A spirited beauty contest

Titania Wine Cellar, Inc. and Baron Philippe de Rothschild have been, for the past years, sponsoring formal charity dinners to support worthy causes.

The search for Ms. Mouton Cadet this year was held at Le Bar in Sofitel Philippine Plaza and was graced by Titania Wine Cellar chairman Tita Meneses-Trillo and Baron Philippe de Rothschild for Asia and Pacific GM Anthony Gourmel who flew in only for the event. Co-sponsors for the dinner were Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Beverly Hills 6750, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild and Xavier de Eizaguirre who donated 1995 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Gran Crus — Grande Annee, a superb wine now traded in Bordeaux for a thousand dollars per bottle. Dinner was prepared by Sofitel’s executive chef Marko Rankel.

Judging Ms. Mouton Cadet 2009 were Weber Shandwick Worldwide-Philippines CEO lawyer Mike Toledo; urban planner and global executive consultant for World Bank Projects Lawrence Bruno; Muslim Princess Monjierra Disini; United International Pictures GM Selina Gecolea; and society columnist Maurice Arcache.

Candidates were Nuvo Bar and Restaurant’s Eliza Tan, Illustrado’s Joyce Andres, Lorenzo’s Way by LJC’s Micah Avon Mariano, Renaissance Makati Hotel’s Rachel Tan, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel’s Elaine Estacion, Sala Bistro’s Vanessa Casareo, Murray and D’Vine’s Maryam Garcia, French Corner’s Jaylyn Daquiz, Chef Laudico’s Mary Mica Peñales, Le Souffle’s Cristina Sison, Century Park Hotel’s Alexandra Rocha and Brazil Brazil’s Samara Rita. Alexandra Rocha stood out to become Ms. Mouton Cadet 2009. Her grand prize was a trip to France. She had her chance to walk on the red carpet in Cannes.

The show was hosted by Claudine Trillo and Bobby Yan. The grand degustation dinner started with an amuses-bouches of foie gras with truffle jelly and escargot strudel on leaf spinach, followed by pumpkin soup, quail egg and caviar paired with 2007 Mouton Cadet Blanc and 2006 Mouton Cadet Rouge. Lobster consommé, scallop ravioli and baked oyster were matched with 2007 Reserve Mouton Cadet Graves Blanc. The braised duck breast and marinated rack of lamb with morel sauce with vegetables, shallots and potato gratin were served with a 2006 Reserve Mouton Cadet Saint- Émilion. Warm goat’s cheese with truffle honey highlighted the 1995 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Dessert was apple tart with buttermilk panna cotta, white wine ice cream matched with 2005 Reserve Mouton Cadet Sauternes.

Never too slim

Samsung Electronics recently unveiled its range of audio-visual products for 2009. Guests were introduced to the newest species of television — the Samsung LED Full High Definition TVs. The new model is slim with a breadth of only 1.2-inch which is made possible by the optimized structure of the backlight unit and enabled by the latest in LED technology. Weighing only 17.6 kg., it can be conveniently mounted on the wall.

Eco-friendly, the Samsung LED Full High Definition TV is built with energy efficient light emitting diodes which register low power consumption levels and is mercury-free. The LEDs produce darker blacks and crisper whites against vivid colors which result in superb picture quality. It also has full DLNA Wireless capabilities which allow streaming in your TV or more than one TV for multi-room entertainment.

Samsung’s [email protected] features a Content Library to enjoy pre-installed content such as recipes, art galleries or yoga. The USB 2.0 movie port can also be utilized for viewing convenience.

On exhibit was the Samsung Blu-ray HT-BD1255, the world’s first Blu-ray HT System that has BD Live feature that enables convenient Internet downloading. Add-ons include the world’s first wall-mountable Blu-ray player Samsung BD-P4600 and the Samsung HT-SB1R Channel Speaker Bar.

Samsung CTV product manager Roma Ramirez discussed the new advancements of Samsung products as Grace Lee hosted the morning session. Questions from the guests were answered by CEO and president Spencer Shim, VP-CE department Jay Ha, Samsung corporate marketing head Glenn Glinoga, CE sales head Antonio Mauricio and product marketing group head Amby Navarro. Mo Twister hosted the night’s festivities, which included a raffle draw where Samsung gave away digital cameras, SlimFit TVs, LCD TVs and a Home Theater System.

Another milestone for Butch

Fila’s Butch Albert celebrated another milestone! Butch and his wife and business partner Cris opted to celebrate this special day at home with family and friends.

Cris spruced up their place with flowers she intricately arranged herself while a sumptuous buffet was prepared by their favorite caterer Bizu. Saxophonist Vince Lahorra provided the entertaining music as guests took turns in singing by the piano till sunrise!

Happy birthday, Butch. We look forward to your next milestone.

No more partied-out eye bags!

We who go out a lot at night and stay out till the wee hours of the morning can now combat fatigued- and tired-looking eyes with Garnier’s new Light Brightening Eye Roll-On!

This product with caffeine immediately stimulates the eye contour, eventually reducing dark circles and puffiness on the eye bags. This product was a consumer favorite last year when it was launched, selling one unit every nine seconds in France and one every 15 seconds in the United Kingdom! I totally love it and it is also the favorite Garnier product of KC Concepcion.

It is finally available in Manila at an accessible retail price.

(Check it out in department stores, drug stores, beauty stores and supermarkets.)