Baking without the Home Field Advantage

My grandparents are in South Carolina visiting for a month from Wisconsin.  I made my way to my parents' house and stayed for a long weekend.  I was planning on baking my "Free Choice" cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.  I was excited about trying a coconut cake that according to Marie, the Original Heavenly Cake Baker, will be liked by those of us who are not fans of coconut.  And since my mother and grandmother practically jumped through the phone when I mentioned baking a coconut cake (why do people over 60 go crazy over coconut?), I figured I'd be up to the challenge.

But Friday night, I planned to whip up a (requested) batch of my staple brownies that are always loved by all.  This VERY simple recipe took me at least double the time it normally does and the brownies turned out so-so (I hated them and my husband said they were good for normal people's brownies).  :-)  I am guessing the difference was that my mother had "normal" flour when I use King Arthur religiously as my AP.  And then you can add in the time it took me to run to the store and buy baking powder since my mother's had expired in 2003!  But really that was worth it because I have a feeling she will be ribbed for years to come from her mother and sisters.  I obviously have not received my baking bug from my mother!  Anyway, I decided trying to make a new cake with new ingredients might not be the best idea in a strange kitchen.  And I was actually excited because her kitchen is so much bigger, better, cleaner and more organized than mine.  And her dishwasher works the way they ought to....you don't have to essentially wash the dishes before putting them in!  C'est la vie.

While I might not have been able to bake my weekly cake, I was able to learn how to crochet, score my grandmother's German potato salad recipe, a slightly broken Lazy Boy and my Great Grandmother's china!!!  Not to mention spend a lovely weekend with my parents, sister, husband and grandparents!