Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 27, 2022

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Mountain View News Saturday, August 27, 2022 


The Chef Knows By Peter Dills

HENRY & VIOLET

WANTED! For stealing hearts 
and getting along with dogs! 
Age 4 mos., they're as cute and 
sweet as they look! Henry and 
Violet are 2 of 4 siblings.

HENRY is shy but he will accept 
being pet and has an adorable 
purr. He gets SO involved 
in playing with dangling toys that he forgets he's shy and 
enjoys the pettings! He seems to like being with another 
kit-ten--no matter who. See the cute little Marilyn Monroe beauty spot on his pink nose? 

VIOLET loves climbing cat trees. Her favorite toy is a feather wand! She's the tuxedo! 
Underneath that cute face is pure silliness, as you will see from her other website pictures.

They are healthy and in a great foster home where there are also two nurturing doggies 
to help take care of them and play with them! C'mon! You know you want them! Find the 
adoption application on our website where you'll also find more adorable pix on our Very 
Young Cats page. www.lifelineforpets.org.

SUMMER TRADE WINDS

HAPPY NATIONAL MAI TAI DAY

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 5 
PM on AM 830 this Sunday

Happy Mai Tai Day


Pet of the Week


Doodalina is a 1-year-old spayed Doberman 
Pinscher mix who is full of fun! Her unique 
name comes from her silly smile that made 
us think she is an artistic doodle come to 
life. We love how she happily bounces 
around the play yard, tossing toys in the air, 
investigating every bit of fuzz she can find 
and generally acting like a rambunctious 
puppy, which of course, she is. Doodalina 
weighs about 65 pounds but is likely still 
growing. She knows a couple of commands 
and seems ready and willing to learn more 
(as long as that bit of fuzz doesn’t distract 
her). 

The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dog 
adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, 
and age-appropriate vaccines. 

New adopters will receive a complimentary 
health-and-wellness exam from VCA 
Animal Hospitals and a goody bag filled 
with information 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 made available every 
Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. 

Pets may not be available for adoption and 
cannot be held for potential adopters by 
phone calls or email.


FAMILY MATTERS

 By Marc Garlett

NATIONAL MAKE-A-WILL MONTH

August is “National Make-A-Will Month,” and if you have already 
prepared your will, congratulations—too few Americans have taken this 
key first step in the estate planning process. In fact, only 33% of Americans 
have created their will, according to Caring.com’s 2022 Wills and Estate 
Planning Study. 

Yet, while having a will is important—and all adults over age 18 should have this key document in 
place—for all but a few people, creating a will is just one small part of a complete estate plan that 
works to keep your loved ones out of court and out of conflict. With this in mind, we’re going to look 
at exactly what having a will in place does—and does not—do for you and your loved ones in terms of 
estate planning. 
If you have yet to create your will, or you haven’t reviewed your existing will recently, you really need 
to get this vital first step in your estate planning handled right away.

What A Will Does

A will is a legal document outlining your final wishes. Here are some of the things having a will in 
place allows you to do:

1. Choose how assets are divided upon your death: A will’s primary purpose is to allow you to 
designate how you want your assets divided among your surviving loved ones upon your death. If 
you die without a will, state law governs how your assets are distributed, which may or may not be 
in line with your wishes.

However, as we’ll discuss more below, a will only allows you to provide for the distribution of 
certain types of assets—namely, a will only covers assets owned solely in your name. Other types 
of assets, such as those with a beneficiary designation and assets co-owned by you with others, are 
not affected by your will.

 

2. Name an executor: In your will, you can name the person, or persons, you want to serve as 
your executor, sometimes called a “personal representative.” Following your death, your executor 
is responsible for wrapping up your final affairs. This includes numerous responsibilities, including 
filing your will with the local probate court, locating and managing all of your assets, paying off any 
debts you have outstanding, filing and paying your final income taxes, and finally, distributing your 
remaining assets to your named beneficiaries.

3. Name guardians for your minor children: If you are the parent of minor children, it is possible to 
name legal guardians for them in your will. However, naming guardians for your children in your 
will alone is seriously risky and doing so may even leave your kids vulnerable to being taken into 
the care of strangers if something happens to you. And this is true even if you’ve worked with a 
lawyer to create your will, because many estate planning lawyers aren’t focused on what’s necessary 
for ensuring the well-being and care of minor children.

4. Serve as a backup for a living trust: Most trusts are combined with what’s known as a “pour-over” 
will. This type of will serves as a backup to a living trust, so any assets not held by the trust upon 
your death are transferred, or “poured,” into your trust through the probate process via your will.

A Small—But Important—First Step


As you can see, having a will in place only gives you a limited amount of power over the distribution of 
certain assets, but that doesn’t mean you should go without one. Without a will, you would lose any say 
in who inherits your personal assets when you die, and everything you own could even go to the state. 
But worse than that, your surviving loved ones will be the ones who must clean up the mess you’ve left 
behind. And they will have to handle all of this while grieving your death. Instead, you should see your 
will as an important first step in the estate planning process—one that works best when integrated with 
a variety of other legal vehicles, such as trusts, powers of attorney, and advance healthcare directives.

