Friday, August 29th, 2008

Kansan Departments

Your guide to surviving the week.

By Christine D'Amico , Rustin Dodd (Contact), Asher Fusco (Contact), Gretchen Gier , Case Keefer (Contact), Sachiko Miyakawa (Contact), Mike Nolan , Deepa Sampat, Rebekah Scaperlanda, Brieun Scott (Contact), Jesse Temple

Friday, July 11th, 2008

Food: Five Guys Burgers

Five Guys Burgers and Fries changed my opinion about adding more fast-food chains to a city loyal to its locally owned eateries.

When I heard that a new fast food restaurant opened in Lawrence, I figured I didn’t need to be excited. Spangles arrived two years ago, and after all the hype, I didn’t think Lawrence gained anything extraordinary.

Five Guys’ pleasantly surprised me with what I would call the best fast food cheeseburgers in town, and the fries do not disappoint, either. ,

The place was packed when I walked in, which I attributed to the buzz that had been flying around town about how Five Guys is great.

The menu was thin, which, in this instance, thin meant simple. I had to choose only between a regular size burger or a small burger, which Five Guys calls the “Little Burger,” and then decide which of the 15 free toppings I wanted to add to my circus of calories.

I ordered the regular sized cheeseburger and I made a mistake. At Five Guys, a regular cheeseburger is a double cheeseburger. It was delicious, but my stomach ran out of room, and I still had a 16 ounce cup full of fries to eat. I should have known the portions would be big after I paid $9.50 for a burger, fries and a drink, but I was excited and not worried about pinching pennies.

My final analysis is Five Guys serves the best fast food burger in town, but I didn’t appreciate being tricked into a double cheeseburger when the “Little Burger,” would have been plenty.

That aside, I will go back and I recommend anyone to give Five Guys Burgers and Fries a try.

— Mike Nolan

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Do it yourself: Drinking Chinese Tea

Drinking Chinese tea is a sensory experience. You smell the fragrance while the rich taste gradually spreads in your mouth.

When the night breeze is comfortable, bring a chair and cup of hot tea to the outside. It refreshes you after a weary hot summer day.

Here are basic steps you need to take to prepare Chinese tea:

1. Gather a teapot and tea strainer. You can also use a coffee press. Choose your favorite loose leaf tea, like jasmine and woolong. You can apply the steps to Japanese green tea and hoji-cha.

2. Boil four cups of water.

3. Put one teaspoon of tea leaf into the teapot.

4. Pour a cup of hot water into the teapot. Rinse the tea leaf and pour out the water. Skip this step if it’s green tea or hoji-cha.

5. Pour two cups of hot water into the teapot. Allow 30 to 60 seconds to brew. Leave it for longer if you like a bitter taste. For the coffee press, don’t press down the plunger until you finish waiting.

6. Pour the tea into a cup with the tea strainer. For the coffee press, the tea strainer is not necessary.

7. You can reuse the tea leaf up to three or four times. To do this, repeat steps five and six.

Chinese and Japanese loose tea leaves are available at the House of Cha, 21 W. Ninth St., and The Merc, 901 Iowa St.

— Sachiko Miyakawa

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Top 5: Lawrence Characters

One of my favorite things about living in Lawrence is its colorful characters. You’ll see them when you’re driving around downtown and at local sporting events. So here is my top five that you can look for next time you’re out and about.

5. White Owl (around campus)

Overrated or not you have to give it up to the man. He’s spirited, he’s entertaining and he’s still got the moves with the college women. For his free spirit and mascot status, he’s earned his spot at No. 5.

4. Goat Boy (KU women’s sporting events)

God loves a man who respects women. Goat man is their biggest fan. Often times you can see him romancing the players with flowers prior to kick off. His overbearing goat noises may be questionable but sure are entertaining.

3. Legalize Pot Fanatic (corner of Massachusetts and 11th streets by the court house)

It’s hard to beat a college stoner’s passion for the herb, but he’s done it! His pursuit of a smoke-induced happiness is always good for a smile and a honk. For his constant drive to legalize, I hope — along with thousands of KU students — his goal is one day accomplished.

