Holiday Recipe: Gingerbread Cake By White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses

A lovely recipe from the Top Toque in the Sugar Situation Room...
The amazing white chocolate-covered White House Gingerbread House created by White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses has been getting much attention lately, as one of the best parts of the 2009 holiday decorations in the Executive Mansion. That particular architectural confection will never be eaten; after weeks of being on display in the State Dining Room, the White House Gingerbread House will be taken across the street to the White House Visitors Center after the holidays, for public viewing (above: Chef Yosses with the gingerbread extravaganza). But Chef Yosses has a lovely recipe for Gingerbread Cake, perfect for home holiday baking, and it invokes all the same holiday cheer as the White House Gingerbread House. The recipe is not only delicious, but it's also pretty easy to make. The cake tastes fantastic while still warm, and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. You can even shave white chocolate curls on to the top, to make it a tasty replication of the White House Gingerbread House, if you feel that inspired. Happy Holidays!

White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses' Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients
1/2 Cup (4 ounces or 1 stick) butter
1/2 Cup (2 ounces) lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup dark molasses
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup honey
1 3/4 Cups cake flour, sifted
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger or 1 Tbsp powdered ginger
2 eggs
3 Tbsp confectioners' sugar
1 Cup heavy cream, chilled

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Over a double boiler, with water boiling, melt the butter, brown sugar, molasses, water and honey. Stir occasionally until ingredients melt. Remove from heat when butter is melted.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Sift the mixture together into a second bowl, and set aside.

3. After the butter/sugar mixture has melted, add ginger and blend together. Whisk in the eggs, being careful not to allow these to actually cook.

4. Gradually pour the flour mixture into the warm butter mixture, whisking constantly until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

5. Butter two 10-inch cake pans.

6. Divide batter and fill each pan. Place in pre-heated oven, and bake for fifty minutes or until cakes are dark brown on top and spring back to the touch, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.

7. In a bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and whipped cream, and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Serve on the side of slices of gingerbread cake.
Makes 8 servings.

Related: The recipe for White House Holiday Honey Cupcakes is here. Full details on the White House Gingerbread House are here (including a video about the creation). Yosses writes a blog post about the White House Gingerbread House here (includes video too).

*This recipe also appears in Yosses's excellent baking manual, Desserts for Dummies, which is featured in the 2009 Obama Foodie Holiday Gift Guide.

Food Safety in 2009: President Obama, Sec. Vilsack, The Senate, FDA On The "Naughty" Christmas List

The food safety landscape after the first year of the Obama administration remains very similar to the last year of the Bush administration....
During a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, President Obama gave himself a letter grade of B+ for his first year in office. But all the same, an ad hoc consortium of food safety professionals, food safety advocates, and food safety writers say he deserves some coal in his Christmas stocking. Food Safety News, the best online publication for all aspects of the safety of the global food supply, is running a list of who's been naughty and who's been nice this year in food safety. The list was created after polling those mentioned above, including your intrepid blogger. There was an overwhelming consensus that large chunks of coal should be deposited in the Christmas stockings of both President Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for the failure to name someone to lead USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which monitors meat, poultry and eggs.

White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford, Christmas Cover Girl on The Asian Journal

"Being a Pinoy at the White House, Filipino values and traits are innate in me"
White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford is the cover story for the Christmas issue of The Asian Journal's MDMK Magazine. The nation-wide publication is an online and print "community newspaper" for Filipino-Americans, with a weekly magazine, and Comerford graces the covers of the Los Angeles and New York editions. Comerford's debut as cover girl is part of the building media onslaught for her January 3, 2010 appearance on Iron Chef America, where she'll be joined by First Lady Michelle Obama during a brief segment shot at the White House, before doing culinary team battle with chef Bobby Flay, against chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse.

It's the first cover salvo for Comerford. Unlike Mrs. Obama's Food Initiative Coordinator, Sam Kass--who has had profile pieces in the New York Times, Men's Health, and the Chicago Sun-Times-- Comerford has not been the subject of big media stories.

Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses on A Favorite White House Holiday Tradition...With Video

A behind-the-scenes video tour of the creation of the 2009 White House Gingerbread House...and a blog post about the creation from the chef...
The White House has just released a fun new video about the creation of White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses's 2009 White House Gingerbread House. The more-than-400 pound* white-chocolate covered extravaganza is Yosses's third gingerbread house for the White House, and the biggest one ever created for White House holiday festivities. It was made with honey from the White House Bee Hive, and features a marzipan replica of the Kitchen Garden, a mini Bo the First Dog, and a shadow box view of the State Dining Room--complete with working light fixture. Assistant pastry chefs Susie Morrison and Margie Fineran as well as master chocolatier Chris Phillips were part of the pastry team that did the construction, and they're also in the video, below. Yosses joined the White House during the holidays as a part-timer in 2006, and took over the Sugar Situation Room shortly after. Morrison is entering her twelfth year at the White House. Photos of Yosses's two previous White House Gingerbread Houses are at the bottom of this post. They're also covered in white chocolate. (Yosses, above, with this year's house)



Chef Yosses writes his very first official blogpost about this year's gingerbread house:
Each year, the White House Pastry Team comes together with other members of the White House staff to work on a favorite holiday tradition: The White House Gingerbread House. Because this project requires so much space, the gingerbread house is usually assembled in the China Room of the Residence instead of the pastry shop. Everyone from White House carpenters to plumbers to electricians lend their expertise to help make this project a success.  Weeks were spent planning out the details, studying James Hoban’s original architectural designs and blueprints, gathering ingredients and creating a time line. And then the real work begins. More than 150 pounds of gingerbread dough is made and this year the recipe called for White House Honey! After baking the gingerbread, it is cut into pieces that become the house’s foundation. The gingerbread is so thick that a band-saw is used to create the bricks for the gingerbread replica. More than 250 lbs of white chocolate is then used for everything from the adhesive to the decorative elements. The white chocolate provides the flexibility needed to create details like the rosettes and the banisters, the windows and the wreaths. (Above: Phillips, in background, and pastry assistant Jack Revelle work on the 2009 gingerbread house)

This year we have two special features. The first is a shadow box view of the State Dining Room – the room that the completed gingerbread house sits in throughout the holiday season for visitors to view. This shadow box even includes the famous painting of President Lincoln by George PA Healy that hangs over the fireplace. This room is where you’ll find the only inedible parts of the gingerbread house – the light fixtures! We also include the new White House Kitchen Garden and our favorite four-pawed friend, Bo. Both are made out of marzipan. In the garden, you’ll find baskets of carrots, eggplants and cabbage as well as other seasonal vegetables. We have such a great time planning, baking and decorating, but each year the best part is always seeing the reactions of visitors from across the country when they first see our gingerbread house on their tour of the actual White House. We hope that you’ll enjoy this video of our gingerbread house as much as we enjoyed making it. Happy holidays and best wishes for a sweet start to the New Year! (Above: The garden)

Chef Yosses's White House Gingerbread Houses for 2007 and 2008:
Yosses' first White House Gingerbread House was for First Lady Laura Bush, in 2007, when the Christmas decoration theme was Holiday In The National Parks. The gingerbread house featured woodland creatures and a sleigh on the roof of the gingerbread house, which held the Bush family's pets (above).

In 2008, the holiday theme was A Red White and Blue Holiday, because it was the election year, and Yosses' gingerbread house was a view of the North Portico, and featured a fife and drum corps, as well as the roof-top sleigh with Bush family pets. (above).

Related: Media was previously informed that the Gingerbread House weighed 390 pounds. All the details on the 2009 White House Gingerbread House are here. The recipe for Yosses's White House Holiday Honey Cupcakes is here.

