MOTHER'S DAY BRUNCH

Shirley and Miki'ala Jacobs

Mother and Child Reunion, 1979

It was a tradition in our household to go to Sunday brunches at the grand Waikiki hotels whenever it wa justified  This buffet is for all other makuahine to digest and hopefully digest.  Later I'm driving to Oahu Cemetery to vist my mom and "aunties."

• The best buffet is at the Halekulani.  Problem is you must reserve a year in advance. 
  
• As one who has dined on fine Chinese food in big cities known for the finest, such as San Francisco, New York, Beverly Hills, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago. etc.. plus a few in Europe and Asia, besides living for a year in Hong Kong, I can tell you that Pa Ke's right here  in Kaneohe -- unless and until they change cooks -- is the best you will ever visit.  And you will find the relatively inexpensive check sweeter then the deserts.
• Sweetie Moffatt still knows where to buy the best clothes and cool wahine stuff.
• Living on an island without a Jewish mother can be harmful to one's health.
• If you are registering yourchild for kindergarten (and are fairly rich, have generous in-laws or can can swing a loan) sign up for Hanahauoli the nurturing enclave in Makiki, which inculcates Hawaiian culture from day one and nurtures kids on all levels.
• Breast feeding is where it's at for mother and child, although some might argue.
• Do not name your daughter with an Anglo name unless you want her Hawaiian Heirloom jewelry to come out weird with non-existent "names."
• Possibly the most beautiful song written by a Hawaiian matriarch is "Kawohikukapulani."
• God bless Genoa Keawe, who recently passed away.  Her son, Gary Aiko, has been a friend since the 50s,  Genoa was everyone 's Auntie.
• The New York Giants pulled the Mother of all Super Bowl upsets, which made today three months early.
• My surrogate Jewish mother, since 1959, has been Rochelle Gardiner.  
• "Mama" by Country Comfort is a great 30-year-old "contemporary" song.  It was produced by Tom Moffatt and Cyrus Faryar.  They both had great moms whom I had the pleasure to meet.
• Even Barbara Bush has virtues.  Elvis' mom did a fine job considering his twin died at birth.  Angelina Jolies's good genes appear to come mostly from her mother.  Kate Hudson's mother still looks great in jeans.  
• Don't rent the 2003 version of MOTHER'S DAY, not the best one to rent and watch today.
• My mother despised cats more than anything on earth.  Bomber-size Flyin' Hawaiian cockroaches came in a very close second.  She proved, "You can take the woman out of New Jersey but you can't ... etc."
• Both my parents mothers died before they were six years old.  So I never new my grandmas. Some inventions were not born out of necessity.
• There are some households where it might not be cool to play the Ernie K-Doe golden oldie "Mother-In-Law."
• Lamaze is not for the father who is faint at heart.  It does make one appreciate mothers even more, though, that's fir shire.
• God bless the mothers of -- to name some at random --Fats Domino, Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bill Russell, Jon Stewart, e.e. cummings, the Manning, Kennedy, Varez, Unser, Isley, Wright and Kalima brothers, Steve Jobs, Wolfman Jack, Steve Martin, Cameron Crowe, Nikola Tesla, Sandy Koufax, Daniel Inouye, Albert Camus, King Kamehameha I, Robert W. Morgan, Jesus Christ, Frank Sinatra, Harry S Truman, Harrsion Ford, Vincent Lombardi, Wesley Park, Ledward Kaapana and Ben & Jerry.
• May my dear buddy, the Mama, Cass Elliott, smile down on us all.  Mama Cass was the coolest "superstar" I will ever know. either giving away her extra puppies as a KHJ promo, ridding to Mel's pad in Woodstock (where I made the greatest score of alltime), or sitting next to The Boys in the L. A. Coliseum, cheering for the Baltimore Colts if she and they were in town on a given Sunday.
• And happy Mother's Day minus-one to the lovely and talented Millicent Cummings, whose new baby and CD are due out soon.  

Mother Millicent at Sacred Falls