Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 20, 2022

Mountain View News Saturday, August 20, 2022 

The Chef Knows By Peter Dills 
PET FRIENDLY RESTAURANTS UPDATED 

First of all, the term “pet friendly” might be considered an oxymoron. 
The rule of the thumb is that the restaurants have some sort of outdoor 
(al fresco) patio dining. Each city has its own regulations on laws about 
bringing Fido to restaurants. Here are a few guidelines that I have come 
up with. 

To keep obliging restaurants happy with their decisions to include pets,
here are some etiquette rules you and your pet should follow when dining 
out:

• Keep your animal leashed at all times. 
• No barking
• No begging
• No jumping
• No eating off the table 
• No sitting on chairs, tables or benches 
• Do not enter the inside of the restaurant. 
• Current vaccination tags should be on pet's collar 
• Bring your own food dish and water bowl. Health codes prohibit pets from eating and 
drinking from restaurant dishes and glasses.
• Get your pet to sit under or as close to the table base as possible to reduce the chances of 
your waiter tripping over your pet 
Now that we got that out of the way here is a list of local 
favorites, did I miss a spot? Please email me!! 

The wonderful Raymond Restaurant 1886 is a great 
place for happy hour and, depending on the weather, 
a great place for your pooch. I have it on good authority 
that all three Lucky Baldwin’s allow pets and that 
the Old Pasadena location even has some treats on the 
menu (beer?). Sierra Madre’s Casa Del Rey is very dogfriendly and has water bowls for Lil Milo and you can 
enjoy the tacos, right across the street is the Wisteria, 
yes just visited there last night!!! One of my favorite 
Italian restaurants is Mi Piace - space is limited but 
they will welcome your puppy with open arms. Looking 
for some Tex with your Mex? El Portal on Colorado 
Blvd. has a great patio and is perfect for a meeting of 
you and your pooch. Porta Via Italian Foods on California 
tells me that they are dog friendly. Well, the DogHaus better be dog friendly, right? Check out both locations, 
but I would suggest the one on Green St. The 
new True Foods is a great place for a Sunday Mimosa 
on their patio, and Bella will feel like a champ . If your 
like Susan Henderson and golfing is your thing take your pug to Brookside Golf Course! Well, I 
know I missed a few but that’s a great list to start with. 

Tune in this Sunday afternoon at 5 PM AM 830 Angels Radiodiningwithdills@gmail.com 


FAMILY MATTERS

 By Marc Garlett 

3 CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR HOW TO 
SAVE FOR YOUR CHILD’S (OR GRANDCHILD'S)
COLLEGE EDUCATION 

If you have started to save for your child or grandchild’s college education, there are many different financial 
vehicles available to help. 

Here’s what we think you should consider as you decide which one to use: 

First, consider whether you want your offspring to have broader options than just the traditional college 
experience. 

Since the start of the pandemic, college enrollments have declined by over one million students over the 
past two years, and with college tuition getting more and more expensive, many students are considering 
alternatives to the traditional higher education path. 

Gap years, travel, trade programs, and online training are replacing the traditional college education path for 
many, and if you want that to be an option for your children or grandchildren, you should be aware that the 
traditional college savings plans may not be the best fit for your family. 

Second, consider the financial aid consequences of how you are saving for college. 

If you think your child or grandchild may need or want to qualify for financial aid, beyond student loans, 
the way you save for their education may significantly impact their ability to qualify. If your offspring will 
need financial assistance to pay for their education, it’s vital that the way in which you choose to save will not 
negatively impact their qualification for such assistance. 

Third, consider the income tax consequences of how you are saving for college. 

When you set aside money, unless you are saving for retirement in a qualified retirement plan, the income 
earned on that money is subject to income taxes. However, with various types of college savings plans, you can 
defer or avoid income taxes altogether. 

529 Plans 

Since 1996, 529 plans, which are named for Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, have been one of the 
most popular options for covering college costs. Congress expanded these plans to cover K–12 education in 
2017, and it also changed the program to pay up to $10,000 in student loan debt in 2019. 