*Yosses photo at top of post by Obama Foodorama; Phillips photo by Pete Souza/White House; 2007-8 gingerbread houses by Shelagh Craighead/White House

Michelle Obama, Malia & Sasha Bring White House Cookies And First Dog Bo For Visit to National Children's Medical Center

Bo makes his debut as a therapy dog...
First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha visited the Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC today, to deliver White House holiday cookies, and share story time with the children. First Dog Bo made his debut as a therapy dog, greeting the hospitalized kids and spreading Christmas cheer. Bo had a few brief moments of naughtiness, however, and barked at the Santa Claus who was on hand. Mrs. Obama read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore, and Malia and Sasha read Snowmen at Night, by Caralyn Buehner to the kids.

Fox Reporter John Stossel Plans to "Investigate" Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden

Stossel reveals his plan to seed and harvest some garden controversy...
Legendary contrarian ABC reporter John Stossel has just joined Fox Business Network, and he's promising big investigations into the Obama administration, with lots of his trademark authority questioning. Stossel tells Washington Whispers that his new agenda even includes a pathbreaking expose on the most famous food garden in America--First Lady Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden. (Stossel, in photo)

"I'd like to know how much fertilizer and pesticide she uses per green bean versus the big factory farms to see who's more organic," Stossel said, and added with sarcasm: "I'm sure she does it all by herself."

White House Christmas and Holiday Foods: A Photo Tour By Lynn Sweet

Reporter Lynn Sweet saves the day for the historic record by providing an excellent visual scrapbook of White House holiday foods...
The White House has been receiving lauds for the foods being served this year at the series of holiday receptions that have been going on for the last three weeks. In keeping with all the progressive activity that's been going on the White House kitchen, and First Lady Michelle Obama's focus on both delicious and healthy foods, the holiday dishes served at the 11 different receptions and 17 open houses have been profoundly different than in years past. Foods served at the White House highlight the "bounty of America's regional cuisines," and the holiday foods encompass a range of traditions, from Asian through "traditional" American. There's been a lot of fresh fruit and roasted vegetables served, sushi catered from DC "modern Asian" eatery SEI, special kosher foods for the Hanukkah party (lamb chops, latkes, smoked salmon). The reports have been glowing. Above: A turkey carving station in the East Room, which included traditional trimmings such as gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. The station is located right next to the Creche (on the right) that's lately been the subject of much attention.

But the foodie reports have all been based on party goers' eyewitness accounts, because the White House has not released a formal advisory of what foods have been served at the holiday receptions. In previous administrations, members of the media were sent an advisory about the dishes being served at holiday receptions....but the Obama White House is doing things a little differently. And food photos taken by attendees have been dark and very low res...until now. Reporter Lynn Sweet has just saved the day for the historic record about White House foods, as far as your intrepid blogger is concerned; she just posted the best food shots to come out of any of the many receptions. Sweet is Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun Times, and also writes the Daily Flotus at AOL. She's been covering the Obamas since early in Campaign season, and has now emerged as the all-around expert on Mrs. Obama as a political (or non political!) figure. Above: Fresh fruit and artisanal cheese in foreground; in back are chilled crab claws and shrimp. Sugar-coated nuts, and whole grain crackers are also on this buffet table.

Sweet took these shots at the holiday party for print media, which was on Monday, Dec 14. The party was possibly the first White House party in history to be heavily tweeted--but there were no good food shots posted from that particular party. Sweet told Ob Fo that she was "off" twitter that night, instead focusing on photoing. Thank goodness--because her shots are swell. Sweet even managed to get a photo of the Bo the Dog cookie that everyone's so excited about--(and which guests were taking home as souvenirs). And if you look closely, the Bo cookie is sitting right next to the Acorn cookie that astonished Republican House member Steve King so much that he felt the need to alert Fox News about its existence. Above: offerings from Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses's sugar situation room. The pastry kitchen was freezing cookie dough for weeks in advance of the parties, to ensure fresh-baked cookies for each event. There are holiday cookies in the triple-tiered serving stack, as well as fruit-topped cheese cake, coconut cake, brownies, pumpkin pie, chocolate-covered strawberries, and toffee bars.

The party moved between the East Room and the State Dining Room, and out into the Cross Hall, with small round buffet tables--and some larger rectangular tables--set up. Much of the food service was self-serve, except for the turkey carvery. White House butlers were on duty, and the famed White House Egg Nog (which includes rum) was available at little stations throughout the party. Bar tending stations were set up, too. Above: More sweets, including berry cobbler (in center), coconut cake, and warm vanilla cake, a Yosses specialty.

Sweet also got a swell shot of pastry chef Yosses' 390 pound white chocolate-covered White House Gingerbread House, notable this year for the mini marzipan replica of the White House Kitchen Garden, which was created with the help of a group of school kids visiting the kitchen. A marzipan Bo is front and center in the gingerbread house, too (above). Photo directly above is a long shot of the East Room. About 500 people were at this reception, despite the fact that these shots have few people in them.

Related: The White House Hanukkah party is here. The White House holiday party for television and radio journalists is here. The White House holiday party for print journalists is here. The Holiday party for Congress is here. "Audacious" holiday cookies are here. All the details on the White House Gingerbread House are here. The eco-savvy Christmas decorations are here.

*Photos by Lynn Sweet

President Obama Delivers Basket of White House Cookies, Reads Holiday Classic to Local Kids

Special delivery, by Presidential polar express...
President Obama took time out from health care controversies this afternoon--and braved the snowy streets--for some fun at a Boys and Girls Club in Washington. He delivered a basket of White House Christmas cookies to a group of thrilled kids, ages 6-11, at the Richard England Clubhouse and Community Center, in NE Washington. The President also read the kids the holiday classic The Polar Express, written by Chris Van Allsburg. (Above: President Obama passes out cookies; one of the kids holds a Bo cookie)

The cookies were the best of White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses' offerings: They were shaped like Bo the First Dog, gingerbread men, maple leaves, and Christmas trees, according to the press pool report. When he arrived, cookie basket in hand, the President asked the kids "Have you guys been good?"

Kids From "Share Our Strength" Visit The White House Kitchen Garden With Sam Kass

Washington, DC-based child hunger advocacy group Share Our Strength runs after school classes nationwide that teach children about nutrition and health, in an effort to combat the child obesity epidemic. Recently, kids from the DC-area program, called Kids Up Front, visited the White House, and toured the Kitchen Garden with Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass. They plucked winter spinach (which is Kass's current favorite vegetable), and discussed the newly installed hoop houses, which allow the garden to continue to grow vegetables in cold weather (even during this weekend's record breaking snowstorm). After the garden visit, Kass took the kids into the White House for a peek at the kitchen. (Above: Kass points out winter spinach to the kids, beneath the hoops)

Obesity In The Obama Era: Is Santa Naughty If He's Fat?

The Obamas haven't politicized Santa's weight, but some professional Santas are worried about the issue...
The Obama administration has been conducting an anti-obesity campaign that includes almost every agency in the government, from USDA through the Department of Education. The campaign hasn't expanded to include fantasy figures like Santa Claus, however, but in today's Washington Post, there's a story about professional Santas taking on the issue of their own accord. The article is both serious and at times hilarious, noting that discussions of Santa's size is "the third rail in the world of Santa."

New Obama Foodie Homage: The Obamitas Cookies. Can Cookies Be Hate Speech?

