Pin Sparkles at Ice Show

And you thought you wanted a diamond pin for Christmas. Think again. There’s a new trinket on the market. It’s tiny. Made of unprecious metal. And it goes with everything.

It’s the new Ronald McDonald House Orange County pin. The humble stunner was worn by some of the guests at last week’s “Celebration on Ice” benefit sponsored by Nordstrom at South Coast Plaza. The event brought $19,500 to the new Ronald McDonald House in Orange.

Three hundred guests paid $100 each to gobble delicacies such as grilled crab cakes and cranberry muffins stuffed with duck before viewing an extravaganza on the portable ice rink that sits in the Nordstrom parking lot. Taking the crowd’s breath away were skaters Kitty and Peter Carruthers, winners of a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics.

On the scene: Dr. Geni Bennetts, president of the Ronald McDonald House board; Marty Wikstron, Nordstrom regional store manager; Cerise and Larry Feeley (donors of the house’s playground equipment); Carol and Kent Wilken; Gus and Kathryn Thompson Owen; event co-chairmen Marc Widdicombe and Pat Weiss; and Mike Harrison, honored at the event for his efforts to help raise the manpower that constructed the house that love built.

Charged!: “My battery is dying!” No way, Judie Argyros. The blinking Christmas bulb necklace that graced the wife of Chapman College board president George Argyros might have started to poop out Saturday, but nobody would ever accuse Judie of needing a battery recharge. At the brunch staged by the Fashionables support group of Chapman College, the philanthropic live wire spent most of her time table-hopping.

But even the peripatetic Judie sat down long enough to sample the meal that has become everybody’s Christmas favorite: vegetable soup topped with a puffed and browned pastry shell, poached salmon with dill sauce and creme brulee with fresh raspberries. “This is the best dessert in town,” said Nora Hester, relishing every creamy bite.

Always ultrafashionable, the Fashionables dined wearing the dernier cri in holiday brunch silhouettes. Judie, a fashion pacesetter, eschewed the predictable hat-and-suit look, going for a multi-flounced frock in passionate purple. Rusty Hood wore a pine green brocade suit with pouf sleeves inset with black silk-velvet. Tina Schafnitz wore a sleek black suit and sparkling chapeau (she and hubby Matt donated a basket piled with Chanel products for the raffle) and Billur Wallerich, fashion director for Saks Fifth Avenue, opted for a black sheath (“the ultrachic are always in black,” she said with a chic giggle). Saks wowed the crowd with models wearing ensembles from the store’s Cruise collection.

Also on the scene: Ritz owner Hans Prager and his wife, Charlene (honorary event co-chairs with the Argyroses); event chairwoman Catherine Thyen with her husband, Delane; Fashionables chairwoman Mary Lou Hornsby with her husband, Scott; Dori and Jack deKruif; Ollie and Stan Hill; Joanne and Gene Mix; Lon and Mary Ann Wells; June and Bob Wian (he started Bob’s Big Boy); Virginia and Paul Bender; Janet Corbin; Lois and Buzz Aldrin; Nora Jorgensen; Gayle and Bob Anderson; Maria Crutcher; Charles Hester, and Ed and Floss Schumacher. Proceeds estimated at $20,000 (including a donation of $5,000 from the Argyros Foundation) will benefit Chapman College’s All-Faith’s Chapel in the school’s new Argyros Learning Center.

A wassailing we will go: It was quiche, sweets and sinfully rich eggnog for the major donors of Pacific Chorale on Saturday night. The donors gathered at the Center Club for a wassail after the chorale performed its holiday concert, “A Grand Christmas,” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The songfest featured Ottorino Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity,” polychoral motets by Michael Praetorius and carols of the season.

Among the guests who feasted and listened to the Rhapsodie Trio were: Pacific Chorale director John Alexander, board chairwoman Anne Nutt and donors Carl and Margaret Karcher, Joseph and Marilyn Bentley, Warren and Marcia Coy, and Bob and Donna Morse. Guests received a crystal tree-ornament and a tape of “Caroling With the Pacific Chorale.” Chorale buffs Phil and Mary Lyons were party hosts.

And the feast goes on: Cream of abalone soup. Sea-salt baked halibut with ginger-vanilla bean vinaigrette. Veal loin. Mashed potatoes with truffles. Leek souffle. Plum custard with crushed mint. All this and a river of wine too? Nothing less last week when the directors of the new Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Center tossed another in a series of dinners for members of Orange County’s corporate elite. Among those on the guest list for the banquet flavored with the piano style of Confrey Phillips were Jeanne and David Tappan, CEO of Fluor Corp.; Justice Sheila Prell Sonenshine and her husband, Ygal, president of Raygal Design; Nora and retired developer Charles Hester of Hester Development Co; Mary and James Roosevelt, and Susan and Timothy Strader, president of The Legacy Companies.

Strader, a wine connoisseur, spent part of his evening teaching his table mates about the glories of wine. “You want to have some fun?” he asked the Sonenshines and Hesters. They nodded. “Then do this,” he said, placing his right hand atop a glass of 1987 Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve and shaking it hard. Afterward, Strader told his companions to “look at the legs” in their crystal wine glasses. Sure enough, the shaking of the wine had left curvy streaks of the palest amber clinging to the glasses’ sides. “Now, that’s what you call body,” Strader said.

During the festivities, Margrit Biever (wife of Robert Mondavi, who was in New York on business) explained how the taste of each course was married to the taste of accompanying wines. “The lively Fume Blanc (1986 Reserve) was a perfect complement to the creamy taste of the abalone soup,” she said. The crowd’s applause told her the marriage had been exactly right. Center directors Eric Hansen and Deborah Fabricant, wearing a breathtaking bugle-bead-spattered purple silk suit, welcomed guests.

No motley crew, this: What? No logo screaming from the stacks of woolly sweaters selling at the new J. Crew store at South Coast Plaza?

Not one. “We don’t feel we need a logo,” said Arnold Cohen, CEO of J. Crew Group at the recent store opening attended by members of the Junior League of Orange County. “Our clothes speak for themselves. We have a basic, healthy product.”

J. Crew kept the opening bash as tailored as its clothing. Oh, there were a few frills--sparklers in tulips and passed appetizers--but only the modeling of streamlined J. Crew wear was up for entertainment. The crush of smiling Junior Leaguers didn’t seem to mind. In fact, they seemed to love it. For two hours, they ogled the simple styles and buzzed about, shopping for the holidays. J. Crew will present the Junior League with a check representing 3 1/2% of its second week in business at South Coast Plaza.