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| Remarks by the First Lady at State Dinner Press Preview 19 January 2007 |
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| THE MARX GUILLIGAN HALL
THE CHATEAU 5.02 PM WST THE FIRST LADY: Okay, welcome everybody, welcome to the Press Preview of tonight�s State Dinner � we are very honored, to be able to welcome President Bachelet of Chile tonight, and of course, earlier today, to the Chateau. We have a few things which may be of interest to you, and you might like to know what we are munching on, (Laughter) and I think we have a few of our staff on hand to also answer your questions. Ok, so I worked with Rachel Hardson over the last month or so, since Christmas wound down as to what we should do for the flower arrangements. And as you can see, there are two types of arrangements we have today, a boxwood garland style blue, white and red rose combination, and the Burgundy Red option. The colors are inspired by the Chilean Flag, a very beautiful; Red White and Blue flag. Now, Rachel � I loved both options, so we decided to you it. Rachel? Would you like to say something? You look exhausted. (Laughter) MS. HARDSON: Thank you Mrs. Cherrie. This is the President�s fourth State Dinner since taking office in 2004, and it has once again been a pleasure for me to work with Mrs. Cherrie on the table arrangements, and you can see we used beautiful burgundy red table cloths to decorate, and the Whitmore China really stands out so well with the Base plate. Q: Any reason the Whitmore China? I�ve noticed that you have been using the Whitmore China on quite a few Occasions � A: A � no particular reason � Mrs. Cherrie likes the plate (Laughter) THE FIRST LADY: Indeed I do. I was wondering why no one asked why not use the Cherrie china - (Laughter) MS. HARDSON: As with each State Dinner, guests will be given a Tiffin ash box, as you can see, no bigger than 5 CM by 5 CM, as part of the tradition of State Gifts. Then we have the beautiful menus and place cards so wonderfully hand written by Max Chiller and his team of Calligraphers. They have incorporated the colors of the Chilean Flag into their design. And of course we have the golden goblets and candles. Four glasses per person, one for Water, White Wine, the Red and Champagne. THE FIRST LADY: Isn�t it lovely, I think it will be the largest State Dinner we have hosted with 110 guests dining with us. I will let James? James discuss a bit more. MR. CARNEY: Thank you Mrs. Cherrie. We of course had a hectic day today, we have the whole State Arrival Ceremony to attend to and only got down to preparing the dinner just around one, and it is great we are done two hours in advance. This is the fourth and the largest State Dinner hosted. Actually, it is not larger in terms of guests, because we used to have guest dine in a separate room as the State Dining Room was too small to accommodate everyone. Tonight we managed to have everyone with us in the same room. So that is a great thing. Q: No more kids table. (Laughter) Q: I almost wanted to ask who was at the kid�s table tonight. (Laughter) MR. CARNEY: We never tell. (Laughter) Dinner Guests from the Press Corps usually get relegated there. (Laughter) Tonight we have entertainment by acclaimed Pianist John Nash Mac Poe, he has performed with many orchestras in the past, as well as given global recitals on world tours to acclaimed audiences. Tonight he will perform on the Flat Mound Mill Piano works of George Gershwin, you all know, the great American Jazz musician form the early 20th Centaury. He will perform during the Petit Fours and Coffee and Tea portion of the dinner. Guests will be seated at their tables through the entertainment. After that, there will be dancing in the Music Room, and the Principles will return to the Residence. Mrs. Cherrie � THE FIRST LADY: Today we also have here with us, the executive chef, Ronald Crown. Ronald has created many exquisite dinners for us, and the President and I are very happy to have him here with us. I would like to also introduce Jason Hodge. Jason is our deputy Pastry Chef and has been with us since, 2005, and he � after Regent Scout left yesterday, he was so ready to go he couldn�t do tonight�s dinner. (Laughter) Jason has taken over that role for the time being. Would you both like to discuss the Menu? MR. CROWN: Thank you Mrs. Cherrie. Tonight, our 110 dinner guests will be dining on Salmon bits of Salsa Riffs with Olive Oil, Asparagus with Artichoke, Petite Sauce Lemon Grass, which is a variation of something we have tired at the Chateau in the past. The second course after the Sherbet is Foligras with Beef Cake, Salsa and tomato toppings with Vintage Wine Sauce. So it is quite a varied menu, and we have incorporated some elements of the Chilean food into the dinner. I will let Jason Hodge discuss his dessert creations. MR. HODGE: For the dessert creations, we have created Mara Anza Moose on Marzipan and, with a mixture of delectable fruits. Regent completed most of the orchestrations for the dessert before he left yesterday. So, I think it is really his creations. We started on the dessert earlier in the week, and everything is edible, even the flowers and so forth. We tried to incorporated Chilean elements into our creations. And so � MRS. CHERRIE: Isn�t it lovely? MR. HODGE: I should get this back in the fridge before it melts. (Laughter) MRS. CHERRIE: Ok, I think we are done here. Any questions? Just a few? For the Chefs? Q: Mrs. Cherrie how would your dress for this evening be like? A: I will be wearing a creation of Donna Karen. We did the fitting a few weeks ago and yes, I am thoroughly impressed with it. It is going to be one of the nicest dresses I'll ever wear. (Laughter) Okay, I think we need to be done so that they can get back to work. We�ll see you all later. END |