Post racial, or blatantly racist? Cookies that cheerfully ignore Western history and centuries of institutionalized racism...
This week, one of the best food culture sites on the internet, Eat Me Daily, posted about a new "Obama Homage Food" product from Spain, the Obamitas cookies by Neos Brands. The dark chocolate artisanal cookies are being sold only in Spain, and the company is thrilled at the positive response it's getting. But unlike other Obama Homage Foods--food items that have President Obama's picture on them via sugar transfer or other food tek, such as the cookies below, the Obamitas cookies look nothing like President Obama. What they do look like are the Golliwog and the Pickaninny, caricatures of black people that until well after the Civil Rights Era in America (and Europe) were casually used for product branding, in literature, on the stage, in film. But Golliwogs and Pickaninnies were often thieves, miscreants, n'er do wells, incompetents. They were often depicted as half animal, rather than fully human, with claws for hands and feet, and tails. Golliwog and Pickaninnies have been removed from public discourse, except as collectibles leftover from an unenlightened era. Childrens' literature featuring the creatures are banned from libraries, no brand would dare use the iconography now, and it's no longer acceptable in civil discourse to use the caricatures for anything. When depictions of President Obama as a Golliwog/Pickaninny emerged during Campaign Season, these were immediately decried. (Top of post: The Obamitas cookies and their box; a 1930s era Golliwog; and Obama cookies from Eleni's Bakery in New York)

The Obamitas are cheerfully ignoring the history of civil rights in Europe and America through the 20th century, in which dark skinned peoples were treated as subhuman, and denied the rights afforded to people with lighter skin tones, in part because of the kind of stereotyped beliefs that the Golliwog/Pickaninny iconography encompasses.

The White House, And The Kitchen Garden, Covered In Snow Today -- UPDATED

Snow as "sexy" insulation for the hoop houses in the Kitchen Garden... UPDATE AT BOTTOM
A history-making storm is in Washington, DC, and still dumping snow across the tri-state area. During a press briefing this morning, to discuss climate change and health care reform, President Obama apologized for getting everyone out in the snow, but added that he likes the snow itself.

"You know that I am from Chicago," President Obama said. "So let me first say that with the place where I live covered with snow I’m finally starting to feel like home."

As for the Kitchen Garden: The hoop houses that were installed in the garden on December 4 are themselves covered with snow, and the snow should prove no problem for the crops that are growing. It is possibly even warmer inside the hoop houses than it was before, thanks to the added insulation factor of the snow (why are igloos built out of cold snow? Because they are warm inside). And don't forget, insulation is sexy, which the President himself announced earlier this week during a visit to a Home Depot. The hoop houses have already protected the crops from snow before; immediately after their installation, there was a light snowfall in DC. We'll let you know how the crops in the garden survive the Big Snow; the crops currently include spinach, lettuce, carrots, mustard greens, chard and cabbage.

UPDATE: Sunday, Dec. 20: The snow was cleared from the hoop houses, which withstood the snowstorm just fine. More than eighteen inches of snow fell in DC, but everything in the Kitchen Garden is "great, just perfect," according to a White House source.

There's No Dangerous Level of Lead In The White House Kitchen Garden, and No Toxic Sewage Sludge, Either

On Wednesday, the White House released a new video of the Kitchen Garden getting prepared for winter, with the addition of hoop houses. The video got a lot of attention on the internet and in media. Shortly after, the old myths of dangerous lead levels in the Kitchen Garden started to circulate again.

So to reiterate what has been previously posted here numerous times:
There is no dangerous lead level in the White House Kitchen Garden. There never was, to begin with. And no toxic sewage sludge was ever applied to the Kitchen Garden, either.

The most recent soil tests of the Kitchen Garden were done in August, and found a lead count of 14 Parts Per Million, down from 93 PPM in March, the number released by the National Park Service when ground was originally broken for the garden. Produce from food gardens are considered safe for human consumption when garden lead levels are between 300 and 400 parts per million. A post about the lead levels in the Kitchen Garden, which includes interviews with three of the top soils scientists in the US, is here. A full statement from the White House about their most recent lead tests is here.

For The White House Christmas, Milk and Cookies For Santa In The Yellow Room

Oreos for Santa...and veggies from the Kitchen Garden for the reindeer?
President Obama was interviewed by singing star Gloria Estefan last night, during a special holiday program for Univision that highlighted volunteerism. During their chat, the President informed Ms. Estefan that after much debate, he and First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha had decided to leave cookies and milk for Santa--as well as reindeer treats--in the Yellow Room, because of its central location in the White House.

"So, that's where we are going to set the cookies and the milk," the President told Estefan. "We'll have a little reindeer snack out there... because we want to make sure when he [Santa] comes to the White House that he feels like he is getting good service."

There are 28 different fireplaces in the White House, so Santa might need directions to the right chimney for the Yellow Room, from one of the black-clad fellows who are situated on the White House roof 24 hours a day. (Above: Estefan and the President)

When President Obama and Mrs. Obama appeared on Oprah Winfrey's White House Christmas special, Mrs. Obama announced that the Obama Santa offering is always Oreo cookies. Winfrey inquired if Santa was coming to the White House, and Mrs. Obama replied "Oh, absolutely."

President Obama: We'll set up some cookies and milk.

Winfrey: Oh. Not apples and vegetables from your garden?

Mrs. Obama: Maybe we'll put some apple slices. But Santa generally likes cookies and milk.

President Obama: Yeah, I mean, Santa -- Santa eats what he wants.

Mrs. Obama: (interjecting) Oreos!

But perhaps the reindeer treats will be harvested from White House Kitchen Garden...

*Related: A recipe for White House Holiday Honey Cupcakes from Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses is here. White House holiday decorations are here; the White House Gingerbread House is here.

Vintage Sam Kass Video: Before He Was A White House Chef, Kass Was Already A Food Video Star

Sam Kass gives a cable TV cooking lesson, with the recipe for Avocado and Cucumber soup...
The fun new video that the White House and USDA just co-released about the installation of hoop houses in the White House Kitchen Garden is not the first time White House assistant chef/Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass has starred in a foodie video. While he was still a private citizen--but already working for the Obama family in Chicago--Kass was also starring on cable TV.

In a video posted to Youtube in June of 2009, Kass appears on Chicago Works, a cable TV show hosted by Bonnie "Hey Baby" DeShong on Chicago Municipal Television. In the video, Kass and DeShong go shopping at the Hyde Park Farmers Market--the Obama family's local farmers market--then return to Jane Addams-Hull House Museum for a cooking lesson. While working for the Obamas, Kass was simultaneously executive chef at Jane Addams-Hull House, where he ran a lunch program called Rethinking Soup, which offered free soup and thought-provoking conversation. Kass shows DeShong how to cook two versions of a very healthy Avocado Cucumber soup, in the museum kitchen. (Photo: Kass giving his video cooking lesson)

Guest Post: Climate Change And US Agriculture--How Sustainable Are Our Current Policies?

Policy spotlight: At Cop15, President Obama says he came to act, not talk. Will Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack act, too?
President Obama arrived in Copenhagen last night for the final day of Cop15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which has been going on since Dec. 3. This morning, President Obama addressed a plenary session and noted that "as the world’s largest economy and the world’s second-largest emitter, America bears our share of responsibility on climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility." He noted that due to the ongoing problems at COp15, "our ability to take collective action is in doubt." But President Obama made it clear that "...America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our emissions and to move towards a clean energy economy, no matter what happens here in Copenhagen." Read the President's full remarks here.

New White House Recipe: Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford's Broccoli Soup

Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford's new recipe for Broccoli Soup is a flavorful dish that's perfect for a winter warm up, and part of the ongoing program of focusing on seasonal and healthier foods at the White House.
Regarded as an extraordinary culinary talent, Comerford has worked at the Executive Mansion for fourteen years, and is now on her third presidential administration. First Lady Michelle Obama re-appointed Comerford as executive chef in January, and Comerford notes that she's been newly inspired by Mrs. Obama, whose focus on local, fresh and seasonal foods has transformed the cooking practices at the White House. Comerford says that she's even planted a vegetable garden at her own home in Maryland, thanks to the influence of Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden, which Comerford visits regularly.