One reason 529 plans are so popular is due to their tax-saving advantages. The money you contribute to a 
529 account grows on a tax-deferred basis, and withdrawals are tax-free, provided they are used for qualified 
education expenses, such as tuition, room and board, and other education-related fees. 

But before you automatically save for your offspring’s future education using a 529 plan, keep in mind that to 
avoid paying taxes, plus a 10% penalty, the money must be used for eligible expenses only. Eligible expenses 
include tuition and fees, room and board, books, as well as computers and other items if they are required for 
classwork. 

If your child decides not to go to college, you will pay income taxes, plus the 10% penalty to withdraw the 
funds and use them for something else. Another downside to saving for your child’s education in a 529 plan is 
that your investment options may be significantly limited to only a small selection of mutual funds. 

Education Trusts 

While 529 plans are quite popular, there is another way to save for your child or grandchild’s education using 
an irrevocable trust. While there isn’t any income tax deferral on income earned by the assets held by these 
trusts, it is possible to structure a trust, so your beneficiaries could qualify for financial aid that they may 
otherwise be ineligible for with a 529 plan. And in certain circumstances, qualifying for financial aid would be 
even more valuable than savings on the income taxes owed on income earned by the trust. 

In addition to the issue of qualifying for financial aid, another benefit of such trusts is that you can not only 
save for a single child’s or grandchild’s education, you can also structure your trust to provide a pool of funds 
for the education of all family members. Moreover, when creating the trust, “education” can be broadly defined 
to include any type of learning institution or organization, such as trade schools, educational workshops, 
community colleges, and private academies, to name just a few options. 

Furthermore, you can provide that the trust can pay for alternative education, such as travel, retreats, business 
building programs, and other nontraditional educational experiences, which may prove even more valuable 
than college. Bottom line: when you set aside money to educate your family with an education trust, you get to 
decide exactly how your beneficiaries can use the funds by what is most in alignment with your family values. 


Marc Garlett, Esq.
Cali Law Family LegacyMatters 
www.caliLaw.com 
626.355.4000 


Kitten Kaboodle! 

Are you almost ready to adopt 
a kitten or two? We have just 
acquired a litter of 5—and 
are they ever cute! They’ll be 
ready for their forever homes 
by late September, but we are 
taking applications now. We 
will have pictures of each one, 
with their gender, posted on our website next week, at www.
lifelineforpets.org, see the Very Young page. Our application 


to adopt is also on our website, with all adoption infor-mation. They will be spayed & neutered, 
vaccinated, tested, micro-chipped and more prior to home delivery—that’s a great savings 
to you. Not ready to adopt? We can also use fosters and sponsors—just see the details on 
our Home page. Thank you! 

Pet of the Week

 Three-year-old Teddy is a friendly, playful dogwho often greets people with a wagging tail anda wiggly butt! Teddy loves squeaky toys andprancing in our play yard, but also has a calmside. He enjoys getting affection, and will givekisses or even put his head in your lap to ask forfull-body petting.

 The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dogadoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, andage-appropriate vaccines.

 New adopters will receive a complimentaryhealth-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled withinformation about how to care for your pet.

 View photos of adoptable pets and schedule 
an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.
org. Adoptions are by appointment only, and 
new adoption appointments are available everySunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. 
Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adoptersby phone calls or email. 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges
characteristic and unique flavor, but we all


DON’T MAKE A 
SALAD FROM “POLK 
SALAD ANNIE”-GET 
TO KNOW THE 
POKEWEED PLANT 
(Phytolacca americana) 

[Nyerges has been teaching 

ethno-botany since 1974, 

and has authored nearly 

two dozen books on self-reliance 
and survival. More information is at www. 
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com] 

Poke is actually a toxic plants that has a longhistory in the South and Eastern states as a 
good spring food, when properly prepared. 
It can be found in the West, but not commonly. 
I first encountered pokeweed while 
living on my grandfather’s farm in Ohio 
during the summers. As it matures, poke 
is a large and fairly distinctive plant so once 
you’ve seen it a few times, you really can’t 
confuse it with anything else. 

