I missed making cupcakes that I used to pass out in droves. My old cupcake recipe used buttermilk so I do not make them anymore. Living in China without an oven at my place has made my heart grow fond of baking again. I started tested out a couple cupcake recipes since I got back and I found one that I like so far.

Some of the recipes were a little too dry probably because I left them in too long because I was watching a CSI marathon on Spike while I was baking. The recipe I liked the most was a Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe from the Tiny Vegan Kitchen. Vegan carrot cake always tastes great. The icing is yummy too but I can only take icing in small quantities, it gets too sweet for me. The recipe calls for crushed pineapples and grated carrots, it’s not wonder why it is so moist. It’s a really yummy recipe. You should give it a try.

In Japan, they were getting ready for Valentine’s Day. The Japanese tradition is to have the ladies give men chocolate or other goodies. Some buy brand-name chocolates and others make their own. There were a bunch of stores selling silicone molds for chocolates and cakes. I bought a whole bunch because they were so adorable. They also had pre-made mixes for things miniature cheesecakes, miniature chocolate cakes, biscuits, and sugar cookies. I wanted to buy them all.

I gave up on the shoe hunt and just bought myself a couple pairs of Crocs, entirely vegan. Unfortunately, may not be as Earth-friendly as advertised. But what’s bought is bought.

Everyone at school wears them, so I’m just jumping on the band wagon 10 months late at the school and 4 years late in the world. I bought a full-back version of the Malindi and an Audrey. I don’t like the bow on the Audrey much but I was there and I was buying one anyways and they were going to be indoor shoes so it didn’t really matter that much. I like the Olivia but the huge faux-gem kind of irked me so I put it back on the shelf. I spent 428 CNY for both, which according to the website and today’s exchange rate and taking into account Ontario taxes, I’m paying the same price. They’re kind of comfy. I’m just not fond of the plastic-on-skin noises if I’m not wearing socks. Some of their styles are cute but others are really tacky. You win some, you lose some.

You gotta love sleepless blog posts.

This year, Summerlicious runs from July 3 to July 19. Reservations will be taken for Summerlicious starting June 18, 2009. I’m told the “good” restaurants fill up quickly. By your standards, I’m guessing those are the restaurants that offer steaks and seafood, so I’m pretty safe.

I always say I’m going to go to Summerlicious, but I never end up going. The restaurant listing still lists which restaurants have vegetarian courses. This year, they’ve even included which courses are vegetarian in the menu. It might have been my wave of emails to every vegetarian-friendly restaurant to ask what was in each dish that didn’t look like it had meat, egg or cheese in it.

Summerlicious 2009 Restaurant Listing

Who knows? Maybe I’ll go this year. Has anyone seen a vegan list somewhere online for Summerlicious?