2. Mr. Tan Man

Before the University had White Owl, it had the Tan Man. This bronze beauty loves being the center of attention. In the past he was often spotted in a Speedo wandering around Jayhawk Blvd. Now, you’ll have to search him out around town. However, there has been a recent spotting at the Outdoor Aquatic Center, 727 Kentucky St.

1. Gentlemen with socks on his hands (cruising Sixth Street)

This guy is always in deep thought. From what I can gather, he sticks to laps on Sixth Street. Sometimes he adds a bed sheet cape to his ensemble — a creative way to beat the heat in my opinion. Although he doesn’t seem to crave attention, he’s No. 1 on my list of favorite people to see in Lawrence.

— Christine D’Amico

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Environmental Tips

Being environmentally conscious is not just something you can practice at home, but now, it is something you can take to the office. Here are some tips to keep your work environment not only clean and simple, but environmentally friendly as well.

1. Know where your office recycles

Celeste Hoins, administrative manager for KU Environmental Stewardship Program, said finding out the nearest location or pickup for recycling was your first priority.

2. Save energy

Hoins said powering off your computer once you leave the office and turning off the lights could save energy and money.

3. Reduce, reduce, reduce

Hoins said by using smaller margins and font size on your paper, and by not printing your e-mails, you could reduce the amount of paper your office used.

— Mandy Earles

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Greening your work out

Your water bottle, outfit and work-out method all have opportunities to green your healthy lifestyle.

It’s easy to make small changes to your lifestyle to be more green. Recycling, carpooling and buying products from local markets are only a few of the simple things you can do to be more eco-friendly. However, how green are you exercising? Follow these tips to green your workout routines.

1. Buy a reusable

water bottle

If you work out four days a week, that’s almost 200 plastic bottles you’ll throw away every year. Cut down on the trash by buying your own bottle.

2. Green your outfit

Buy exercise clothes made of organic cotton. The material is especially nice for exercising because it is breathable and absorbent.

3. Take it outside

Instead of using a treadmill, find a trail or a park where you can run. If you must exercise in a gym, try walking there instead of driving as a warm-up.

Information complied from

www.living.health.com

— Deepa Sampat

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Meals on a budget

Kansan photo editor Mindy Ricketts uses world-renowned chef Emeril Lagasse’s recipe for key lime pie. The recipe can be found on the Food Network Web site here.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted

2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk

1 cup key lime or regular lime juice

2 whole eggs

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lime zest

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands. Press the mixture firmly into a 9-inch pie pan, and bake until brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, combine the sour cream and powdered sugar and spread over the top of the pie using a spatula. Sprinkle the lime zest as a garnish on top of the sour cream and serve chilled.

— Jesse Temple

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Top 5: Big 12 Football Stadiums

Each stadium has its own quirks to make it onto the list.

5. Folsom Field

University of Colorado

The Buffaloes’ stadium isn’t any more spectacular than every other Big 12 football stadium. Folsom Field, however, benefits from a beautiful backdrop with the Rocky Mountains overlooking the venue.

4. Memorial Stadium

University of Nebraska

Few venues in the country are more intimidating than Memorial Stadium, which is filled with 81,000 Cornhusker fans on game day. The team, however, hasn’t lived up to its high expectations recently and the program has gone through three head coaches in five years.

3. Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, University of Oklahoma

The six Sooner home games are practically national holidays for fans every year. Surrounded by die-hard college football enthusiasts, Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium has an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in the country.

2. Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, University of Texas

The Longhorns pack more fans into their stadium than any other Big 12 school. The stadium is also accompanied by the best football facility in the conference and the “Godzillatron,” one of the biggest video screens in America at 55 feet tall and 134 feet wide.

1.Kyle Field

Texas A&M University

It’s not the biggest or most fancy stadium in the conference but it’s the most passionate. Kyle Field is the only venue in the Big 12 that could pass as a Southeastern Conference football team’s stadium with its noise level. Aggie fans literally make the entire place shake before games when they chant the “Aggie War Hymn.”

— Case Keefer

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Weekend Project: Greening your home

Five easy steps from MSN to making your home ‘eco-fabulous’

That old crooner Kermit the Frog might have to change his lyrics. It’s now easy being green. Creating an eco-friendly home can be done without home-growing your own food or renovating and putting in solar panels. There are easy ways you can be earth-friendly around your house. Follow these five easy steps that MSN gives and make your home eco-fabulous.

