Well, it's coming up. Mother's Day. The Chows make a big fuss over Sylvie Ruth, being P33t's mother and all, and always express great interest in Sunday brunch and then, nap all day. The children that used to live here never did settle on one Mother's Day tradition but instead, threw change ups every year to throw me off track. Couple years ago, Beni Hana gave me a really nifty thing that looks like a tool you use to break into cars. What you really do with it is slip it in the spine of your open cookbook and it holds the book open while you cook. Super cool! This year, the Christ Child gave me a gorgeous necklace from the spring collection of his employer. FABulous, darling. Angie Mariani has come up with lovely, beautiful things over the years and never fails to surprise me. The year I got TiVo I was blown away. She's tricky, that one.

It occurs to me that the Chows and I have a certain authority in Mother's Days gifts--you folks might want us to share-- so with no further ado, we present

Best of Mother's Day 2009

Breakfast: there are a lot of schools of thought on breakfast. You can go toast, eggs, sausage, muffins, fruit, pancakes, waffles, ickcetra, ickcetra, ickcetra. Let us just say this: less is more. Less is more! Women don't eat like loggers. You want to go with one perfect almond croissant, a big mug of perfectly brewed strong coffee from a French press, and a Bloody Mary in a frosty iced tea glass. That's all you need. It should be served in bed, in a bed with 800 count Egyptian cotton sheets preferably white, of course; on a nice little tray with a single bloom in a non-tippy bud vase, probably crystal. The morning light will throw rainbows through it if you are lucky and a tulip will be just fine as long as you have a nice French dish towel acting as a place mat. The tray also is a perfect place for other Mother's Day offerings. See below.

Jewelry: I personally think a good bracelet makes a wonderful day. You have your choices, of course; Hermes, unbeatable. Good silver bangles, tres chic. A nice 22K gold bracelet of any style is a rock star on Mother's Day. But I have to say my personal favorite for Mother's Day is a tennis bracelet of amethysts. How can you go wrong? Get a tennis bracelet in anything for that matter, have the jeweler wrap it up in that seductive manner only jewelers know, and tuck in into the tray with the almond croissant and the Bloody Mary. You're well on your way to bein' Mama's favorite!

Scarves: Again, one of my personal favorites (and it is all about me, right?) is an Hermes scarf. With me, it's a little harder as I have several hundred of the damn things so you gotta be careful you don't give me one I already have. What you probably want to do is call Hermes in New York and ask for Anita. Tell her you're shopping for JBelle and you need the perfect scarf. She'll understand your dilemma. She'll sigh, think for a moment, and break the silence with an hmmmm; then undoubtedly, she'll murmur the name of the one scarf she bought from the spring collection and tell you she thinks it would suit me, too. It might, it just possibly might. But believe me, when the box from HOP hits my front porch, I am guaranteed to jump into your arms, no matter what scarf the postman brings. Hermes: no flipping brainer.

China/Silver/Crystal: It's hard to beat a nice heart-shaped piece of Wedgewood or Waterford. Or a heart-shaped piece of Pomona Portmerion with those darling apples on it. Silver anything, particularly vintage in Gorham Buttercup, is a homerun. This option is sooooo easy!

Flowers: Saved the best for last. Mother's Day is the unofficial start of the spring flower planting season. You want to go with that theme instead of cut flowers in a vase. What you want is a knock-out hanging basket, or a big planted pot or one of those big baskets of annuals that are so cunningly put together. You can't get these things at Lowe's or at Home Depot. Can't even get them at a good florist. Nope. You gotta go to the best, and I am talking the very best, greenhouse in town. They'll have a big selection if you shop early in the week and you'll be able to be discriminating and highly selective. Hands down, a big, wonderful, colorful basket or pot of summer annuals is the very best, I am talking the gold standard here, of Mother's Day gifts. It is my all time first choice and the very favorite of all my memories. It's what I used to give my mom. And these days, it's the one thing I yearn for: to drive up to 10th and Penn with a knot of howling kids and unload a big pot of petunias and vines to my mom's front porch. You never,ever get over your first love.



JBelle
Bellemaison
The 'Kan EWA