MANILA, Philippines—One of my dearest pals, Vivacious Candy Cruz, and good-looking former basketball player Sandro Rieta hosted a super fun joint birthday dinner for longtime pals, my favorite PR, Louie Cruz, and Chicago-based Paul Campos.

It was meant to be a surprise, but somehow someone unintentionally let the cat out of the bag, dahlings.

Text messages sent out as an invitation were forwarded to Louie, oops!

Anyway, it all ended well with tons of close pals, some of them living in Europe, coming to the party, palanggas.

The yummy dinner served was nothing new to moi because they were recipes of Louie’s mom which she had proudly served to guests when JV Cruz, Louie’s dad, was the ambassador to the Hague.

Everyone was excited to see Paul, who has been living in Chicago for the past 20 years.

“I have my reservations about moving back because I love my life in Chicago, but after this nasty winter I don’t think I would be able to endure another one, if you get my drift.”

Aprés dinner, moi got an earful about this lady who should not wear her jeans too tight because her undies bulge, giving the impression that she was wearing adult diapers. Oh la la!

Someone asked Louie how many off-the-shoulder shirts he owns. Louie replied, “All my pyjamas are also cut off-the-shoulder!”

Lately, Louie has been frequenting Coron, Palawan, telling everyone that Coron reminds him of the good old Boracay he once knew.

Expect Manila to rock with more action, dahlings, with these two wild nocturnal buddies, Louie and Paul, hanging out with us just like old times, palanggas.

Tatler coup

Congrats to Philippine Tatler, whose May 2008 issue recently made an appearance on the pages of Newsweek in the international newsmagazine’s survey on “Unthinkable Luxury” in its special report, “The Glamour and the Gloss.”

The Tatler cover, shot by famous model-photographer Nigel Barker, was chosen by Regional Tatler to represent Edipresse Asia for the article that discusses how only lifestyle magazines seem to be staying afloat in the sagging media industry.

In the Newsweek article, Barrie Goodridge, the CEO of Asia Tatler, is quoted saying Tatler group “is like an exclusive club that invites clients and prominent society figures to its annual ball and private events.” He adds the glossy “is enjoying a 25 percent annual rise in revenues across the whole Asia.”

Batik feast

It was one trip moi thoroughly enjoyed, because it satisfied both my gastronomic and adventurous interests. I am talking about Heritage Hotel Manila’s showcase, “Batik and Cuisine: Heritage of Indonesia,” which gave us an authentic taste of Indonesian cuisine as well as a world-class Batik exhibition, palanggas. The showcase was brought to us by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia.

A colorful fashion show by Adjie Notonegoro, Indonesia’s premiere fashion designer, displayed his 2008 collection of contemporary kebaya, Indonesia’s national dress, and evening gowns. Eight absolutely gorgeous, tall supermodels from Indonesia jetted in for this one-of-a-kind show.

Aprés circulating and digging into the superbly prepared hot Indonesian yummies, we were given a brief seminar on batik, its beauty and value, its artistry and craftsmanship.

Rafe comes home

Cosmo Manille’s young, chic urbanites and fashionable sophisticates came in hurricane force to the launching of the Greenbelt 5 shop of brilliant New York-based Filipino handbag designer Rafe Totengco.

The unveiling of Rafe the shop drew loud applause and rave reviews, naturellement.

Flash back to 1989, Rafe left a thriving business in Manille to take up fashion design at New York’s prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology.

Five years later, the first collection of Rafe handbags made its successful debut at a chic Soho boutique. Since then, Rafe’s line of luxurious and shoes have become classics—to be worn for endless seasons to come.

The Rafe bags’ trés exclusive distributors in the country are fashion’s power couple, Ricco and Tina Ocampo, with their fashion retail consultant, Mia Borromeo.

Rafe, natch, jetted into town together with his vivacious sister, Tesa Totengco, his New York company’s vice president and director for sales.

Doing the ribbon-snipping were stylish mavens Ting Ting Cojuangco, Sofia Zobel-Elizalde, Audrey Chiu, Mons Romulo-Tantoco and Marie Claire’s Myrza Sison.

Guests nibbled on the excellent fusion yummies prepared by Kai resto. Meanwhile, the hip and stylish crowd grabbed Rafe’s latest Spring-Summer faster than you could bat an eyelash.

Rafe is exclusively available at G5 Ayala Center, Makati. Check it out, gals.

We from Bacolod are proud that Rafe, the hometown boy, has made it worldwide, palanggas.