… Watch the Railway Children July 27, 2011

Vanessa was in town for a few days, and got tickets to The Railway Children for her birthday. She invited Kate. They saw the play at the roundhouse theater, a custom built theater overtop of the train tracks to accommodate the train used in the play. The play featured the three main characters as grown-ups reminiscing about their childhood. The pictures were all taken from the play’s website.

Kate and Vanessa both enjoyed the show and were sad that Vanessa had to head back up North the next day.

…Go to the ROM September 9, 2010

As the ROM had the terracotta warriors and is free on Wednesday evenings Kate and Vanessa decided to go to the ROM.  The terracotta warriors exhibit was very crowded, but was well worth going to see.  The detail, skill and effort that went into creating these statues is amazing.  It was also interesting to learn that not all of the statues were warriors, but that there were entertainers and scribes as well.

Most people only thing of the life sized warriors, however subsequent emperors also had massive armies created to protect them in the afterlife.  These are not as large size wise, while still covering the personnel required for an extensive army during the time of the emperor they were created for.

After exploring the terracotta warriors exhibit Kate and Vanessa went to visit the rest of the ROM.  Starting on the third floor they looked at the World Culture galleries there followed by the second floor biodiversity and minerals.  Unfortunately Kate and Vanessa did not have time to explore more as the ROM was closing, however they will be back at some point and will hopefully have more time to explore.

…Sew Reversible Handbags July 23, 2010

Vanessa bought Kate an Amy Butler pattern to sew a handbag for her birthday, along with some neat fabric. It took two separate days stretched over 2 months, but Kate and Vanessa finally had awesome handbags to show for it. Kate used pink and orange fabrics and Vanessa used blue and brown fabrics.

Best of all, the handbags are fully reversible. Flowers one days, polka dots the next!

…Go to Chinatown June 28, 2010

Kate and Vanessa hadn’t seen each other in a while and decided to meet up for bubble tea. Naturally the best place to get bubble tea is in chinatown.

Vanessa got blueberry and Kate got mango, the perfect treat for a sunny day spent browsing the shops!

…Make Henna Tattoos May 11, 2010

In honour of the warm may weather (at least it was warm at the beginning of may), Kate and Vanessa decided to make henna tattoos. Vanessa’s is glucose.

Kate chose the Chinese character for tea. The henna was applied and then allowed to dry and scraped off. It lasts for about three weeks.

…Dye Easter Eggs April 2, 2010

Kate and Vanessa decided that they wanted to do something to celebrate Easter for this blog.  So for the past month or so they have been diligently blowing eggs and saving them so that they could then decorate them.

The eggs were blown by making small holes (but not too small) with a pin in both ends and blowing into the smaller one.  This forced the contents of the eggs to expel into a dish and leaves an empty shell.  The shell is then washed and is ready to be dyed.  To dye the eggs food colouring is mixed with hot water and vinegar (the vinegar sets the colour).  The eggs are then submerged in the colouring mixture until the desired colour is achieved.  The eggs are then allowed to dry.  To create fancy patterns, stickers and clear nail polish were used to prevent the colouring mixture from dying a particular area.  To create multiple colours, a dyed egg can be partially dipped into a different colouring mixture or stickers and nail polish can be used to create patterns.  Don’t forget that colours are additive and red + blue + … + green + purple = brown so don’t try to use too many colours on one egg! Happy Easter!

…Celabrate Pi Day with Pies March 14, 2010

Kate and Vanessa are a little bit nerdy, and decided that Pi day (March 14 in honour of the number 3.14) deserved pies. Also, they believe that any excuse is a good excuse to have pie. They started by making the pastry using Tenderflake lard and following the directions on the package. They added the lard to flour and salt, and then added vinegar , one egg and water until the dough was the correct consistency. This made 6 balls of dough.

First Kate and Vanessa made a lemon meringue pie. The lemon filling was from a mix, but isn’t too difficult to make from scratch.  The meringue was made from 2 egg whites and 1/4 cup of sugar. This was beaten in a mixer until it formed stiff peaks. The filling was poured into a cooked pie shell (375ºF for 10-12 minutes), and the meringue was spread on top. The pie was broiled in the oven for about 5 minutes, until it browned.

Next Kate and Vanessa made apple pie. Five apples were peeled and cut into an uncooked pie shell. The apples were coated with a mixture of flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and covered with another piece of pastry. The pie was cooked at 450º for 10 minutes and 350º for 30 minutes. Yum!

…Make Grilled Cheese Sandwiches February 6, 2010

Vanessa got a sandwich grill for Christmas, it imprints Elmo and Cookie Monster on the sandwiches.  Today Kate and Vanessa met up for a tasty grilled cheese lunch in honour of their new blog!  Here are the pictures.

The instructions that came with the grill advised that the crusts be removed for optimal cooking, Kate and Vanessa concurred.  On the left sandwich is Cookie Monster and on the right is Elmo.

…Bake a Rainbow Cake February 6, 2010

One day at work Vanessa was bored, and sent Kate a link from Aleta Meadowlark’s blog on making a rainbow cake. Kate and Vanessa took her colour pattern and applied it to a basic white cake and voila!! Instant birthday cake for a housemate!

…Start a Blog! January 28, 2010

Kate and Vanessa have started a blog to track and catalog our adventures in time and space.  Here are some things we hope to post:

• Outings
• Cooking
• Baking
• Crafts
• What ever else we think of