WHEN the multi-talented and multi-faceted George Sison holds an event, rain or shine, people will come.

A sumptuous dinner, palanggas, was recently held at the gorgeous Gercon Plaza, penthouse of another wonder man, artistic interior designer and businessman Gerry Contreras.

Cocktails were served in Gerry’s enormous living room. Via Mare did the catering, dahlings.

Lawyer-turned-vintage car restorer Cyril Means, and super lawyer Manette Agbayani exchanged travel and lifestyle stories. While painters Maria Laya and Vicky Zubiri and Gerry C. talked about arts, dahlings.

The performance of Emilie was delightful and followed by endless entertainment by some of our town’s name-droppable artists like concert pianist Raul Sunico and Pilita Corrales, no less. “George has always been in love with me as I with him, so George, this is for you,” said Pilita who sang “And I Love You So” in her inimitable style, dahlings.

At one point, George’s birthday cake with six candles was brought in. Then George declared: “I would like to dedicate this to my fellow Geminis,” like our palanggas Ramon Orosa, Ping Valencia, Glenda Barretto, Eva Abesamis, William Tan and Beliz Crook. Each one lighted a candle without blowing it. “Why blow your wishes away?” George explained.

We were asked to pick up a vellum (a rolled parchment tied with gold and silver) from a pouch. Mine read: “Expect the best.” Mwah!

Nokia, Globe Platinum night

It was one of those days when I had to rush to my favorite hairdresser Svenson; then to Rustan’s Essences to get a new set of today’s wonder cream for women and men alike, Dr. Perricone products; dash home; do my daily power walk; then dash over to the elegant Red Restaurant at Shangri-La Makati for the fantastic flights of fancy with Nokia and Globe Platinum.

The event was filled with premium connections, haute cuisine and overflowing drinks as they presented the latest wow-inducing Nokia N97.

Dinner, a gourmet’s dream come true, was exclusively prepared by chef Thomas Links, no less. Sultry songstress and stage actress Lynn Sherman belted out great songs during the event, palanggas.

The Nokia N97 is designed for Internet-savvy consumers, combining a large 3.5” touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, 5MP camera, Nokia maps, plus loads of other must-haves in a cell phone.

The highlight, dahlings, was the cell phone’s unveiling, followed by a raffle. Raymundo Francisco was the lucky Globe Platinum subscriber who went home with the prized mobile phone, while other raffle prizes included 40,000 Asia Miles and pre-loaded P20,000 for Standard Chartered-Nokia credit cards.

Welcoming us were Nokia Philippines dynamic general manager William Hamilton-Whyte accompanied by his wife, statuesque beauty Angelique Repapis, plus Nokia’s corporate communications manager Nikka Abes and Globe chief financial adviser Hang Keng Lee. Among the 100 invitees were Pinky Tobiano with Ariel Arce, Natalie and Arnold Cabiltes, Elisette Dy and Carl Ang, and the gang of three from PAL, Babsie Aragon, Ria Domingo and Kit Javier.

It was indeed a flight to remember.

Dinelli opening

There was fun, super nice company, fantastic food and great atmosphere, dahlings, when Dinelli Gourmet opened its doors at One Mckinley, Fort Bonifacio.

Super couple Anthony and Kristine Meehan are Dinelli’s best assets, palanggas. Both have an extensive background in the hotel and wine industries.

“Dinelli is about the convergence of good products that don’t normally make it to the market,” says Anthony. About 90 percent of the products are imported from his homeland, Australia, and everything that is seen in this store can be supplied in a large scale upon request. “We already cater to restaurants and other establishments who need high-quality merchandise, making Dinelli both a retail venue and a showroom for our wholesale products.”

The wine cellar is excellent, not that I’m a wine expert, but I do know what’s good or mediocre. Anthony and Kristine invested in wines, dahlings.

No wonder it was standing room only on their awesome opening night, palanggas.