Crazy for Cookbooks

Blame it on my type-A personality that needs instructions for everything. Blame it on my English degree, that has cultivated in me the love of the written word. Blame it on whatever you like, it still doesn't change it - I love books.

I love all books: fiction, non fiction, poetry, children's...but one of my absolute favorites is the cookbook. Especially if it comes with those amazing colour photos of the final products (you can blame that one on my Art History degree because I love a textbook with pictures)...mmm, mmm.

In Ontario, my home, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) puts out a quarterly publication called food and drink which promotes a lot of alcohol, but also has some darn good recipes (which, by the way, they publish online for easy access. Check out their dessert section, it's mouthwatering) so during my very very poor days as a university student I didn't really buy a whole lot of cookbooks, although I managed to scam a bunch off my Mom.

And even now, I do a lot of my recipe searching on line because I can get feedback on the different recipes. But with my new challenge as a cupcake connoisseur, I noticed that there were the same cupcake cookbooks surfacing as must-haves. So I did what any beginning would: I got my tools.

In other words, I went on an e-shopping binge at Chapters book store and stocked up!

Before I did this, my personal cookbooks looked like this. It had a couple of goodies, including the slim volume third from the left called Cakewalk:Loving Spoonfuls from a Southern Kitchen by Robbin Gourley, and my old standard, the Joy of Cooking. It was a pretty good show, but didn't really speak to my present undertaking.

In total I spent a little more than $50.00, but when all five cookbooks came in, the box was pretty huge. Now my shelf looks like this:

A little Nigella Lawson, some Clare Crespo, and a smattering of others - what a haul! I was so excited until my Mom came into the room.

Ahh, the mumma. Her heart really is in the right place, but no amount of arguing that this was the same amount my brothers could drop in a bar in one evening fell on deaf ears. The whole scenario was slightly deflating.

Still, I soldier on! My cupcake dreams will not be quashed, and I am still super excited at my new finds that are blending my loves: cookbooks and cupcakes! Complete with glossy photos, great how-to, and some excellent stories along the way, I'm caught up in culinary bliss!

Now the adventure really begins!