A modest cookbook collection

Did my first blip yesterday and managed to get 4 comments which I thought was quite decent. As I said to one of the commenters, I thought I would be trudging around in oblivion for some time. It's nice to be surprised. By the way, I managed to get the date wrong yesterday so my last blip shows up as somewhere in May (oops!).

Today I thought I would showcase my rather modest cookbook collection. Now don't get me wrong, I am a bit fanatical about baking and I do love me a new cookbook but experience has taught me to exercise discretion in terms of which ones I buy. Obviously I don't always get it right; for example I recently bought a tome titled Step by Step Baking by DK (not pictured here) and it turned out to be absolutely rubbish.

If I had to pick a favourite from this collection, it would be a contest between my dog-eared Martha Stewart Cookies book and the chocolate chip cookbook. Both are fabulous and every recipe produces stunning results. The latest book in the collection is Cookie Craft - haven't tried the recipes yet but the pictures are lovely and since I am also addicted to making decorated sugar cookies it is perfect for me.

Until about three years ago it was really hard to find good baking books in Pakistan so I got most of my recipes and ideas off the internet. But roughly around the same time many savvy housewives here realized that there was a real gap in the cake market as people were bored of old bakery cakes. Some of them started Facebook pages to sell customized cakes and cupcakes and now the trend has taken off in such a big way that there are literally hundreds of Pakistani baking businesses on Facebook selling the most amazing novelty cakes.

And when you bake you need supplies. A few years I would beg and plead with friends and relatives abroad to bring back cookie cutters, Wilton gel colours and the like. Now I can just log on to one of my three favourite Facebook suppliers, place my order online, receive my stuff the same day and pay cash on delivery! How cool is that. I am obviously biased here but Pakistanis are very enterprising people and very keen to be fashionable and with-it. Facebook has brought a lot of opportunities our way (it really IS more than a social networking site) and Pakistanis have cashed in.