August 13 Donald Tai Loy Ho's Birthday

If there was ever an entertainer that demonstrated the chasm between musical taste of generations, It was Don Ho. The popular raspberry-tinted sunglass wearing Hawaiian entertainer was once named by Maxim magazine as one of the "50 coolest guys ever." He began his career in 1959 at Honey's, his parents cocktail lounge in Kaneohe, were he organized a band and began signing. Later in life Don reflected,. “I just played songs I liked from the radio, and pretty soon that place was jammed. Every weekend there would be lines down the street.”

Don's growing popularity got him booked at the most popular night club called Duke's where a talent scout from Reprise Records signed him up. Then he recorded "Tiny Bubbles" which he wrote and it charted on both the pop (#66 on the Hot 100). Soon he was he was packing major mainland clubs such as the Coconut Grove in Hollywood where his opening-night performance broke all previous attendance records. .Don eventually had his own ABC daytime comedy-variety show, "The Don Ho Show" (1976) which filmed in Waikiki Beach and was a popular guest star on many TV shown including The Brady Bunch , Batman, and Charlie's Angels.

Soon it became a maxim that no trip to Hawaii would be complete with seeing the Don Ho Show at the Waikiki Beachcomber. His shows usually started and ended with the same song, “Tiny Bubbles.” , the opening lyrics of which were “Tiny bubbles/in the wine/make me happy/make me feel fine." I hate that song,” he often joked ,and said that he saved it for the end because “people my age can’t remember if we did it or not.” He always asked for a show of hands of veterans of World War II. He would ask for all the Pearl Harbor survivors to stand. Then the men from the European Theater, the veterans of the Pacific Theater were invited on stage to join the hula dancers. After his wife of 48 years died, Don married his production assistant for his show at the Waikiki Beachcomber. A few days after his honeymoon, Don went into cardiac arrest. and died soon after.

It might seem appropriate to celebrate Don's birthday with a Tiny Bubbles cocktails. But since the drink requires champagne for the bubbles, it seems a waste to open a bottle for just a few cocktails; So instead, we recommend honoring the man who represented Hawaii for nearly five decades with a product that is often identified as Hawaii's national dish - Spam.- a canned precooked meat product allegedly made of chopped pork shoulder meat and ham with gelatinous glaze, and often referred to mystery meat. The Hawaiians are very creative and have come up with some imaginative ways of making it more enticing including Spam Spread, Spam hot dogs, and our personal favorite - Spam Golden Honey Grail – a limited-release special flavor made in honor of Monty Python's Spamalot Broadway musical. However, our recommended celebratory dish for Don's birthday is Spam Sushi which we suggest enjoying while watching Joe's Apartment (1996) in which Don plays Alberto Bianco.

Spam Sushi

Ingredients

3 cups Calrose rice
1/2 cup Japanese rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar.
1/4 cup shoyu
1/4 cup sugar,
1/4 cup mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1 can Spam strips, cooked Sato-Shayu style

Nori (seaweed used to roll sushi)
Cucumber sticks
Radish sprouts
Takuwan strips (Japanese pickled radish)
Wasabi (Japanese horseradish)

Instructions

1. To make Sushi rice, wash and cook 3 cups Calrose rice. While still hot, season with vinegar sauce,
    or use packaged sushi mix such as Sushi!- No-Ko.
2. Make the vinegar sauce by combining 1/2 cup Japanese rice vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar. Cook until
    sugar dissolves. Cool.
3. Sprinkle half of vinegar sauce over hot rice; mix gently. Add more vinegar sauce to taste.
    Or follow instructions on package mix.
4. Make sauce with1/4 cup shoyu, 1/4 cup sugar , and 1/4 cup mirin .Bring sauce to a boil in a small
   pan. Add Spam, lower heat, and cook 2-3 minutes.
5 Cut a sheet of nori in half. Place nori on your left hand; add a small amount of rice. Add Spam and
    all or some of the other ingredients. Wrap nori around the filling and roll from left to right.