Sam Kass On Getting First Lady Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden Ready For Winter

Sam Kass loves winter spinach as much as he loves soil conservation...
For the first time since becoming First Lady Michelle Obama's Food Initiative Coordinator at the White House, assistant chef Sam Kass writes about one of her favorite projects, the Kitchen Garden, in a new post on the White House blog. (Kass, above). Kass explains the Dec. 4 installation of hoop houses over the crop rows in order to continue to grow veggies in the Kitchen Garden during the cold season, and he also extols the values of soil conservation, and the delights of winter spinach. Kass writes:

As we head into the holiday season, the White House has been beautifully decorated by volunteers from all over the country. The White House kitchen staff has also been busy preparing food for holiday parties, and pastry chefs have been baking cookies non-stop for lucky children who come for a visit. In the midst of all of this, we have been preparing the garden for the winter and another round of crops.

The first three plantings of the White House Kitchen Garden were more bountiful than even we expected. After harvesting the last of the fall planting, more than 1007 lbs of produce was taken from the garden this year! I think the garden has been the most delicious idea the First Lady has had yet!

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Discusses His Work In Copenhagen at Cop15

The White House Hanukkah Party: A Special Menorah From Prague, Kosher Foods, And A Larger Guest List -- UPDATED With Menu, Guest List

UPDATED
Last night was the sixth night of the Jewish Festival of Lights, and President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted their first Hanukkah party at the White House. The event spilled between the State Dining Room and the East Room, with about 550 guests from around the country. A Jewish student choir from the University of Maryland performed, and a very special 19th century menorah was loaned to the White House for the traditional candle lighting ceremony.

New Video: Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden Is Ready For Winter. Sam Kass, Kathleen Merrigan Explain Installation of Hoop Houses

First Lady Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden expands from child nutrition education project to a model project to combat climate change...
As noted here before, the White House and USDA have been partnering on many projects, to encourage healthier eating, locally grown foods, and better school nutrition programs. In the new video below, just released by USDA, White House Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass and Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan discuss the hoop houses that were recently installed in the White House Kitchen Garden to get it ready for the winter growing season, and show these being constructed. Merrigan and Kass have been working on many projects in tandem as the White House and USDA join forces. Among other things, in September they cooked together at USDA's cafeteria, during the launch of USDA's new initiative Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. In the video below, Merrigan introduces a new slogan for the project:

Not every family needs an accountant, not every family needs a lawyer, but every family needs a farmer. Do you know who yours is?



Harris Sherman, the new USDA Under Secretary For Natural Resources and the Environment also appears in the video, and lauds the White House Kitchen Garden as a prototype project for soil conversation, water resource management, and vital to addressing climate change. Merrigan also announces USDA's launch of a three-year pilot program offering funds to farmers and gardeners to encourage the use of hoop houses, in order to facilitate year-round growing of food crops, and to study their efficacy.

Kass writes about Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden for the first time, here. Ob Fo previously wrote about the new hoop houses at the White House in a post here.

*Related posts on the Kitchen Garden: Tours of the Kitchen Garden, led by White House chefs, are available for school groups. The Fall Garden Harvest is here. A detailed look at the garden on its six-month anniversary, including messaging and media myths, is here. More video: The Story of The Garden. The first Kitchen Garden video: Kass gives Philadelphia Phillies star Ryan Howard a tour of the garden. Top soils scientists correct the record on the myth of lead contamination in the Kitchen Garden here; the White House releases a new statement about low levels of lead here.

*Photo at the White House by Obama Foodorama

First Lady Michelle Obama Delivers Toys For Tots: Easy Bake Ovens, Basketballs? Asks People Interested In Donating Toys To Focus On 11-14 Year Olds

First Lady Michelle Obama delivered toys collected by White House staff to the Toys For Tots Stafford County Distribution Center in Stafford, VA, this morning. Mrs. Obama announced the toy drive at the White House during the Holiday Decorations Preview on December 3. On Sunday, President Obama and Mrs. Obama discussed their own holiday gifts as children, during an interview for talk show host Oprah Winfrey's White House holiday special. The President noted a basketball from his father as not only a favorite but also very meaningful, and Mrs. Obama cited a metal dollhouse with plastic furniture. She and Oprah also extensively discussed the Easy Bake Ovens they had both had as girls. Both lamented the fact that when they were kids, when the Easy Bake mixes were used up, the oven was done. (Above: Mrs. Obama as Mrs. Claus, accompanied by Marines/Getty).

The press pool report:

First Lady Michelle Obama asks that Americans who haven't yet donated toys but intend to focus on gifts for 11-to-14-year-olds. She said she'd learned that everybody donates good toys for little kids but that right now there aren't enough toys for the older age group.

"There's still time," she said, asking hthe media to get out the word. "Focus on some of the older kids." She imagined how underprivileged tweens and young teens might feel: "You're 11; you're still waiting for Santa. . . I'm gonna go back shopping . . . We're going to pick up some more toys for 11-to-14-year-olds."

*To find out where to donate toys, visit the website for Toys For Tots here.

The White House Holiday Party For Television and Radio Journalists

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama mingle with the media for the second night in a row. Guest list, menu...
Last night's White House holiday party for television and radiojournalists was a big hit with the mob who showed up, but unlike for the print journalists' party on Monday night, there wasn't an epidemic of twittering going on. Some very famous guests showed up to enjoy the White House hospitality, including many who spend their work days broadcasting live from the North Lawn of the White House.

White House Comments On "Breakfast Crashing" Couple Harvey and Paula Darden

Georgia couple calls their accidental Veterans Day White House crash "dumb luck." The White House calls it "a nice gesture."
On Veteran's day this year, the White House was a busy place. There was a morning memorial service on the South Lawn, and the History Channel was in the White House filming segments for a show about veterans. There was also an invitation-only breakfast for two hundred veterans and their families, which Georgia tourists Harvey and Paula Darden attended "accidentally." At the breakfast, the Dardens met President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden. The Associated Press sent the tale all over the internet yesterday, and it's caused new furor about security concerns at the Executive Mansion in light of the State Dinner Crash. (Above: President Obama and Mrs. Obama pose in the Blue Room with the group visiting from the History Channel, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who is next to Mrs. Obama)

The AP story, which has comments from White House spokesman Nick Shapiro and Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan:

The Latest White House Flicker Update: The Fist Bump Revisited & Presidential Popcorn Moments

White House dapping and private dining...
Official White House photographer Pete Souza has captured some new semi-foodie moments in the latest set of photos posted to the White House Flickr. The one, above, is fairly brilliant; President Obama fist bumps First Lady Michelle Obama's chief of staff, Susan Sher, before a dinner for women staff in the Old Family Dining Room at the White House on Nov. 5. Souza is clearly making a not-so-subtle reference to the fist-bump photo of the President and Mrs. Obama that appeared in global media in June of 2008, during Campaign Season. On June 3, when then-candidate Obama was about to make his acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination, he and Mrs. Obama knocked knuckles before he went to the microphone to speak at a huge rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. The fist bump became the subject of much media speculation; among other articles on the subject, Washington Post ran a story proclaiming it the fist bump heard 'round the world, and Time magazine ran A Brief History of the Fist Bump.  Souza has some other excellent foodie photos in the new Flickr set, although none reference campaign history.

The White House Holiday Party For Print Journalists: Live Tweeted & Phonecammed, But With Tight Security--UPDATED

An Obama first? A White House party that was enjoyed virtually by all those following along on Twitter: Jazz, Bo Cookies, a little bit of journalist theatrics...and Desiree Rogers making her presence known
Last night was the very first White House holiday party for print journalists held during the Obama presidency--and possibly the first White House party that had a serious amount of tweeting coming out of it, as well as other new media styling. In fact, some of the guests might have spent as much time surreptitiously thumb-typing and phonecamming as they did appreciating the lovely Christmas decorations in the Executive Mansion, or standing in line to greet President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, or listening to the jazz stylings of the Eli Yamin Quintet, which performed in the East Room. But there was entertainment going on even before guests got into the White House, according to the live tweets. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, who was not invited to the party, stationed himself in front of the White House gates, with a poster of President Obama that read "one ticket needed" --and his video camera in hand, ostensibly to capture the response of his fellow journalists. @HowardKurtz responded to these shenanigans by tweeting Salahi lite. Milbank has written fairly excoriating things about the President and First Lady, including this column disparaging the White House Farmers Market. No doubt last night's events will make for a future column. (Small photo: Milbank in front of the White House, in a photo snapped by Time magazine's Mark Silva. Silva didn't tweet, but he blogged his party experience).

