Confession time:  I am a bakeaholic.   

    The pages of my cookbooks will attest to this.  Entire sections including fish, salads and casseroles are pristine.  I believe some of the pages are even still stuck together.  

    It’s not that I don’t enjoy cooking, I do.  I even modestly admit that I’m pretty good at it, too.  But for true enjoyment in the kitchen, I turn to the baking sections.  

    Some books open automatically to the dessert chapters, the spine has been creased so many times.  In others, bookmarks mark my favourite lemon roll and homemade coconut cream pie recipes. 

    Spatters and spots are like a rating system for the cookies and squares.  A five stain ranking is high praise indeed!

    Comments like Awesome!  Use double icing!  Pecans instead of walnuts!  or More chocolate chips! are added in a moment of enthusiasm as I sample the result.  

      And that’s why I always serve cakes and squares pre-cut on plates or platters: so no one will see that there is a corner missing in the pan.