Are we still quarantine baking these days? I’m not sure. We’re just getting through a heat wave, and I know for me turning on the oven has been the last thing that I want to do lately.  And yet…my kids are still home (it’s summer vacation, but really all the days feel the same, don’t they?) and we need things to do to stay busy, plus, my garden is starting to produce! Berry season is also coming and all manner of local deliciousness is starting to be harvested. I don’t know about you, but this makes me think about baking all over again (and preserving, and cooking delicious meals).

If you are looking for new ideas that will help to get you back in the kitchen and use up that rhubarb, look no further than cloudLibrary. You can find the link to cloudLibrary on our website at www.tbpl.ca/ebooks or you can get the cloudLibrary app on your smart phone or tablet.

Once you login to cloudLibrary, you’ll see that we have a bookshelf filled with great baking books. For example, we have Baking For Kids by Linda Maxwell which has many simple, kid friendly recipes within  its contents including raspberry cookies and strawberry jam tarts (perfect for using those berries that will soon be filling your counters and fridges).  

Now that it’s finally easier to find yeast and flour in stores, maybe you’re ready to get on board with trying out making your own bread. If that sounds like you, why not give Baking Artisan Bread With Natural Starters by Mark Friend a try? It’s also waiting for you on our baking shelf in coudLibrary. If you’ve always been curious about sourdough or curious about how to start and feed that pesky sourdough starter, maybe now is the perfect time to find answers to your questions.

If you do want to branch out from all the baking that got us through the start of the pandemic period, but are still inspired to be in the kitchen, take a look at some of our garden to table cookbooks that are on our gardening bookshelf in cloudLibrary.  From simple recipes that will help you use up the food coming out of your own vegetable garden – or that you’ll be picking up from local farmers – to books about food preservation and canning, we have you covered.  Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard is a great example of a beautiful book in our collection that is full of inspiring ideas.

cloudLibrary really is an amazing resource for both fiction and non-fiction eBooks and eAudiobooks – and we’re adding to our collection every day.  So keep checking back to see everything that we have to offer. If you would like to suggest materials that we should purchase on cloudLibrary choose “Suggestions for library” under “Filters”, and look for the “Suggest to library” button.

As always, please reach out to us if you have any questions about cloudLibrary, or any of TBPL’s resources. If you don’t have a library card yet, we can help you with that too. Simply email us at comments@tbpl.ca with your address and phone number.  Happy browsing!

Jocelyn Knoester – http://www.tbpl.ca. If you have a comment about today’s column, we would love to hear from you.