Arianna Huffington, founder and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post, was one journo who tweeted the party the entire time--and she posted a photo with each tweet. Huffington has more than a quarter million followers in her tweetstream, meaning thousands of people were possibly viewing the party as it happened. And she got some really fun shots--this one of journalist April Ryan and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is historic if you follow the scuffles in the White House Press Briefing room--but it can only be hoped that Santa will be bringing Ms. Huffington a new hand-held device this year, because most of her pics are tragically dark. (Above: Huffington with journalist Ari Melber. At top of post, her photo of the huge Christmas Tree in the Blue Room)

Calories Like You've Never Seen Before: The MyFood-A-Pedia Calculator Debuts as Part of White House Transparency Project

Rating presidential burgers, White House pie, Biggest Loser Salad with USDA's new online nutrition tool...
As part of the White House's ongoing Open Government Initiative, new data sets for federal agencies were just released under the rubric of the Open Government Directive, which instructs agencies to take "immediate specific steps to open their doors and data to the American people." USDA has joined the project, and added a new data set to their online portfolio, to help Americans achieve the goals for recommended daily nutrition guidelines. The just-launched MyFood-A-Pedia site is a search tool for the calorie and nutrition content of 1,000 foods, including processed foods, fast foods, and foods that can be made at home. Currently, the government operates according to dietary guidelines that were published in 2005; these are here [PDF].

President Obama's habit of visiting burger joints has gotten much attention in the past year; his most recent burger outing was on Dec. 4, to Hamilton Family Restaurant in Allentown, PA, during his first trip for the White House to Main Street tour. Using the new MyFood-A-Pedia tracker, if you're President Obama and you go on a burger run, you'll be ordering a cheeseburger, most likely with lettuce and mustard. MyFood-A-Pedia will tell you instantly that this is 319 calories, with 2 1/2 oz of grain from a recommended daily total of 6 oz; 1 0z of Meat & Beans from a daily recommendation of 5 1/2 oz, and 1/4 cup of milk from a recommended daily total of 3 cups. Extras per day should be limited to less than 267 calories, and the calculator notes that a cheeseburger has 94 calories in solid fats, added sugars, and alcohol.

The "Audacity" of White House Holiday Cookies

Fox News is loving the story of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who was so stunned by finding some very suspicious Acorn-shaped cookies at the White House holiday party for Congress last week that he felt the need to e mail the "news" organization and share the "controversial" cookies with the world. King has been one of most vociferous critics of ACORN, the community service organization that has been in the news lately. Cameras at White House holiday parties are generally discouraged unless a formal photo is being taken with the President and First Lady, but phone-cameras are not "confiscated" as part of security protocols. Rep. King Made good use of his.

The First Family Will Spend Christmas In Hawai'i. Mele Kalikimaka! -- UPDATED

Imua Obama and family return to Hawai'i for the holidays...and a look back at Christmas dinner 2008
UPDATE, Dec. 23: The White House announces that the First Family will leave from DC to travel to Hawai'i on Dec. 24, at 10:15 AM from the White House. They will stay through Jan. 3, 2010.
The White House has made no formal announcement, but last night on Oprah Winfrey's holiday TV special, First Lady Michelle Obama told Ms. Winfrey that the family will be spending Christmas in Hawai'i, the president's birthplace. They're expected to be renting the same house as they did last year, in the small town of Kailua on the island of Oahu. The town is about a half hour outside of Honolulu, depending on traffic, and is upscale and secureable (little chance of anyone crashing the vacay). The Obamas traditionally spend Christmas in Hawai'i, with the exception of 2007, when then-Senator Obama was gearing up for his presidential campaign. The President attended high school in Honolulu; he lived with his grandparents.

Crashergate Update: On Sixty Minutes, President Obama Calls State Dinner Crash a "Screw Up"--That Won't Happen Again

"I was unhappy with everybody involved," President Obama says. VIDEO AFTER JUMP
During his first sit-down interview since announcing the troop surge in Afghanistan, and right before being awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, President Obama was interviewed for CBS news show Sixty Minutes, and the segment aired this evening. At the urging of interviewer Steve Kroft, the President left off discussing the global financial crisis and the war in Afghanistan to discuss the crashing of the Nov. 24 White House State Dinner, in which Tareq and Michaele Salahi, aspiring reality TV show contestants, managed to trump Secret Service and White House Social Office guest list vetting, and get all the way into the formal receiving line with the President, First Lady Michelle Obama, and the guest of honor, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They also spent time in the State Dinner guest tent on the South Lawn, but seem to ahve departed the White House before the sit-down part of the dinner.

Michelle Obama's Easy Bake Oven, and Other Holiday Tidbits From Oprah

Will sales of the popular old-school toy oven soar because the First Lady and Oprah discuss it on TV?
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama give a guided tour of the holiday White House to talk show host Oprah Winfrey this evening, during Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special. The lovely holiday decorations will be viewable, including many of the 27 Christmas trees that are all around the Executive Mansion. There'll also be some top-secret Christmas details revealed, such as the the fact that Mrs. Obama had an Easy Bake Oven as a girl, and Bo the First Dog has his very own stocking ("Santa loves Bo, too," Mrs. Obama says). Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses makes an appearance, of course, to describe some of the thousands of seasonal baked goods he's been making for the ongoing series of holiday parties at the White House.

New Recipe: White House Honey Cupcakes, From Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses

Holiday Cupcakes...for whatever holiday you celebrate
Just in time for the holiday season, the White House has released a new recipe created by Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. In keeping with the ongoing focus on healthier eating, the recipe uses honey, to avoid too much processed sugar; even the icing has honey in it, and it's super sweet, so you don't need to use very much. Yosses and the rest of the White House chefs have been making good use of the White House Beehive, and thus are putting honey into many recipes that would traditionally call for sugar. The hive produced 134 pounds of honey this year, and honey was used to create the White House Gingerbread House, in the desserts for the State Dinner, in the Spider White House cookies on Halloween, and in all kinds of other dishes for events, both public and private (Yosses, in photo. Yes, those are carrots in his toque)

The Honey Cupcake recipe is easy and quick, and fairly low fat--the use of buttermilk replaces some of the fat that would usually be needed in the form of butter. Sprinkle with edible Hanukkah stars or Christmas snowflakes, and the cupcakes are perfect for the holidays, or anytime you want a mini treat. White House recommendation: Enjoy in moderation.

Bill Yosses's White House Honey Cupcakes

Ingredients
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

For the Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp. lemon juice

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake papers.

2. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, on high speed. Mix in honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla until blended, on medium speed.

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then mix into the batter until just blended. Scoop the batter into the cupcake cups evenly.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes; cupcakes are done when tops spring back lightly to the touch.

To prepare icing
In a small sauce pan, whisk ingredients over medium heat until sugars dissolve together; keep whisking to avoid clumps. Using a spoon, drizzle over the tops of cupcakes, or carefully pour over cupcakes.

Makes one dozen cupcakes.

Related: Yosses's recipe for White House Apple Pie is here; his recipe for healthy Baked Apples is here. All the details on his White House Gingerbread House are here. Yosses gives a video tour of the White House pastry kitchen here. There's pie making happening in it, of course. A full bio of his extensive background is here. The President and First Lady send Hanukkah greetings from the White House. White House Christmas foodie fun is here. The 2009 Obama Foodie Holiday Gift Guide is here.

