Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 31, 2019

8

JUST FOR YOU!

Mountain View News Saturday, August 31, 2019 

TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com


SUMMER TRADE WINDS

Remember the story I told of Dom Perignon tasting stars and for his brother monks to come quick to taste this wonderful champagne? 
Many dishes, drinks and even the Sunday Brunch orientation have come in question. Just the other day I asked Paul Little President 
of the Chamber of Commerce of Pasadena was the cheeseburger really invented in Pasadena. Time has a nice way of making stories 
better; let’s not muddle the truth with the facts or something like that. The Mai Tai is one of my favorite drinks done right it is the perfect 
afternoon drink. The Mai Tai was said to be invented in the 40’s in Tahiti by Trader Victor Bergeron (Trader Vic’s Restaurant) Vic’s story 
of its invention is that while his guest were sipping his drink one of his guests yelled “wonderful” translates to Mai Tai in Polynesian. but 
others have also taken credit for this rum based drink. 

So where can one get the best Mai Tia in our area. Glad you asked. My friend and actor Jesse James Youngblood swears The Canoe House 
in South Pasadena makes a good one, Jesse goes one up and orders it with crushed ice, let me say I have had one and they aren’t for the faint 
of heart. The Canoe House in South Pasadena to me has one that is pretty close to perfect as it can get, crushed ice and a float of Meyers 
rum and I feel I’m on Island, somewhere. Monday Nights is Happy Hour and for $5 you cant go wrong. Damon’s on Brand in Glendale has 
been serving their “famous” 
Mai Tai for many years, like 
McDonalds French Fries 
they probably have served 
the most out of my picks. 
City Slicker and Glendale 
Development guru Dan 
Bell confirms it to be the 
“legit” Mai Tai. 

Islands makes my list with a 
stand out Mai Tai, no fancy 
glass like the Canoe House, 
but it is right on the mark! 

Miss one of your favorites in the area. Email me at diningwithdills@gmail.com and 
tune into My radio show at 8 AM on Go Country 105 Sundays, this weeks guest is musician BJ Thomas

Congrats to Susan Henderson and the entire Mountain Views News team, it’s our Anniversary!!


HOW TO STORE FOOD FOR 
EMERGENCIES

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges


[Nyerges has taught self-reliance and survival skills classes and field trips since 1974. A schedule of classes, and information 
about his various books, is available at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com. A schedule is available by calling 626) 
791-3217).

HOW TO STORE FOOD

If you plan to store food for emergencies, don’t put all your eggs into one basket. Have a variety of foods that do not 
require refrigeration. Always store what you already eat, and eat what you store (meaning, always rotate your food supply, and eat the 
oldest first).

 

Canned goods last for years, and you can allocate a special place in your garage or cupboard for as much as you need.

 

It is often a good idea to buy large cans in bulk for long term storage, though you should always carefully consider your situation. For 
example, in large families, or at camps, large cans of food get used up quickly, and refrigeration is not a problem. We have heard from 
some folks who have told us they purchased large cans because that is what they thought they should do, but when they finally opened 
the can for a household of two, they found that it took them a very long time to eat it all.

 

In such cases, small families are much better off with smaller containers.

 

To save money, you can buy bulk bags of beans, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, and such things as flour, powdered milk, powdered eggs, etc. 
When you pack these for storage, you are chiefly concerned with preventing mice and rats from getting into the containers, and you 
want to prevent the growth of any insects inside the containers. There are numerous ways to accomplish this.

 

Select a cool spot in your home for your food storage. Ideally, this is a cellar, but this all depends on your particular situation. You may 
have to settle for a closet, or garage.

 

When we have purchased large bags of grains or seeds, we have packed them into plastic buckets with tight fitting lids. The buckets were 
purchased, or obtained for free, from bakeries around town. Typically, we had to clean the buckets of syrup or dough, and we had to 
select only those buckets whose lid made a tight seal.

 

You can purchase such buckets at numerous food storage companies and survival stores, though you can do just as well with second-
hand buckets.

 

We have stored food in old metal ammo cans which seal very tightly. We have also stored food in one gallon glass or plastic jars. Usually, 
these have screw-on lids. We look for the jars whose lids have a plastic seal, and then we store the jar in a cupboard where it is dark.

 

If you are serious about storing food and using your stored food, we strongly recommend that you buy a book dedicated to just this. 
[WTI Publishing Company sells a little booklet that neatly covers the entire concept. The book, including postage, is only $7 from WTI 
Press, 5835 Burwood Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90042].

 

A creative way to store food so others will not be aware of it is the beanbag chair. You can often buy the fabric for the bean bag at department 
stores, and then they try to sell you plastic beads for filling the bag. Don’t buy the plastic beads – just buy the fabric cover. Then 
buy a few 100 lb sacks of pinto or other beans, and fill your bag. Beans last a very long time.

 

DRYING

Drying your own fruits and vegetables is not that difficult. We have a small electric model dehydrator and we are frequently drying 
something. We have dried bananas, persimmons, cranberries, deer meat, squirrel meat, apples, pears, wild herbs, watercress, etc. etc. 
Then we just pack the dried food in a quart jar, tightly seal the jar, and store in on a shelf.

 

Obviously, you can’t use an electric dryer if you have no electricity. But people have dried their food for millennia. In fact, perhaps the 
two primary methods of food storage over the centuries has been drying and pickling. Food left in the sun, and protected from insects, 
will dry naturally. A few centuries ago, people then had to store their food in ceramic vessels, in animal skins, possibly in woven containers. 
Today, we have a broad array of glass, metal, and plastic containers that render our food insect and rat-proof (more or less).

 

You might also learn to can your own foods, though that is beyond the scope of this publication. There are many good cookbooks which 
teach you to can, such as Rodale’s Stocking Up. However, we know how hard it is to learn something new from a book, so if you have 
the opportunity, work alongside someone who already knows how to can. This is always the best way to learn something new.

 

LOCAL SURVIVAL EDUCATION

Once a month on a Thursday evening, you can attend a CERT training meeting in Sierra Madre. All of us become acutely aware that 
emergencies and disaster can and do happen all the time. )

CERT participants learn the basics of emergency communication, first aid, what tools to always carry, and how to work together to 
restore a semblance of sanity. 

You can learn more about Sierra Madre CERT group by checking them out on Facebook, or their web page at www.sierramadreemergency.
org. CERT means Civilian Emergency Response Training, so you can learn what to do in emergencies. The training is FEMA-sponsored.


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