OUR PLACE

 The outrage of it.  
Gas prices are hovering just under $5.00 a gallon and are expected to continue rising. The price of gas is hitting everyone hard. Here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every gallon. Filling up should be done when the ground is cold early in the morning. Gas station storage tanks are in the ground and the colder the ground is the denser the gasoline. When gas gets warm it expands making your gallon not really a gallon at all when it comes to energy output.

When filling up, do not squeeze the handle all the way, fill up slowly. Pumping on low mode minimizes the vapors that are created when pumping. All hoses have a vapor return and if you are pumping on the fastest mode more of the liquid that heads down into the tank becomes vapor and is sucked back into the underground storage. Again, you are getting less for your money.

Another trick is to fill up when your gas tank is half full. The more gas in your tank the less air occupying the empty space, the less air the less potential for evaporation.

Here’s one most people are already aware of and that is to never get gas if there is a fuel truck pumping into the storage tanks. This causes the gas to get stirred up, lifting some of the dirt or sediment that sits at the bottom of the storage tank and creates the potential to have that junk pumped into the vehicle tank.

Of course, these tips aren’t going to make a huge difference, but at this point, every little bit helps.  Do not drive to Delavan or Elkhorn for gas unless the difference in price is more than twenty cents a gallon.  You’ll use more gas than you save in price differential.

It seems there are concerns with the sidewalk cafe renewal applications for downtown Lake Geneva. 
Some merchants are placing their tables and chairs on property outside of their own property line. This has commissioners, and citizens alike, concerned about the lack of enforcement on this issue. Many wonder if the violators have a verbal agreement with their neighbors to use their space for their outdoor cafes or if they just took it upon themselves to move in? Even if a verbal agreement is a case, the Finance, Licensing, and Regulation (FLR) Committee has never seen anything in writing concerning any such agreements.  The ordinance is clear about having to have outside dining on adjacent controlled property.

Many people feel that, if businesses are allowed to continue with this practice of not following the rules, more may follow their example. It’s already difficult to navigate through the downtown area on foot, let alone with extra furniture and people crowding the sidewalks. One such violator did not have its permit renewed because there was no representative at the last FLR meeting to answer questions or concerns from the committee regarding this issue. Because of this merchant’s absence, the request for renewal has been continued to the next meeting. Maybe this will shed some light on the issue of following the codes and ordinances that the City of Lake Geneva has in place for everyone’s protection and comfort.

Aranda’s Restaurant in Delavan.
Salsa.  So, you think you may be a salsa aficionado?  You may be. If you are, or are not, hustle yourself over to Delavan to Aranda’s.  You don’t even have to order a meal, although their Mexican cuisine is terrific in every area (including crispy fried taco shells filled with great stuff).

It’s the salsa, made in the back kitchen that really defines the place and the experience.  Order two sixteen-ounce containers of salsa and two bags of homemade salsa chips. Pay the seven bucks.  Go home and turn on the television and watch games, or hearings, or whatever.  You will be amazed.  Then you will go to the fridge and portion out the remaining salsa left so that you, nor anybody else with access, eats it all at any one future sitting.  This stuff, not too hot, not too ‘not hot,’ not too tasty but plenty tasty, is the cutting edge.

How long it will remain that way is anybody’s guess, as secrets like this seem to rise up out of the morass and then fairly quickly recede. Get this stuff now, while you can, and while that amount of great food is little more in cost than a gallon of gas.  By the way, the staff of the restaurant doesn’t think the salsa is anything special, so don’t go overboard in telling them.

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