*Yosses photo by Obama Foodorama.

At The US Botanic Garden, Another Edible White House With A Mini Kitchen Garden

Apparently mini White House Kitchen Gardens are becoming a trend for edible White Houses, a testament to the wide reach of First Lady Michelle Obama's South Lawn project. Every year during the holidays at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC, there's a special exhibit that includes miniatures of DC landmarks, made of edible plants. This year, a mini Kitchen Garden has been added to the replica White House. It's tucked next to the South Portico, in the same way the mini marzipan Kitchen Garden for the White House Gingerbread House is right up against the wall of the South Portico in White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses's white chocolate-covered extravaganza. (Above: The USBG White House)

Walters Names Michelle Obama "Most Fascinating" For 2009; First Lady Reveals "Really Bad TV" as a "Guilty Pleasure"

First Lady cites food and design shows as "mindless" TV...but an hour of heaven
In her annual year-end TV special, Barbara Walters named First Lady Michelle Obama as the "Most Fascinating Person of 2009." ABC has just released a part of the interview that didn't make it onto the TV special, in which Walters encouraged Mrs. Obama to spill the beans on her "guilty pleasures."

Mrs. Obama responded that her guilty pleasures are often "food based," or watching "really bad TV" with the family's Portuguese water dog, Bo.

"I sit with Bo, and he usually climbs up on my lap. He thinks he's a lap dog," Mrs. Obama told Walters. "He'll cozy up with me, and I'm just clicking through mindless shows. A lot of, you know, shows about food and design, and all that good stuff. And it's just quiet. And I'm not thinking about anything for that second -- not about the kids, not about my husband, not about my schedule. If I get an hour of that during the course of a week, it feels like heaven."

On January 3, 2010, Mrs. Obama will appear in an already-taped segment of Iron Chef America, during a two-hour special in which White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford will team with chef Bobby Flay and compete against chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse in the show's "kitchen stadium."

Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford: The BPinoy Award Video

Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford is a national heroine in the Philippines, where she was born. This year, she's been honored with multiple awards there, and the video, below, was made after she received the BPinoy Award. The video is low-res, but really fun, and recaps Comerford's career as a "delightful and appetizing tale that spans three continents." The video notes that Comerford trained at the University of the Philippines in food technology, but doesn't note that she never graduated; Comerford moved to the US with her family before completing her degree. Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass attended University of Chicago as a history major, then trained in Europe and Chicago, but also never completed a formal degree in "food." Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, the other top toque in the White House kitchen, holds a grad degree in Hotel Management.



The video also points out that Comerford is the only woman Executive Chef in White House history, and also the only minority chef to hold the title. That's not really true; four other Presidents had female top toques, who ran their kitchens, and all were African American. Mary Campbell cooked for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Harry and Margaret Truman brought Vietta Garr with them to the White House. Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson hired Zephyr Wright. Benjamin and Mary Scott Harrison summoned their own home cook, Dolly Johnson, to the White House to replace Madame Petronard....the female White House chef. Still, Comerford is the first Filipina chef, and now the most high-profile female chef in the US, thanks to the new White House policies of 'opening' the kitchen. This will only grow, especially after her upcoming appearance with Mrs. Obama on Iron Chef America, on January 3.

Photo above: Comerford at the White House Healthy Kids Fair, holding up White House Beehive Honey. Assistant chef David Luerson is in the background. Photo by Obama Foodorama.

The Obama Nobel Peace Prize Banquet Menu: Elk, Reindeer, Cod...With Wine Pairings...UPDATED, With Video of The Toast

The President gives a moving toast at the Nobel banquet...and thanks his mother and sister...VIDEO AT BOTTOM OF POST
President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize banquet contained dishes that are high-cuisine versions of traditional Norwegian fare: reindeer, elk, duck, and cod, with global wine pairings. But it's likely that no one was really paying attention to the food, because the President's remarks at the Nobel ceremony earlier in the day still had the room abuzz; he'd given a driving policy speech at Oslo City Hall (the text is here). During his toast, President Obama noted the irony of a prize for peace being endowed by the man who invented dynamite, and added that "[Alfred Nobel] did know this truth: that our destinies are what we make of them, and that each of us in our own lives can do our part in order to make a more just and lasting peace and forge the kind of world that we want to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren. "

The President also credited his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, with his career, thanks to "the values that she instilled in me." The banquet was held at the Grand Hotel in Oslo at 7:30 in the evening, following what the President called an "exhausting day," which included a visit with Norway's King and Queen, the Peace Prize ceremony, and a huge torchlit parade in his honor, courtesy of the citizens of Oslo and the many visitors who had descended upon the tightly-guarded city. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama watched the parade from the balcony of their room at the Grand Hotel, then went downstairs to the ballroom for the banquet, which had 250 invited guests. The President and Mrs. Obama were accompanied by half sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and her husband, Konrad Ng, plus family friends Marty Nesbit and his wife, Anita Blanchard, and Eric and Cheryl Whitaker; and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Senior Advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who is also a Nobel Laureate. (At top: President Obama raises his glass in a toast; below is his place setting at the banquet).

The 2009 President Obama Nobel Peace Prize Banquet Menu

Starters:
Cured Reindeer Fillet and Smoked Duck
Asparagus Salad with Truffle

Fillet of Cod from the coast of ”Møre”
Jerusalem Artichoke purée

Aquavit Sorbet

Entree:
Juniper Berry and Thyme marinated Elk
Pommes Berny and glazed Turnip

Desserts:
Caramel and Chocolate glazed Banana Mousse
Peanut Meringue

Wines:
Champagne Jacquesson Cuvée no 733
Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Émile 2004 – Trimbach
Pouilly-Fumé 2008 – André Dezat et fis
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 – Robert Mondavi
Vidal Icewine 2003 – Inniskillin Wines


Top photo above, from the banquet: President Obama and Mrs. Obama with Norwegian King Harald (2nd L) and Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland. Crown Princess Mette Marie is in background (Reuters). Above: The head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute Geir Lundestad walks in front of from left to right, Thorbjon Jagland, head of the Nobel committee, Mrs. Obama, President Obama, King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Mari.

Top: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wave from the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Oslo following the Nobel Prize Ceremony at City Hall. About 10,000 people greeted the President with a torchlight parade. Above: The President giving his Nobel Prize address (Pete Souza, White House photographer). The full text of the President's remarks at the Nobel Prize ceremony is here.

Today's Schedule:
09:20: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit Oslo City Hall to participate in the Nobel Peace Prize Signing Ceremony (in photo below).

10:00-11:00 The President will meet with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, to take place between 10:00 and 11:00. Statements to the press will follow.

12:10: President Obama and Mrs. Obama will be received in audience by King Harald and Queen Sonja at the Royal Palace. Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will also be present.

13:00: The Nobel Prize Award ceremony will begin at the Oslo City Hall Auditorium. 1 1/2 hours. Livestreamed here.

19:00: President Obama is expected to view the traditional post-ceremony torch light parade from his balcony at the Hotel Grand, then arrive at the Nobel Prize banquet, which is at the hotel. The white tie affair has 250 invited guests. The President's speech will be televised. The rest of the banquet is closed press.

President Obama's Banquet Toast:

Related: You, too, can enjoy President Obama's Nobel Banquet. Photo: Reuters/Getty/AP.
*Updated: 8:30 PM Oslo time. Thanks to Kari Hasselknippe.

Iron Chef America Promo Video For White House Episode Debuts. Are Supersized Chefs A Problem For The Obama Anti-Obesity Campaign?

