"white house" news and stories

For the first state dinner hosted by the Obamas, Marcus Samuelsson served White House arugula -- plus collard greens and curried prawns -- to 320 guests on the White House's South Lawn.

Now that more cooks than ever are searching online for recipes, it's easy to map who's serving what for Thanksgiving across the country. Yet many still find it hard to throw out their old-fashioned recipe cards.

A team of researchers from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History used genetic tests at 31 sushi restaurants and found other fish marked as tuna in more than half.

A Hong Kong restaurant was named the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. The most expensive dish costs less than $5.

While last year's national turkeys pardoned on Thanksgiving by President Bush found homes in Disneyland, this year a farm animal rescue group is petitioning President Obama to send the turkeys to them instead.

Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y., started an online petition, asking the president to let the national turkeys find homes in their turkey shelter instead of in the Magic Kingdom, Mother Nature Network reports.

"Historically these turkeys have been actually sent to farms where they're supposed to live out their lives, but they don't live very long lives," Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur told Slashfood.

"At Disneyland they don't' know how to properly care for them, and they feed them in such a way that they become overweight, which is what typically happens to these birds," he said. "We're hoping the president will send them to Farm Sanctuary where they will get the best care possible."

• Hot Southern Florida weather pairs well with fresh vegetarian and Asian fare: Malaysian restaurant Parc 28 in Weston offers "boldly spiced fare" in a cuisine that takes inspiration from Malay, Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Thai and European influences; "fresh and vibrant" vegan cuisine is offered at Miami's Om Garden; Lauderdale-by-the-Sea offers "light, fragrant, healthful" Vietnamese food at Basilic.
• Culinary historian Maricel E. Presilla discusses the honor of cooking a feast for Fiesta Latina at the White House and her attempts to "convey that the allure of Latin food is as irresistible as the rhythms that pulled President Obama out of his chair to dance" that night.
• The "Desperation Dinners" feature raves about infused vinegar and its ability to "excite the palate" and elevate otherwise simple dishes.
• Once incorrectly reputed to have a correlation with breast cancer, the grapefruit has been expunged -- and is even suggested as the perfect pink fruit for Breast Cancer Awareness month.
• Cabernets are the quintessential U.S. wine: "big and brash, supremely self-confident, a little loud, even rude at times."
• Recipes: Maricel Presilla's Milk Chocolate-Coffee "Cortadito" Brulées, Pink Grapefruit and Fennel Salad, a complex Vermouth Molasses Marinade, Corn Tortilla and Mixed-Bean Lasagna.
• Calendar highlights include a silent auction for painted pumpkins, $35 prix-fixe meals for Dine Out Lauderdale, Rosa Mexicano's Chocolate festival and a "Top Chef" Talent Hunt.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week.

Memo to the First Lady: That's the nicest-looking gardening outfit we've ever seen! Take this quiz and find out how well you know what the Obamas are planting this year.

A pretty dang delicious-looking milk chocolate and peanut butter cookie recipe.

Edamame in linguine? They make it look tasty over at YumSugar.

A writer is entranced by the simple charms of homemade tortillas. Have you tried it? Take their poll.

McDonald's joins the upscale burger trend with one-third pound Angus patties, coming this August.

It's Washington tradition for the new first lady to lead a group of reporters through the official State Dining Room to see the china and flower arrangements laid out before a state dinner.

Michelle Obama, however, gave a slightly different tour yesterday afternoon, before the Obamas' first official dinner, honoring the country's governors. The first lady escorted not only reporters, but also the top six students from L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland. And they didn't just get to see the china, the got to see...the kitchen. And meet the chefs. And sample some desserts. How cool is that.

The guests watched chefs prepare citrus salad with watermelon radishes, Chesapeake crab agnolotti, and a dish of wagyu beef and Nantucket scallops. Obama, an outspoken proponent of local and healthy eating, voiced her approval of the locals carrots being used in the beef and scallop dish."If it tastes like a real carrot, and it's really sweet, they're going to think that it's a piece of candy," she said, referring to her daughters. "So my kids are more inclined to try different vegetables if they are fresh and local and delicious."

Read the full story about the kitchen tour at The New York Times.

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