A Stroll Through the Past

Thank you for the sweet comments on my last post about dividing up my mom's things.  It has not been the best week for me.  I agree with all of y'all, things are just "things" and I brought home very little.  No one can ever take away all of the happy memories no matter how hard they try.   

My mom has been wandering out of her apartment and into the hallways after she has been put to bed and the manager at the assisted living facility is concerned about her safety.  The night before last, she decided that she needed to cook a gumbo and called my sister to come and get her so that she could go and buy some shrimp.  And it was 11:30 p.m.!!!  My sister told her to go back to bed but the night workers found her trying to enter the kitchen at 4:00 a.m. just determined to cook that gumbo!  My mom was always a night owl, staying up well past midnight and then sleeping in each morning once us kids were out of the house.  It used to drive my dad crazy.  We have explained repeatedly that she MUST get up and eat her meals in the dining room in order to remain there, and that means going to bed at a REASONABLE hour.  But it falls on deaf ears....  And when the sitter arrives at 9:00 a.m., she has a hard time getting her up and dressed.  Here's a picture of me, my mom, and my daughter on Christmas Day.  I sure hope I look that good if I live to be 89!

I want to share a neat item that I brought home on Sunday.  My mom, who was a fantastic cook, received this cast iron cake mold from my great aunt's estate and I recall her trying it out one Easter.  I googled cast iron lamb and discovered that the Griswold company produced lamb, bunny, and santa cast iron molds back in the 1940's.  I'm not sure if this is a Griswold because it doesn't have raised numbers across the front like the ones I saw online but it doesn't matter to me because I think it's pretty cool no matter what company manufactured it.

The two parts of the mold fit together and there are holes to wire them in place.  When I looked inside, there was a handwritten recipe for the cake in a yellowed envelope inside.  It appears to be my great aunt's handwriting.  Since there are no openings for pouring the batter inside, the first thing I wondered was how the cake can rise enough to fill the mold if batter is poured into only one half.  I think the answer is in the mix because it calls for 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 3 beaten egg whites.  I'm thinking that it will be somewhat of a sponge cake.  Here's a picture of the inside of the mold and the yellowed envelope containing the recipe.

Pretty awesome, isn't it?  Once I give the mold a good scrubbing, I think I'll try this recipe out.  Of course, I'll wait until my grandgirls are sleeping over so they can help decorate the cake.  The instructions call for icing it and then sprinkling coconut all over and adding raisins for the eyes and a ribbon or flowers around the neck.  I can envision a fantastic scrapbook layout featuring two adorable flour-coated little princesses, can't you?  :)

Do they still produce Calumet Baking Powder?  I hope you have enjoyed my little blast from the past..... 

HAPPY FRIDAY!