A big misconception about eating poke 
resulted from the popular 1969 song byTony Joe White called “Polk Salad Annie.” 
The song was about a girl who picked poke 
weed, and knew how to prepare it. But 
if you’re from the South, you know that 
White should have spelled it “Poke Sallet,” 
since “salad” suggests you eat poke raw – 
you can’t! – and “sallet” refers to cooked 
greens, which is the proper way you must 
prepare poke. 

In the spring, the first poke shoots are collected, 
boiled, and the water discarded. The 
greens are then boiled again, and then discarded 
again. Then, after that, you can season 
and eat the greens. At that point, you 
can season them with any of the traditional 
dressings, like bacon fat or butter, or add 
the greens to soup or casseroles. 

Here is how herbalist Susun Weed describes 
the processing of poke greens: “To 
make your own sallet: Collect very young 
poke greens as early as possible in the season 
(late April to mid-May in the Catskills, 
as early as February in Georgia). Pour boiling 
water over the greens and boil them 
one minute. Discard water. Add more boiling 
water and again boil the greens for one 
minute. Discard the water. Do this at least 
twice more before attempting to eat the 
greens. If you fail to leach out the poisonous 
compounds -- or are foolish enough to attempt 
to eat poke leaves raw -- your mouth 
and throat will feel like they are on fire, you 
may vomit, and you will no doubt have copious 
diarrhea.” That’s doesn’t sound like 
something enjoyable. 

There seems to be scant data in the literature 
about the use of poke berries for food. 
I have often read that the berries are poisonous 
and could kill you and that you 
should never eat them. According to Donald 
R. Kirk, author of “Wild Edible Plants of 
Western North America,” “The berries are 
reported by some to be edible, and by others 
to be poisonous. Those that use them 
make them into pies and jellies.” 

On our farm, we cooked the berries and 
made pie. My uncles grew up eating poke 
pie that their father (my grandfather) made 
and always enjoyed it. As a new poke eater 
in my late teens, I simply boiled the mashed 
fruits, strained out the seeds, sweetened it, 
and added it to a pie crust. It did have a 


ate it and no one got sick. To be fair, some 
people really love the flavor of cooked poke 
berries and some will never try it again after 
the first taste. It’s not what I’d call an acquired 
taste – but it is a unique flavor. 

Since everyone’s body chemistry is different, 
I would suggest that you proceed with 
caution if you decide to try this. 

Susun Weed points out that the small seeds 
in the berries are poisonous. “Lucky for us,” 
she writes in sagewoman.com, “they are too 
hard for our teeth to break open. I have had 
pokeberry jam (no worse than blackberryjam, that is, seedy) and pokeberry jelly (ah, 
no seeds) and pokeberry pie (seedy). Since 
children are attracted to poke plants and 
since the berries leave telltale stains on children's 
mouths and since many parents are 
frightened if their child eats anything wild, 
and since medical personnel know little 
about poke except that it is poisonous, lots 
of kids have their stomach pumped (for no 
good reason, since they can't break open 
the seeds either) after investigating the taste 
of poke berries.” 

These days, when I read about people getting 
sick from products made from poke 
berries, I tend to be a bit more cautious. I 
would suggest mashing the fruits, straining 
out all seeds and then boiling it thoroughly. 
Yes, there are those who always bring up the 
fact that hard-boiling can destroy some vitamins. 
Yes, but it’s either that or vomiting!
I prefer the former! Or just avoid these 
berries altogether and stick to strawberries 
and grapes. 

The poke berries can also be crushed and 
made into a paint for artworks, and possibly 
fabrics. I experimented a little with the 
ink, and found it to be a refreshing color 
when brushed onto white art paper. 

CAUTION: 

Yes, you might read in some herbal that the 
root is good for certain maladies. I suggest 
that you just leave the root in the ground! 
The root has sometimes been suggested as 
a remedy for various inflammations, mastitis, 
rheumatism, etc., by trained herbalists. 

I have often been asked if poke can be confused 
with any poisonous plants. Well, infact, poke is a poisonous plant, and so if 
you eat the young shoots, be sure to cook 
them twice as described here so you won’t 
get sick. 

Remember, never eat ANY wild plant until 
you've taken the time to be able to 100% 
identify it, and you've studied its properties. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 
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