Is it possible to just have some good ol' Foodie Fun in the White House kitchen and garden, once you've started warning America that we're in the middle of an obesity crisis of epidemic proportions? VIDEO BELOW
Food Network has just released the first promo video for the special Iron Chef America episode that will feature First Lady Michelle Obama and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford. For the Jan. 3 two-hour show, Comerford is paired with celeb grillmeister Bobby Flay in competition against famed chefs Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse, in a cook-off in the show's Kitchen Stadium, where they'll try to create wild dishes that will please the celeb guest judges. Mrs. Obama appears in a special segment shot at the White House, in which the battling chefs harvest veggies from her Kitchen Garden; these eventually become the "secret ingredient" in the cook-off in the Kitchen Stadium. The secret ingredient, the video informs us, is of national importance! (Top: From left, Batali, Lagasse, Flay and Comerford listen to show host Alton Brown in the White House Kitchen Garden; below, Lagasse in the garden)

What's the chance of undermining White House nutrition messaging, and the Obama anti-obesity campaign?
But it can't be overlooked that Batali and Lagasse--by anyone's estimation--are overweight, and the question is, how big of a problem could this be? For a First Lady running what has become a high-profile health and nutrition campaign, which has as a critical component reducing what the White House has called the nation's obesity "epidemic," it's an odd fit to be welcoming these chefs to the White House (the stats: Some sixty percent of American adults are deemed overweight/obese by the CDC, and up to 1/3 of children, with rates even higher for Hispanic and African American populations). And reducing the rates of obesity and overweight in America is not just part of the First Lady's agenda, it's something that many agencies in the Obama administration have become seriously involved in, from Defense (with worries about future soldiers being too fat to serve); to USDA and Education, which are seeking new low-fat nutrition standards for the federal school lunch program; to Health and Human Services, in the name of Health Care Reform, and trimming the rates of diet-related disease, which are an incredible burden on both the economy and the health care system (not to mention the horrifying fate of early death, which the Admin is so fond of discussing). Theoretically, Mrs. Obama and her Executive Chef are appearing on Iron Chef America as part of her efforts to raise awareness about healthy eating, with the hope that the big audience the show has will be new recipients of the good food news. And the White House has spent months promoting cooking skills with a series of events: Healthy recipes were demo'd in the Kids Kitchen at the 2009 Easter Egg Roll; student garden helpers cooked in the White House kitchen after the Spring Garden Harvest; and a bevy of celeb chefs demonstrated healthy recipes at September's Healthy Kids Fair. But with two famed professionals who are noticeably overweight, harvesting produce from the Kitchen Garden and then cooking it, isn't at least part of the takeaway message on Iron Chef America the idea that cooking actually makes you fat? (Above: Mrs. Obama at the White House with the chef competitors, and show host Alton Brown)




If famous proponents of the culinary arts--professionals who inarguably have the best, easiest access to healthy and nutritious food--and who know what they're doing with their ingredients and their knives--are carrying lots of extra poundage, what smidgen of hope is there for those following along at home, who frequently don't know their salsa from their salsify? Happily, Comerford is paired with the slim and trim Flay on the show, yet that doesn't mitigate the fact that the two other celeb chefs are as round as Christmas hams. Food Network applauds itself on getting higher viewer ratings than cable news shows--and that's why they were invited to the White House--but it's frequently criticized as sheer food porn, for running a spate of shows that seem to promote overeating. Iron Chef America is food porn as cage fight, especially because it could well be the anti-message to the White House's goals. And does all of this somehow undermine the fact that vegetables are, indeed, of national importance, particularly for battling the bulge, something Mrs. Obama has been reminding us about for months?


In an interview with NPR, bestselling food author Michael Pollan points out that the time the average American spends preparing dinner has dropped to less than half the amount of time it takes to watch an episode of Top Chef. He adds that "you certainly don't learn anything about cooking" from watching food TV shows because "they go by way too fast, they don't offer the recipes... and the food they're making is so spectacular that it's really unlikely, I think, that anybody is trying this at home." (Above: Batali cooking during the White House episode; Food Network made the shot B&W for the sake of "drama")

On White House recipe posting and home cook recreations...
Food Network is promoting Mrs. Obama and Comerford's appearance on Iron Chef America as just this kind of spectacular event.

"A monumental clash of the Titans!" Host Alton Brown chortles at the camera in the video promo.

Sure, the Kitchen Garden will be seen by millions of viewers, and the chefs will obviously be cooking veggie dishes, but there's a chance things could go awry. Especially if Comerford and Flay lose (prediction: They win). And will the recipes from Iron Chef America be released, anyway? The White House allowed the cast of NBC's competition weight-loss show The Biggest Loser to pick veggies from the Kitchen Garden, and then go in the kitchen and make a healthy salad with Comerford and Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass, but then didn't bother to post the recipe at WhiteHouse.gov. In fact, if you Google "The Biggest Loser White House Salad," the top hit out of more than 41,000 is this blog post at Obama Foodorama; it remains a much-searched for item. And even if the recipes from Iron Chef America are posted at the White House's own site, will the average American non-Titan home cook be able to recreate them? The point of the show is culinary extravagance, fast knife work and flaming derring-do, not necessarily making easy-to-recreate dishes for the home cook. But if the recipes aren't posted--perhaps in a home-cooking version--what is the point of having Mrs. Obama and her Executive Chef on the show? Especially because she's the only first lady to ever appear on a "reality" TV show, and at this point in the All Obama All The Time mediascape, the appearance becomes just another ignorable media outing. (Above: Comerford in the Kitchen Stadium)

Or could it be that Mrs. Obama is just out for some Bad TV Foodie Fun, and for two hours on January 3, we get to forget the dire implications of America's collective eating problem? Mrs. Obama just announced to Barbara Walters that one of her "Guilty Pleasures" is (in her own words) "really bad TV."

"I sit with Bo, and he usually climbs up on my lap," Mrs. Obama told Walters. "He'll cozy up with me, and I'm just clicking through mindless shows. A lot of, you know, shows about food and design...If I get an hour of that during the course of a week, it feels like heaven."

As a side note, celeb chef Art Smith, who has guest-cheffed at the White House (and who likes to just hang out there), credits his recent fifty-pound weight loss to Mrs. Obama's influence. Maybe Lagasse and Batali are trimming down as this is being written. Or not.

*Worth a read: Pollan's NYT magazine cover story, Out of The Kitchen, Onto The Couch, in which he parses exactly how American cooking has become something that people watch on TV rather than do.

*The Iron Chef America Super Chef Battle airs on Sunday, January 3, at 8:00 PM/7:00 central on Food Network.

*Updated with Mrs. Obama's Walters comments on Dec. 10

You, Too, Can Enjoy President Obama's Nobel Banquet In Oslo

UPDATE, Dec. 1o: The official menu for President Obama's Nobel Banquet is here
Selling hope: A replica of the President's Nobel Banquet is yours for just 1,850 NOK (US $325)...
There will be a white tie dinner in President Obama's honor tomorrow night at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, following the Nobel Prize for Peace ceremony. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama are also staying at the hotel during their visit. In an interesting turn of events, the Grand offers lavish Nobel dinners to private citizens as a regular part of their special amenities. "Host your own 'Nobel Banquet!'" The Obama Laureate dinner menu is still a secret; it will be revealed tomorrow. But it's usually so deluxe that when Mother Teresa was the Laureate, the dinner was cancelled because she refused to attend, saying that the money spent on the dinner should be donated to the poor. (At top: Nobel table settings at the Grand Hotel. Above: The President speaking in the Rose Garden in October, after he found out he was the Laureate)

USA Today Finds Fast Food Is Better Than School Lunches...And Why Hasn't Sec. Vilsack Named An Under Secretary For Food Safety At USDA?

