Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, August 11, 2018

8

FOOD & DRINK

Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 11, 2018 


TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com

DOG DAYS, AND WE ARE 
HALFWAY THERE!!

PLUS A PODCASTERS 
PODCAST ALL ABOUT FOOD

By Peter Dills AK Pasadena’s King of Cusine

 Here are my favorite dining experiences so far for 2018. 
Look at this as an early report card to dining in the Pasadena 
area. If you’re looking for a steak, I recommend the Arroyo 
Chop House. In Pasadena, the steaks are above average and the 
Grand Marnier Soufflé for dessert is a must. I also recommend 
Taylor’s Steak House in La Canada, an old-school steak house. 
It’s a little less pricey then the aforementioned Chop House, 
and I love their Molly Salad, and although service can favor the 
regulars, it’s one of my favorites. Looking for ribs? There is only 
one place to go in the San Gabriel Valley -- Robin’s Wood Fire 
Grill. Robin Salzar has been smoking the best beef and baby 
back ribs for years. Lunch? I have two places in mind. First is 
the Central Grille (formally Central Park); I always order the 
ahi tuna sandwich with the delicious broccoli salad on the side, 
and you can’t go wrong with the short ribs. Also, I like Houston’s. It’s called a steak house, and but while 
I’ve been there twenty times in the past few years, I’ve never have ordered a steak (I’ll bet its good, though!) 
I love the service and the non-chain attitude, the beef dip sandwich is my favorite, and the $20 price is 
worth it. A favorite of mine in Sierra Madre is Zugos, a little café on Sierra Madre Blvd., which features 
al fresco dining and wine and beer. Order the gnocchi -- I liked it and you will too. Pizza? I like several 
places, but the one out-of-towners must check out is Tarantino’s on Green St. They are small and quaint, 
and only take cash, but the pizza is great – you can get traditional style pepperoni or sausage. The lasagna 
is a hit as well, and they offer sandwiches, but stick with the pizza. Last but not least try the Mai Tai at the 
Canoe House in South Pasadena, it is a special one.. Go on Monday Nights it’s only $6 !!

 Something New!! Starting a Podcast with Greg Simms of KEARTH 101, go to my website www.
diningwithdills.com for additional information 


JOURNEY TO TOUCH THE SUN LAUNCHING AUGUST 11

When NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launches into 
space from the Kennedy Space Center August 11, 
it will begin its journey to the Sun, our nearest star. 
The Parker Solar Probe will travel almost 90 million 
miles and eventually enter through the Sun’s outer 
atmosphere to encounter a dangerous environment 
of intense heat and solar radiation. During this 
harrowing journey, it will fly closer to the Sun than 
any other human-made object.

 To revolutionize our understanding of our 
most important and life-sustaining star, scientists 
and engineers have built a suite of instruments 
aboard the Parker Solar Probe to conduct different 
experiments. Some of these instruments will be 
protected by a thick carbon-composite heat shield. 
However, others will be more exposed.

 The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons 
(SWEAP) investigation is the set of instruments 
that will directly measure the hot ionized gas in the 
solar atmosphere during the solar encounters. A key 
instrument on SWEAP called the Solar Probe Cup 
(SPC) was built at the Smithsonian Astrophysical 
Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Mass.

 The SPC is a small metal device that will peer 
around the protective heat shield of the spacecraft 
directly at the Sun. It will face some of the most 
extreme conditions ever encountered by a scientific 
instrument, and allow a sample of the Sun’s 
atmosphere to be swept up for the first time.

 The SPC uses high voltages to determine what 
type of particles can enter, which is a way of 
measuring the energy of the particle. This is crucial 
information for probing the wind of hot ionized 
gas that is constantly produced by the Sun. As the 
spacecraft flies towards the Sun for an encounter, 
the wind is directed straight into the cup.

 This unique probe of the solar wind is important 
for scientists to better understand space weather, 
which is responsible for effects that range from 
endangering astronauts on space walks to impacting 
the electronics in communications satellites.

 The solar probe will travel faster than any 
spacecraft in history, at its peak reaching 430,000 
miles per hour, and will be only four-and-a-half 
solar diameters, or 3.8 million miles, above the solar 
surface at its closet approach to the Sun around 
2024. The probe is equipped with a heat shield to 
protect its sensors from the Sun’s heat, which could 
reach 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly hot enough 
to melt steel.

 At this distance, the solar probe will be within a 
region where electrons and ionized atoms—mostly 
hydrogen ions, or protons, and helium ions, called 
alpha particles—are accelerated and shot out toward 
the planets at high speed.

 When these ions, called the solar wind, hit Earth, 
they interact with Earth’s magnetic fields and 
generate the northern and southern lights as well as 
storms in the outermost atmosphere that interfere 
with radio communications and satellite operations. 
Accelerated to higher speeds, so-called “solar 
energetic” particles can pose a hazard to astronauts.

 The namesake of the mission is a Caltech 
alumnus, 91-year-old Eugene Parker (PhD ‘51), 
who predicted, in 1958, the existence of a supersonic 
solar wind—a flow of charged particles that stream 
off the Sun, accelerating at speeds faster than that of 
sound.

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com