Testing 123:Low-sugar option if you’re on the run

Hydro’s planned outages turn out the lights for thousands across province

Business owners in the East Beaches area of Lake Winnipeg hauled out generators Wednesday after a planned Manitoba Hydro outage left thousands of residents and cottagers without power.

Lise Bourassa, who runs several stores in Grand Beach, had to rent generators to accommodate the eight-hour blackout, which affected the area from Beaconia to Victoria Beach as well as Sagkeeng First Nation, while Hydro crews fixed a pole that was damaged by fire in May .

Despite the spare power source, she was only able to open one of her stores during the outage and said it came at a bad time.

“I understand the importance of what Manitoba Hydro is doing, the problem all the businesses in this area are having is that our season is very short and to be shut down for a full day has a fairly big impact, plus they added cost of getting generators,” she wrote in a message to the Free Press. “We also had less than one week to make arrangements, find electricians and generators to be able to keep all the food safe.”

Poilievre can only smile and nod after Carney’s chess move

Mark Carney may still be relatively new to elected politics, but he’s proving to be a remarkably quick study in the art of political chess.

Letters, July 16

Thanks to Dan Lett for clarifying the settlement of the dispute over the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge.

Putting the pancake pilgrimage in focus

It’s a simple enough recipe: one-and-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, one tablespoon of sugar, two-and-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt, one cup milk, one large egg and one tablespoon of canola oil.

That’s all you need, according to the Good Housekeeping test kitchen, to make the best pancakes ever. The secret, apparently, is not just what you put in the bowl: it’s also knowing not to mix the ingredients too thoroughly and also knowing the exact right time to flip the pancakes.

Only a small portion of the total ingredients is oil and even that oil can be replaced with melted, cooled unsalted butter.

The Good Housekeeping recipe says nothing about political leaders trekking halfway across the country to flip the pancakes on a Calgary Stampede griddle, often looking ridiculous in the process.