She asked me if I like to sing; I said of course I like to sing

Last night, I decided to simplify my vegan cupcake endeavors a bit and go for an almond-chocolate cupcake (a variation of the chocolate-orange cupcake with almond and vanilla extracts and without all the orange stuff) with chocolate ganache icing. You can find both recipes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This time, the recipe was true to volume and made 12 instead of 18. The ganache was good but took a long time to set and even then was kind of runny. I would decrease the amount of soy milk and maple syrup and probably add in some cocoa powder to make it set faster.

I find myself always listening to Ghost Mice when I'm baking or cooking. Maybe its the DIY-ness of it all. My roommate a few summers ago used to always make fun of me for listening to songs about generating your own electricity while using so many appliances. Good thing she doesn't know I'm also an American vegan.

Now you, too, can bake fun vegan things and listen to Ghost Mice:
Boy Meets Girl
Sing out
There is a light (smiths cover)

Yesterday, we also rented Sofia Coppola's latest, Marie Antoinette. It was less hazy and dreamlike than the Virgin Suicides, and slower than Lost in Translation. It was also kind of weird to watch because there were all of these beautiful period costumes and props and food, but some of the characters had random American midwestern or Texan accents, while others had British ones. The idea was to create a very modern-feeling film (I mean, it has to be modern if they're dancing to Siouxie and the Banshees), but it was sort of confusing 'til I watched it again. Jason Schwartzman was very Ethan from Slackers, but somehow Louis XVI at the same time. Kirsten Dunst was as cute as a button, as always. And the colors. The colors and dresses were really the best part. They made me want to bake pink and blue pastel cupcakes and put them all over the set.

In other news, the Threadless shirt for the Decembrists' The Crane Wife is out.