, from 9-2. Can’t attend a holiday market without some holiday swag! There is t-minus 22 days to get sewing, snapping and labeling! We would totally love to see you by the way! The full details can be found here: https://www.makersmarketstcloud.com/

DATE: December 5th, 9 am – 2 pm, The Regency in downtown St. Cloud. 

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PLUS Atomic Collars will be part of the Virtual Winter Artisan & Small Business Market, hosted by MPLS Parking. This virtual market runs from November 28th – December 18th and will feature tons of creative and artistic things for everyone in your family – grandparents, partner, children and furbabies! No formal link as of yet, but as soon as we have it we’ll send it your way. Plus if you do your virtual shopping via the winter market, you’ll get exclusive savings on Atomic Collars!

DATE: November 28th – December 18th, virtual

Snuggle in, do your early Black Friday shopping, give the Mexican stew a go and remember to be kind. 

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

Halloween showed up, dressed in plump costumes designed to disguise and retain warmth. The wind made marvelous work of the strewn cobwebs startling 1 dog and intriguing multiple trick or treaters. The night closed with the rise of the moon and engulfment into darkness, a spitting sleet keeping everyone home and cozied up with the leftover candies. Two horrible creature features (First: Piranhaconda & Second: Attack of the Killer Donuts). Horrible plot lines, bad graphics and subpar acting. A perfect way to wrap up the Halloween evening. 

Enter November 1st, fall in its glory, trimmed in pumpkins and rotund turkeys, hints of cinnamon and spice in the chilled air. And everything Halloween, fall or festival, gathered, marked down and pushed to the side to allow the utter take over of the red and green trimmed with gold (granted this holiday was trying its darnedest to wheeze in at the end of August). Upon the 6th day into November we have entered into Christmas. There is a whopping 49 days left until the actual date. Sure, its a money making holiday. Sure those big companies are quarters ahead (they’re planning spring break as you read). It’s always been a slight annoyance. 

Couldn’t we refrain from the holiday sparkle until after we’ve celebrated family and friends? Until after we have gathered in good food and love? Start the greens and reds the moment after Thanksgiving. Heck through a big royal party after the big Macy’s balloons have wafted by and Santa has given a hearty hohoho and wave. (Cue the song from Home Alone as they are running to the plane).

Perhaps this is a way back to a “new normal”. The year was a rough one, so let’s turn to the holiday that brings bliss, happiness and joy sprinkled with hope for the new year? (Though, this lovely holiday has been creeping upward into August for the past few years.)  Yes, we like Christmas. What we wish is that we could have a sense of fall, of Thanksgiving,  before it took over like a fluffy red & green twinkling beast. 

Here’s to fall, pumpkins and cider and that gathering of friends and family (together or remotely) to celebrate good health and love.  Let’s celebrate Christmas in its due time!

OOOOOOOOO!!!! Mark your calendars!

December 5th, from 9-2 in the Regency downtown St. Cloud there will be the Maker’s Market! Snag gifts and goodies from local artists and crafters. Plus you’ll get a chance to oogle at the lovely things Atomic Collars has! Indeed, we will be there in the flesh, masked and socially distant, hanging out with the awesomeness of local crafters & artists. The full details can be found here: https://www.makersmarketstcloud.com/

Recipe time!

Today, like every Friday before, it was a Saturday in 1896. The recipe submitted by Mrs. Lucy J. McChesney, of Charleston W. Va. 
(A unique: the recipes for Friday the 5th – submitted by Elizabeth Bacon of Memphis Tenn – are all repeats, minus the Southern Corndodgers.)

What in tarnation is granose?
– turns out it is a flaked wheat cereal introduced in 1895 and created by William Kellogg of the future Kellogg’s brand!

Let’s enter into the recipes for potato split biscuit and lemon pudding:

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POTATO SPLIT BISCUIT
Boil two large Irish potatoes; while hot mash well. Stir into the hot potatoes a tablespoonful of each of butter and lard, one level teaspoonful of salt, and when cool enough not to cook them, two well beaten eggs; to this add a teacupful of milk, in which has been dissolved one-half cake of compressed yeast and a tablespoonful of sugar. Stir in a quart of sifted flour; cover and leave in a warm place to rise. This should be mixed in the morning.  One hour before luncheon turn out on a biscuit board and with just enough flour to handle roll out and cut with a biscuit cutter; place them one on top of another (like a sandwich) in a baking-pan; let them rise and bake in a quick oven.

* Quick oven = 375-400 degrees
** assumed cooking time: 15-20 mins
*** yes you can still get cake yeast! Can’t find it (it will be refrigerated)? Use dry yeast: One 2-oz. cake yeast is equal to three packets (¼-oz. or 2 ¼ teaspoons each) of dry yeast.

Go ahead and share with your dog, moderation of course!

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LEMON PUDDING
Put a quarter of a pound of macaroons in a pint of milk to soak until soft. Beat four eggs with half a cupful of powdered sugar until light, and stir into the milk. Beat the whole until thick and smooth; add the juice and grated rind of two lemons. Pour into a well-buttered pudding mold; cover, and stand in a pot of boiling water to boil for one hour. Serve with lemon sauce (recipe follows). 

* the unique thing about this pudding recipe is that is uses already made macaroons, (which aren’t the coconut covered treats but instead the dainty tasty french cookies). These guys:

Interesting. Now if you’re bold, then make yourself up a batch of those tricky little tasty beasts (there’s a realm of letting them sit to get skins, and then baking to get perfect feet – we have not given them a try yet…). Feeling less than eager to put them together, then plop them into a pudding? Buy them. Aim for the lemon flavored ones to recreate the lemon pudding. Whole Foods does sell them, smaller bakeries might as well. 

Why banterings into vintage recipes that have nothing to do with photography and frequently little to do with dogs? History intrigues me. The 1896 cookbook is 124 years old, preserved and longer lived than the recipe givers within the pages. How the book itself survived in such stunning condition with no more than a slight discoloration on page edges and well worn cover is the curiosity. Who kept it throughout each generation, who cooked from it & added the dog ears on select pages? How did it leave the kitchen, the bookshelf and land in a large antique store in Indiana where it caught the attention of my eye? The inquisitive in me is curious. And the fascination makes me want to learn more, to share with you. 

This is about lending to you the depth that is I. Food is one of those universal things that bring us together. And heck, why not try some exotic 124 year old recipes? 

With Fridays being a fun, learn a little, banter a lot, perhaps cook something and share with your pupper, what would you like to know/learn?

This brain is available for all kinds of picking and sharing:
– photography elements
– dog breeds
– collecting Pyrex/vintage milk glass
– recipe consulting – there’s a pack & we can find the recipe!
– anything else delightful you can think up!

Respond to me at and your topic will become part of the Friday banterings!

Stay healthy, safe and enjoy that GORGEOUS MN weather while it remains!

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