Add spices after cooking to give fries extra flavour

QUESTION: I bake French fries from frozen or freshly cut potatoes in my oven. Is it better to add the seasonings such as salt or pepper to the potatoes before putting them in the oven or after? What can I . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Pumping iron like our ancestors did

Vintage home offers fascinating glimpse into life during 1800s

You didn’t have to have a gym membership to get fit back in the mid-1800s, you simply had to walk into your kitchen and iron your clothes. Some of the irons back then weighed almost more than the person using them, . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Pretty poison banked on for insect's survival

The brutish common milkweed, not a choice garden plant, is setting its strange pods now that its muddy pink blooms are waning, but other milkweeds are still flowering, and in a prettier way. The vivid orange clusters of butterfly weed are . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Mixing it up on your patio

Summer drinks with vegetables from the backyard

If life gives you lemons just in time for summer, make lemonade. That’s what my nine-year-old step-grandson Hayden decided. He promptly set up a lemonade table outside our farm stand and sales were brisk. But Hayden, born with a head . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Lights to brighten your design

Innovative fixtures can be an interesting feature for any room

Creative new shapes and technology mean home lighting fixtures often do far more than provide illumination: they can be exciting and sculptural works of art. "Designs are now not only a source of light, but a distinctive feature of an interior . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Habitat helps families with Canada 150 project

Homes may be ready by end of the year

It’s something that never gets old for Habitat for Humanity Manitoba’s CEO, Sandy Hopkins. "This is my eighth build, " he said as he surveyed the beehive of activity behind him at 210 Lyle Street in St. James, site of the . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Spotting -- and fighting -- Dutch elm disease

As I travel around southern Manitoba, I naturally look at trees — all trees. I might be wrong, but it seems to me the prevalence of Dutch elm disease (DED) has been increasing in American elm trees. I will not speculate why . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Timeframe for building a new house always varies

How fast can you build a home? With the construction of 21 new homes in Winnipeg during this month’s Habitat for Humanity "blitz build, " highlighted by a visit from former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, you may have wondered just . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Neighbour's home build could impact yours

Question: The house next door to me was torn down and they are now excavating for the new construction. The hole is within inches of my fence and four to five feet away from my foundation. My house was built . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22

Laminate: stepping up to great stairs

Stairs take a beating, no doubt about it. In a two-storey home, often the bedrooms and primary bathroom are located upstairs. Evidence of wear and tear is most noticeable in stairwells, and in the landings of your house, due to . . .

Posted: 2017-07-22