1. Use power strips.

Using power strips helps the environment and saves you money. When you turn a light off, it is completely shut off but when you have electronic gadgets, “phantom power” comes into play. Even when turned off, the TV, VCR and computer all still use electricity. This is why the little light on your computer is still on even when your computer is shut off. Plug your electronic into power strips and turn the strip off when you’re not using what’s plugged into them. It makes it easier and more efficient.

2. Buy fluorescent bulbs.

These lights that look a little bit like a twisted ice cream cone turn on instantly and shed warm light, lasting 10 times as long as regular incandescent bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs are more expensive, but use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. By replacing a 100-watt incandescent bulb with a 32-watt fluorescent bulb you can save $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

3. Watch the temperature.

It may seem simple, but heating and cooling account for almost half a house’s energy consumption. Keep the thermostat high in warm weather and turn it down in cold weather. Each degree below 68 degrees during colder weather saves 3 to 5 percent more heating energy. Keeping your thermostat at 78 degrees in warm weather will also save energy and money. To keep cool, shade east and west windows and delay activities such as dishwashing that generate heat until the evening. Use ceiling fans as much as possible instead of air conditioners.

4. Dam your toilet.

Americans use about 100 gallons of water per day. About one-third of that water gets flushed down the toilet. A toilet dam stops some of the water from leaving the tank when you flush. This can cut the water used by as much as 20 percent. Although the actual toilet dam is a specialty product, a “tank bank” works in the same way. This is merely a plastic bottle with a valve that keeps some of the water in your tank from getting flushed. The idea is to save water by not allowing the tank to completely empty each time you flush. No purchase is necessary; simply use an old plastic bottle from your recycling.

5. Recycle.

This may seem like a “no duh” approach to greening your house, but some households still haven’t caught on to the reduce-reuse-recycle slogan. Lawrence provides an easy way to recycle right outside of Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart community recycling center provides places to recycle plastic, tin, aluminum, glass, newspaper, paper and cardboard. Sending plastic to a landfill increases greenhouse gasses.

—Rebekah Scaperlanda

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Books: "The Hidden Connections"

“The Hidden Connections - A Science for Sustainable Living“ — by Fritjof Capra

This book is not light reading. Capra connects global capitalism with the origins of life, and even includes a chapter on spirituality. He proposes that life cannot continue unless we begin practicing sustainability, especially within businesses and advertising. Using an idea called complex theory, Capra explains that our work environments mimic processes in nature, and the current methods of mass-production and marketing does not allow for the connectivity of life that we need to survive. Capra says that, “As a living organism responds to environmental influences with structural changes, these changes will n turn alter its future behavior. Living structure is always a record of prior development.” Because a living organism can respond to its environment, living things always learn and can change their behavior. Thus, if humans and commerce start living and working differently, Man and Earth can live in paralleled peace.

— Gretchen Gier

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Music: Dwele “Sketches of a Man”

The soulful Dwele’s voice seduces listeners with his story-telling songs.

After coming to the scene in 1998, neo-soul singer and song writer Andwele “Dwele” Gardner has crooned his way into the world of talented singers. The Detroit native’s urbanite sounds and poetic lyrics give fans the fresh-on-the scene crooner who stepped out with his first album, “Subject.”

Dwele’s new album, “Sketches of a Man,” offers fans a smooth sound of melodies and tempos. Dwele’s sedate voice lures listeners into an ambience of mellow lyrics that tells stories like in “Five Dolla Mic.”

Dwele shows maturity in his voice in songs like “Vain,” which is about a two-timing woman. He tempts fans through a clean, smooth falsetto in “Open Your Eyes,” a Bobby Caldwell oldie, and “I’m Cheatin’.”

The at-heart jazz and soul sophisticate shows his talent by experimenting with different instruments throughout the album. He plays showcases his piano skills in “I’m Sorry (Wake the Musical Baby)” and gives a sample of the bass in “Love Ultra.”

Although some songs are short like “You Won’t be Lonely” and “Brandi,” which features hip-hop Urbanites Slum Village, fans would definitely like the soul-sounding album.

— Brieun Scott

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