This is my 3M column: The 3Ms are "Mother's Management Magic." Why, because, besides of all the amazing things that my mother did, she has passed down so many skills to my sister and me. Not just the skills of cooking, sewing, housekeeping, but management skills. I still recall when Mom would wake up early to fix breakfast before I left for work at the cannery. We always had a balanced diet of fruit, some type of protein, bread and a hot beverage. She even packed a bento so that I could share my goodies with the gang in the lunchroom. My friends always loved my Mom's musubi with the ume (pickled plum) buried inside.

Dinner always was served at 5 p.m., early by today's standards. We had a wide variety of foods from many ethnicities: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hawaiian, Portuguese, Filipino, haole and others. But what was the greatest lesson of all was how Mom incorporated her management skills into her meals. Everything would always be tasty, hot and on time. This is a skill that, years later, I was fortunate to be able to pass on to my son and my home-economics students at Kalaheo High School. I learned it from Mom, and it became formalized in my Meal Management class at the University of Hawai'i.

Here is a simple lesson you can surprise your mother with, by applying the same principles that I learned from mine. In the following menu, start off by cooking the dish that takes the most time. Follow the instructions for the black beans with the roasted red bell pepper. While the beans simmer on warm, cook the next item: the seared halibut with the spicy corn sauce. Top off this colorful and tasty dish with the sliced avocados. Serve this to your mother on Mother's Day and you will give her the best gift of all: The Gift of Love.

SEARED HALIBUT WITH SPICY CORN SAUCE