State dinner guest chef Bayless fires off a few final tweets before ‘day of creation’ for 200
By Nancy Benac, APWednesday, May 19, 2010
State dinner chef tweets about ‘day of creation’
WASHINGTON — Chicago chef Rick Bayless fired off a few final tweets or micro messages Wednesday before hurrying over to the White House to prepare for the evening’s big state dinner for Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, and first lady, Margarita Zavala.
“Heading into the WH for another full day of creation,” Bayless reported. “Got my fingers crossed there are no hitches!”
The same could be said for the entire White House staff — anxious to pull off a flawless event, especially after the first state dinner of the Obama administration was overshadowed by a couple of party-crashers who somehow slipped through security.
As guests began to arrive, Mrs. Obama and the president greeted the Mexican first couple on the North Portico of the White House. Mrs. Obama wore a one-shoulder, shimmery, royal blue floor-length gown, with a wide silver belt and dangling silvery earrings, while Margarita Zavala arrived in a plum-colored gown with a squarish neckline bordered in blue.
About 200 guests have coveted invitations for dinner in the East Room, and an expanded group of guests will take in the after-dinner entertainment — singing and dancing by Beyonce and the Mexican duo of Rodrigo and Gabriela — in a big white tent on the South Lawn.
Guest chef Bayless has been in Washington for two days getting ready for the big night. He’s got a black mole sauce that takes days to make and includes more than 20 ingredients.
At least one course will incorporate herbs and lettuces from Michelle Obama’s garden on the South Lawn. Dessert will include strawberries from a local farm.
Full details of the menu, though, were kept secret in the leadup to the dinner.
“GR8 cooking w WH staff yesterday,” Bayless tweeted early Wednesday. “Remarkable their organization, knowledge of protocol.”
In advance of the dinner, Bayless said in an interview with the AP that chief White House chef Cristeta Comerford runs a tight kitchen.
“When it comes to execution of the menu, she knows how to keep the schedules,” Bayless said.
As for Bayless’ own role, he said: “It’s a huge deal because it’s completely outside of the normal things that I do, the normal places I’d be asked to cook.”
The Obamas’ first state dinner, for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last November, was notable for its size — more than 300 guests dining underneath a large tent on the South Lawn — and Mrs. Obama’s shimmery strapless evening gown. But it also is remembered for a security breach that allowed a couple who weren’t on the guest list to get into the event and shake hands with the president.
The White House reviewed its procedures afterward and decided to position White House staff at security checkpoints along with the Secret Service to help resolve any questions about the guest list for future dinners.
Associate Press writer Caryn Rousseau in Chicago contributed to this report.
