Nick Lachey’s new girl a Pinay

Curtain-raisers:

• Judy Ann Santos and her mom Carol are endorsing Tuseran and not another cough medicine. It’s the first time for mother and daughter to endorse a product together.

• Belated birthday greetings to Michael Conan; to Ethel Ramos, Cesar Montano and Danita Paner (all last Aug. 1); and to avid Funfare reader Arlene Sevilla (today).

• After Pia Guanio, Kris Aquino is the newest victim of an e-mail smear campaign. Like Pia, Kris is being wrongly accused of "snubbing" a fan even if it never actually happened. It’s just a product of an idle, evil mind. I know Kris to be nice to fans, very accommodating even if she’s tired. If you get that anti-Kris e-mail, simply ignore it.

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Filipinas are known worldwide as winners not only in beauty contests but in affairs of the heart. I can name a few Filipinas who married foreign celebrities, including Isabel Preysler (to Julio Iglesias, separated), Minda Feliciano (to Michael Caine, separated), Jinky Suzara (to Gary Lewis, separated) and Marcia Garces (to Robin Williams, happily married). The twin brother of Vin Diesel is also married to a Filipina.

Add to the growing list the name Vanessa Minnillo who is the newest girl in Nick Lachey’s life. According to the Scoop section of the latest issue of People magazine, Nick and Vanessa walked hand-in-hand into L.A.’s Hyde Lounge in the early-morning hours of July 15 and Jessica Simpson, Nick’s ex, who happened to be also there, saw them. Scoop said that "Jessica’s rhythm totally changed," adding that the exes handled the situation pretty well, with Nick giving Jessica a hug. But later, Jessica was "disturbed" when she saw Nick engage in a "heavy make-out session" with Vanessa.

You might be asking, who’s Vanessa Minnillo?

A former Miss Teen USA (1998), Vanessa, 26, was born on Nov. 9, 1980 at Clark Air Base in Pampanga. Her father, Vince Minnillo, was a USAF aircrew member stationed at the base; and her mother, Helen Berecero, a Filipina, met Vince and they got married while Vince was stationed in the Philippines. Vanessa was raised along with an adopted brother named Vincent.

According to her biodata, Vanessa moved all over the world while growing up, moving from the Philippines to the US and traveling extensively (to Turkey, Europe, etc.). Her family settled down in South Carolina where she won as Miss Teen South Carolina before she won the Miss Teen USA title.

After she relinquished her title, Vanessa began working as the New York-based correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, the No. 1 syndicated entertainment newsmagazine in the world, for which she reports on the latest in music, film, television and fashion.

She also has a recurring role on CBS’s Bold and the Beautiful and was one of the finalists in E!’s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke, previous hostess of Wild On.

Also a VJ on MTV’s Total Request Live, she’s based in New York City where she enjoys playing flag football, volleyball and tennis. She has three mini-pinschers (Rudy, Little Nicky and Bubba).

The best halo-halo in Asia is at The Pen

Did you know that the best halo-halo in Asia is found at the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel? It’s called the halo-halo Harana and the way writer Liam Fitzpatrick describes it will make your mouth water and perhaps drive you to rush to The Pen to get your fill.

Excerpt of Fitzpatrick’s item in a recent issue of Time magazine on its annual list of The Best of Asia:

...This psychedelic eyeball-popper comprises egg-yolk custard; chickpeas; sweetened kidney beans; colored gelatin; red, green and white sugar palm; nata de coco (or coconut gel); purple-yam preserve; sago in syrup; jackfruit; macapuno (a rare variety of creamy coconut); purple-yam ice cream; toasted rice crisps; about an inch of evaporated milk and – with emphatic excess – sugar.

That description alone makes you burp, doesn’t it?

Did you know that, according to the Time item, the Pen lobby patrons are said to order 7,300 (tall glasses of) halo-halo Harana a year?

Reader’s reaction

From Lorraine Y. Sylianteng (no address given):

I enjoyed reading your article about Nora Aunor (Conversations with Ricky Lo, July 23, 2006). I am glad to hear that she is doing well in the US. Let me tell you my experience with Nora. She was our tenant at the First United Building at Escolta (formerly Perez-Samanillo Building). When she was not doing well, she was not able to pay her rent. We filed a case against her. Her lawyer was Atty. Aga (Arellano) who, I believe, is the father of Drew. Anyway, I think that Atty. Aga advised her to pay us for overdue rent. Nora Aunor was very nice about it, even calling my husband Mr. Robert to give her some discount on the money she owed which my husband granted her. No matter what, she was still Nora Aunor and yet she treated my husband with so much respect. We’ve had several movie stars who were our tenants. Another very admirable one is Dolphy who only left our building a few months ago after continuously being our tenant for decades and being a very prompt-paying tenant. And yet, we’ve had our share of "bad" tenants. One ended up paying for his overdue rent after he married a very well-off star, too. Another one later became a mayor, another became a senator. These stars-turned-politicians never paid us their overdue rent. We filed a law suit and we couldn’t recover anything except the contents of their rooms. The next thing I heard was that they had become mayors or governors/senators. Sure doesn’t speak well of our politicians.

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