icing on the cake.

My mom saves everything. I mean, everything. My folks basement could have qualified for the show Clean House up until about a year ago. However, I have come to appreciate her desire to hang on to the things that "just might be worth something some day". For instance, I get to laugh at Emme as she prances around the house in my old dance recital costumes and ballet shoes that are about three sizes too big. Or I got the enjoyment of watching my daughter don cowboy boots with every outfit last summer because my mom saved my boots that I wore obsessively at three years old. My kiddos even get to play with a cookie tin full of McDonalds Happy Meal toys circa 1985-1990. But the latest treasure was discovered in one of my mom's kitchen cabinets.

It was the first real snow of the season and my girls and I were hanging at Nan Nan & Pop Pop's for the afternoon. Of course Emme had full reign of the house and was taking full advantage. "Nan Nan! Nan Nan! Come play with me, " Emme beckoned. After a while I think Nan Nan got tired of climbing up and down the stairs and offered an activity the two of them could do that did not require parading around the house or playing with the dozens of preserved Barbies and Barbie Dream House.

In the kitchen, my mom digs through a rarely used cabinet and uncovers the latest prize. A white box with faded purple letters reading "Wilton" is placed on the kitchen table and Emme's little hands can't open it fast enough. "Oh my goodness! Are they just for me?" Emme exclaims as she pulls out a miniature mixing bowl, a miniature cupcake tray, a miniature cookie sheet and two miniature round cake pans. Then Emme hands a small white packet to my mom and asks what it is. Oh. My. God. Cake mix?

Seriously, the box of child size baking supplies had to be at least 20 years old, probably more. I'm horrified. The mixes have to be way past their expiration date. A closer look at the packet reveals there is no expiration date. Not a good sign. My mom asks my dad what he thinks. "Oh, it should be fine. It's vacuum sealed. We had that kind of stuff in Vietnam. It will be good for 100 years." Two against one, let the baking begin.

Emme has a ball mixing the Devil's Food Cake batter with her miniature whisk. She even helps Nan Nan grease the miniature cake pans. Now, the true test...tasting it. I urge my mom to taste it first. She dips her finger in the dark brown, lumpy batter and gives it a go. With a shrug, she gives it the O.K. Emme dips her little finger in the batter and smiles, "Mmm." Next she wants me to try it. Honestly, it tastes awful. It tastes, well, old. The cakes get baked anyway.

Emme prepares a packet of chocolate frosting that tastes equally disgusting, but is delighted all the same. Once she has the cakes frosted, it's time to eat these creations. She takes a bite and looks less than impressed. I try it. Only one thought comes to mind, moth balls. The cake tastes like moth balls. No expiration date does not mean it's good for a long time. No expiration date means the stuff is too darn old to even require an expiration date in the first place!

So, what became of the remainder of Emme's little cake creations? Nan Nan threw them out back to her beloved squirrels :)