Blog Posts by Esquire.com

If you're like most parents, packing school lunch for the kids can be a fraught experience: Are you sending them with enough food? Too much? Were you supposed to include an ice pack? Will your children hate you forever because everyone else's parents let them have pudding snacks?

To solve these dilemmas once and for all, we've enlisted the help of Chef Bill Telepan, who's something of an expert on such matters. In addition to being a professional chef and father to nine-year-old Leah, he also serves as the executive chef for Wellness in the Schools, a New York City-based initiative that seeks to make schools healthier environments for kids. So, he spends his fare share of time thinking about school-day nutrition.

Without further ado, here are Telepan's tips for packing a school lunch that you - and maybe even your kids - can be proud of.

1. In terms of what to pack, just think about what your kids eat for a weekend lunch, and pack

If one man has benefited most from the reigning fashion reality show, Project Runway, it's Tim Gunn. Plucked from obscurity as an administrator and faculty member at Parsons, Gunn's been co-hosting the show (which is now on Lifetime, if your remote even recognizes that channel) for eight seasons. The ninth season premiers this week, so we caught up with him in between his cameo in the new Smurfs movie and planning for his own ABC series later this year to discuss one contemptuous issue. Apparently, 25 percent of all Runway viewers are men. But should more men even bother watching a show where a bunch of over-the-top contestants create - spoiler alert! - nothing but women's clothes? No suits to covet here. Still, that didn't stop Gunn from trying to convince us to tune-in. Excerpts:

MORE TV: New Shows Men Will Love This Summer >>

The first few seasons, men would apologetically tell me their girlfriends made them watch the show.

I wouldn't try to convince them. I'd

We get it. Fish may look harmless enough lying there all dead in the seafood case, but buying and cooking the slippery little guys can be a daunting prospect for anyone. Enter Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (above left and right, respectively), the chefs and co-owners of the fantastic L.A. restaurants Animal and Son of a Gun, the latter of which just so happens to specialize in fish. Consider them your guides, here to teach you all you need to know from buying to cooking the stuff. The real stuff, not the fried-into-a-stick stuff.

How to Shop

Jon says: If you're at the fish counter and you get overwhelmed, go with something that you order at restaurants and like. A lot of what's available and good has to do with seasonality, so don't be afraid to search what's in season on the internet. Stay away from strong-smelling fish, like farm-raised salmon. The last thing I want to do when I'm cooking for a girl is bring home fish that's going to make the house smell.

Vinny says: At

Yet more new studies prove we probably shouldn't be drinking the stuff, this time because that whole "diet" claim is apparently worthless. So why does soda remain so popular? Esquire's Answer Fella discovers it probably has something to do with all the caffeine.

Does caffeine added to soft drinks do anything other than wake us up?

According to Thomas Critchfield, an Illinois State University professor of psychology and coauthor of a study titled "Caffeine Reinforcement Demonstrated in a Majority of Moderate Caffeine Users," "Caffeine makes us feel better. Stimulant drugs - including caffeine and close chemical relatives in coffee, tea, and chocolate - tend also to improve the focus of attention and enhance mood. Not only are we awake, but we tend to like the way we feel on caffeine."

Plus, Critchfield notes, "Caffeine is dependency producing. I imagine that this fact puts little dollar signs in the eyes of beverage manufacturers. One more wrinkle: A handful of studies

Right after 9/11, we conjured 162 ways to love this place. Ten years later, there's every reason to feel just as patriotic - or at least as hungry, happy, thirsty, and proud to be a part of it all.

KEEP READING: More Reasons It's Great to Be American >>

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Five years ago, we profiled fifty-one American men - one from each state and Washington, D. C. - who were all twenty-five. We were trying to understand what it was like to be an "emerging adult," as we wrote then, in an era when "twenty-five-year-old men aren't necessarily men at all." A few of our guys were married, but the majority were still having fun and figuring out their lives. They bartended and delivered pizza, stayed up late and woke up later.

Today these men are thirty. We managed to track down and interview about forty of them. Aside from a few haircuts and added pounds, they look very similar. But their lives have changed. More than a quarter are settled down with kids, even Jason Ewell, who told us five years ago that he never wanted to "grow up" and stop partying. Some lost their jobs during the recession, like Ricky Brule, who was promoted and relocated twice by the same company - then laid off. Others went back to school. And then there are those whose lives

By Lee Hefter, executive chef at Wolfgang Puck's steakhouse, Cut, in Los Angeles

A sandwich should be thoughtfully laid out, with components that add up to a complete meal, but the most important thing is that the ingredients should be of excellent quality. They should also be easy to come by: It's a sandwich, after all. That's why I start with steak. It's never been easier to buy great beef. For the perfect steak sandwich, don't be afraid to buy a nice cut of beef. The three basic cuts I use to make a sandwich without requiring the tenderization process of a marinade are rib eye, New York strip (sirloin), and filet, all available from any butcher. To season it, simply salt and pepper the meat, and that's it. That's all you have to do to it.

STEAK: The Best Recipes for Cooking a Steak >>

This open-faced sandwich is a bit more elegant than one you pick up; it's like a great steak salad on toast. Again, other than salt and pepper, there's no need for seasoning. You get all the zing

Dead heats. Killer dance moves. Ridiculous costumes. Who needs American Idol when you've got the final showdown of Dancing with the Stars Season 12? On the eve of the results show, Esquire.com caught up with Kym Johnson for the bottom line on what really goes on when then the cameras get turned off...

Related: More Secrets (and Exclusive Photos) from Kym Johnson

1. The Instructors Pick the Outfits

"I am guilty of dressing Hines up in some ridiculous outfits. Yes, yes I am. Tonight we're wearing black-and-gold - Steeler colors. Hines is a pretty classy guy, so he told me from the get-go, 'Don't make me wear frills or anything ridiculous like that. Don't make me take my shirt off.' I don't think we've gone too crazy."

2. The Prizes Could Be Better

"I wish there was more of a prize. You get a fantastic mirror-ball trophy, but there's no prize money or anything fantastic like that. It's the bragging rights."

Related: Fitness Secrets from Oprah's Health Guru

3.