Next week, in part two, we’ll detail all the things that your will does not do, and outline the different 
estate planning tools you should have in place to make up for these potential blind spots in your estate 
plan. 

Best,

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges


ON AMERICA'S FAVORITE FOOD: 
POTATOES

 [Nyerges is the author 
of “Guide to Wild 
Foods,” “Urban Survival 
Guide,” “How to Survive 
Anywhere,” and about 
two dozen other books. 
More information on his books and classes 
is found at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

 

I love potatoes and the vast 
variety of flavors and textures 
that can be produced from 
them.

In the potato mythology of my 
past, I think about a farmer in 
the fields in the fall, burning a 
pile of dry leaves, and baking 
a potato in the coals as smoke 
billows up this way and that.

When I lived on my grandfather’s 
farm in rural Ohio after 
high school, I would drive 
26 miles each way to work, 
from Chardon to Middlefield, 
through the countryside, and 
would often see brush piles 
burning along the road, always 
wondering if there were a few potatoes 
being baked in the smouldering pile.

When I finally did my own potato baking 
in coals, it was a bit messier than I expected, 
but still produced a delicious afternoon 
meal that was so wonderfully enhanced 
with just a bit of Amish butter. 

At home in the kitchen or in the backyard, 
or in the forest, I still love baking potatoes 
and its woodsy aromatic odor.

My brother was a fanatic lover of “French 
fries” when we were growing up, something 
I never understood. He always ordered 
a side of French fries when he ordered 
a burger from the local burger joint. 
He seemed to relish them immensely, dipping 
each deep-fried potato stick into gobs 
of ketchup before consuming it. For whatever 
reason, I never developed a liking for 
French fries, and find this to be the least 
desirable way to eat the honorable potato.

 

Today, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) is 
considered one of the most important food 
plants of the world. 

The “European” or “Irish” potato is believed 
to have descended from the plants 
which originated in the temperate Andes 
of South America, where it is believed that 
they have been grown and eaten for at least 
2000 years.

It was most likely introduced into Europe 
via Spain, in the late 1500s. These early 
potatoes were longer than wide, and knobby, 
much like the “fingerling” potatoes 
gaining in popularity today.

Potatoes are perennials, which – under the 
right conditions – yield a higher food value 
per acre than any cereal. Their chief commercial 
disadvantage when compared to 
cereals (grasses) are the high water content 
(which adds to the cost of transportation), 
and the shorter storage-life.

(By comparison, cereal grains can be stored 
for hundreds, if not thousands, of years).

 

Perhaps my favorite way to cook potatoes 
was taught to me by Tree and Water expert 
Timothy Hall, who would often prepare 
potatoes during our meal times at the non-
profit of which we were both members. 

Hall first sliced the potatoes into pieces 
about ¼ inch thick, but more often he’d 
simply cut the potato lengthwise into four 
large pieces. He’d slowly simmer these 
in olive oil in a large cast iron skillet until 
done, and then sprinkle some garlic or 
pepper over them. These were awesome!

I love potatoes! I like the Timothy Hall-
style, boiled, baked, in salad, and potato 
chips. How can anyone not like potato 
chips?

 

GROWING YOUR OWN

Eventually, I learned the ease with which I 
could grow my own potatoes. I first read 
up on it, and learned that you can cut out 
the sprouts of a sprouting potato and plant 
each of those in the garden. It sounded 
complicated, and being a lazy gardener, 
I planted the whole sprouted potatoes in 
various garden patches, including some 
raised beds. I just dug a hole, making sure 
it was good loamy soil, and planted the 
potato.

The plant grows up and resembles a wild 
nightshade plant – of course, that’s because 
potatoes are in the Nightshade Family. 
Then, in a few months when the plant 
has matured and faded, you can dig into 
the soil and presto! – each potato will have 
produced about a dozen new potatoes. I 
was really amazed that very first time to see 
many potatoes where I only planted one!

I have never discarded sprouted potatoes 
ever since. I plant them in different spots, 
and I have at least one spot where I always 
leave a few in the ground, creating a semi-
permanent, perennial patch of potatoes.

I don’t think you’d want to live off potatoes 
entirely, but you’d not starve if you had potatoes. 
They are a decent source of calories 
(between 70 and 90 calories per 100 
grams of potatoes), not much fat, and between 
15 to 20 grams of carbohydrate per 
100 grams. The numbers, according to the 
USDA, vary due to the different ways that 
potatoes are processed (peels or no peels), 
and cooked. Each 100 grams of potatoes 
contains about 300 to 500 mg. of potassium, 
about 15 to 20 mg. of Vitamin C, 40 to 
65 mg. of phosphorus, and trace amounts 
of many more vitamins and minerals. And 
you know how we all eat potatoes—no one 
eats them plain! By the time you’ve added 
diced onions, and maybe some garlic, and 
cheese, and butter, you have a pretty satisfactory 
meal!


Marc Garlett, Esq.

Cali Law Family Legacy 
Matters

www.caliLaw.com

626.355.4000


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