Each year Kassie and James DePaiva (Blair and ex-Max, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) co-chair Feast With Famous Faces, a wonderful eating event to benefit the League for the Hard of Hearing. Several of my co-workers have gone in years past, but this was my first invite and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

To be clear, this is much more of a fund-raising event than a fan event; at $350 and $500, the tickets are on the steep side (at least for this working girl's wallet).

It was held at Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers, a large complex on the West Side of Manhattan. Chelsea Piers has ice rinks, batting cages, restaurants and studios where LAW & ORDER is filmed. Pier 60 has huge glass windows overlooking the Hudson River. It was a lovely evening and the view was spectacular and very peaceful.

The "Feast" refers to over 20 tables where New York's top restaurants offer guests samples of what they do. The "Faces" are celebrities, primarily representatives from many local television stations and daytime actors. The cocktail hour (tickets: $500) offered an open bar and a handful of tables. (My favorite: the sushi.)

The DePaivas arrived early, and Kassie was quite busy making sure everything was under control. Little J.Q. was also there, dressed in a very spiffy argyle sweater, and what a perfect gentleman he is. He was with a little friend and asked for two Sprites at the bar with the appropriate "please" and "thank you." Darling!

After some welcoming speeches, sliding doors opened to reveal a huge room filled with tables and people ready to offer us food. It was quite daunting and wonderful. The soap actors began to trickle in. Some had been assigned to stand at the tables, which is where I ran into Jerry verDorn (Clint) serving up some tasty tuna.

Then a trio of OLTL glamour girls arrived — Bree Willliamson (Jessica), BethAnn Bonner (Talia) and Justis Bolding (Sarah). I soon learned it was Bonner's birthday. The next day she e-mailed me the following: "October 22, 2007 was the most delicious birthday I've ever had - literally. OH! Because there was a taxi strike, Bree, Justis, John Brotherton (Jared) and his fiancée,Trevor St. John (Todd) and myself took a limousine to Kassie's event and for about 3 seconds, we pretended it was prom night! Hysterical. Feast with Famous Faces was wicked awesome and the food was just perfect." Bonner has such great upbeat energy.

I began circling and tasting things. I had my tape recorder with me in case I ran into actors. Soon I found the best cheesecake I have ever tasted, from Brasserie 8 1/2. In keeping with the season, it was pumpkin flavored and really wonderful. I had three pieces! (In my defense, they were tiny!)

I spoke with Brotherton (who is charming), and met his beautiful fiancée. I butted into a conversation between Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio) and his boss, executive producer Frank Valentini. I asked Valentini a little about the possible writers' strike (which may happen early November.) What could he say, but to hope it wouldn't happen. He also mentioned, "You ain't seen nothing yet" in regards to the show. Now, I think OLTL has been pretty terrific lately, so that was a great tease for me. What will happen?

I got to see Kathy Brier's (Marcie) new haircut in person — it is much cuter than it currently appears on-screen. Since those driving scenes were shot, Brier's hair has been redone a bit. It's more of a '20s style bob and quite adorable. She was there with Kristen Alderson (Starr).

I tried to leave three times, but kept running into people. I was heading out when I saw my favorite, John-Paul Lavoisier (Rex) along with Melissa Gallo (Adriana) and David Fumero (Cristian). The latter two are getting married in November — what a cute couple they make, right? JP was sporting a new haircut, freshly colored. We talked about our favorite TV show, FAMILY GUY, exchanged a few "Giggity-giggity"s and parted.

I did get some off-the-record remarks on the Nathaniel Marston (Michael) situation — the cast had been asked not to talk about it and the press instructed not to ask. However, I must share the question one actor posed: "I wonder what is Nathaniel Marston doing right now?"

We all wondered. That story did cloud the evening just a bit. However, it was a superb event, and I went home quite stuffed. (In a good way, of course.)

Be sure to see the Nov. 6 issue of Soap Opera Weekly for photo coverage and click here to see our video footage of the event.