USDA's most recent food safety innovation: A telephone help desk for meat processors. But there's no one leading FSIS, and food safety standards remain the same as in 2008...and 2007...and 2006...and 2005...and 1999
USA Today has just published a second, excellent investigative article about the baaaaaaad practices that exist within the federally funded school lunch program. In today's story, the newspaper points out that many schools are getting meat products that are routinely refused by fast food companies. Kids are getting served foods at school that are tainted with pathogens--or of such low quality that they're usually reserved for pet chow. And it effects millions of kids: USDA-purchased meat is donated to almost every school district in the country, and served to 31 million students a day.  But what USA Today fails to point out: Fast food companies have to have better standards than the federal school lunch program, because these are private corporations that face the possibility of multi-million dollar lawsuits for poisoning or killing children with tainted food. No one has successfully sued the USDA for handing out foods that make children ill. The USDA has a free pass from that standpoint.

The 2009 Obama Foodie Holiday Gift Guide

An Obama-centric gift guide...from seeds used in the White House Kitchen Garden to favorite cookbooks to the Sam Kass Calendar...fun gifts that won't break your budget
'Tis the season to Reflect, Rejoice, and Renew, so herewith, the official Obama Holiday Foodie Gift Guide for 2009, which will help you do all three as we approach the end of the first year of what's been a history-making presidency--in food, and in every other area. From cookbooks through community service, there are twelve kinds of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama food-centric gifts for the twelve days of Christmas, and every item on this unique list is under $80--and some are just $2.50. That makes it easy to indulge all those people in your life who are that winning combination of Obama-ites and Foodies. Happy Holidays, whatever holiday you celebrate!


1. Seeds That Are Used In The White House Kitchen Garden. Mrs. Obama's world famous South Lawn edible garden has a special bed in honor of President Thomas Jefferson, and it's been growing all kinds of vegetables that Jefferson himself cultivated in his own huge kitchen garden at Monticello, his plantation home in Virginia. Jefferson varietals planted at the White House include Tennis Ball Lettuce, Brown Dutch Lettuce, Prickly Seeded Spinach, Arugula, Florence Fennel, Scarlet Runner Beans, Caseknife Pole Beans, and Whippoorwill Cowpeas (also known as crowder peas), and these are all still available at the Monticello online store. At $2.50 per seed packet, these are a bargain. Go here for the online, alphabetized seed catalog; all proceeds benefit the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

Marcus Samuelsson Weighs In On The State Dinner Crashers...And He's Hosting Crash-Free Replica State Dinners In Chicago And New York

In an unprecedented move, the White House gives Chef Marcus Samuelsson a free pass to hold replica State Dinners at two of his restaurants...New York's Riingo and Chicago's C-House
Marcus Samelsson, guest chef for the Nov. 24 State Dinner at the White House, says he's been asked about Dinner Crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi "about a thousand times" since the event. Of course when the crash was actually happening, Samuelsson was in the White House kitchen overseeing the dinner that received lauds from all present--including President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as the guest of honor, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Samuelsson found out that his history-making dinner had made a different kind of history at the same time as the rest of the world. (Above: Samuelsson prepping in the White House kitchen for the State Dinner)

"It's a weird thing," Samuelsson said about the Dinner Crashers, during a recent chat with Ob Fo. "I wouldn't show up to my neighbor's house unannounced. I don't know how you can even think about doing that at the White House."

The White House Kitchen Garden, Ready For Winter--And Just In Time For Snow -- UPDATED

Hooping it up at the White House, so the Kitchen Garden continues to grow...about 1,000 pounds of crops to date *Dec. 16: UPDATE at bottom of post
First Lady Michelle Obama made international headlines when she hula hooped on the South Lawn of the White House in October, but now there's a different kind of South Lawn hooping going on. White House gardeners, led by chief horticulturalist Jim Adams, installed what are known as "hoop houses" in Mrs. Obama's White House Kitchen Garden last week, in order to ensure that crops can be grown through the winter. Fabric-covered aluminum hoops have been placed over the crop rows and these capture passive solar energy and boost the interior temperature dramatically, so the garden soil and air is warmed, and crops can flourish--even in winter. Hoop Houses are often tall enough to walk through, but the White House is using mini versions, about two feet tall, which some farmers and gardeners refer to as "low tunnels" or just simply "row covers." (Photo at top: The Kitchen Garden with the hoop houses, right before a weekend snowfall. Small photo is the First Lady, doing her own hooping)

White House Holiday Party For Congress -- With The Menu

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are hosting a holiday party on the State Floor at the White House this evening for members of Congress. It's the fifth of 17 holiday parties that'll be held at the White House in the next few weeks. The State Floor is looking pretty traditionally Christmas-y (this is the "Cross Hall"), with two huge Christmas trees front and center, and garlands of greens and red bows laced around light fixtures. The event is closed press, since the Egg Nog will be flowin' and lawd forbid anyone gets caught chatting off the record...but perhaps someone will pop a Santa hat on Abe Lincoln.

On the menu: Prime Rib, Turkey with stuffing, Crab Legs, fresh vegetables, baby potatoes.

On the desert buffet menu: Lemon Layer Cake, Brownies, assorted Cookies, Pecan Pralines, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Truffles.

*Related: The White House holiday party for television and radio journalists is here. The holiday party for television and radio journalists is here. The White house Hanukkah party is here. The White House holiday party for Congress also featured a GOP lawmaker phone camming his Acorn-shaped cookies and sending the photos to Fox News.

*Photo by Obama Foodorama

Copenhagen Begins.

Greenpeace is running the ad, above, all around Copenhagen, as the UN Climate Change Conference begins. The White House announced last week that President Obama will arrive at the Copenhagen summit for the final day, on Dec. 18, considered a crucial period when more international leaders will be in attendance, as opposed to his previously scheduled stop in Denmark this Wednesday on his way to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Climate protesters have been outside the White House for the last week, urging the President to take action.

In DC, climate change and agriculture is a much-discussed topic, when health care reform isn't taking up all the air on The Hill. A good recap of the issues is here.

President Obama Hosts White House Reception For Kennedy Center Honorees

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a reception this evening in the East Room for the 2009 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. The five honorees in the photo, above, are (from left) comedian/film director Mel Brooks, pianist/composer Dave Brubeck, opera pathbreaker Grace Bumbry, actor/director/restaurateur Robert DeNiro, and singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen. The group was gathered for the taping of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors tribute program, which took place at the Kennedy Center, and which will air on December 29th.

"On a day like this I remember, I'm the president, but he's the Boss," President Obama told the audience of 300 guests, as he paid tribute to Bruce Springsteen.

StateGate Update: Lynn Sweet, In Defense of Desiree Rogers

The resident Obama expert at the White House weighs in on "the sport of ruining people"
Flotus Daily writer and Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief Lynn Sweet has been following President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama exclusively for almost three years, since Mr. Obama was Candidate Obama. Sweet doesn't hesitate to send criticism Obamaward when she believes it's due, but Sweet has just posted one of the few in-defense-of-Desiree Rogers columns to appear in mainstream media. (Photo: Rogers at the State Dinner)

Sweet maintains that Rogers does not deserve to have her entire professional reputation on the line because of the security breach at the State Dinner, and notes that Rogers has managed about 170 events at the White House since Jan. 21, without a single problem: Bill signings, the 2009 Easter Egg Roll, St. Patrick's Day and Halloween parties, a breast cancer awareness event, the White House music series, and a high-profile dinner for the nation's governors. Rogers has also been crucial to including students from area schools in most of these events, something that has transformed the White House. (Rogers, above)

On the ongoing character attacks on Rogers, Sweet notes:

The events that have unfolded in the past few days, and the attacks on Rogers, reminded me of a line in the 1993 suicide note left by Vincent Foster, the deputy counsel in the Clinton White House, who observed that in Washington, "ruining people is considered sport."

The Saturday Night Live State Dinner Crash Spoof

More Unbearable Lightness of TV-ing, courtesy of the gang at SNL...
In the skit, the "President" speaks at The White House to Main Street event in Allentown, and gets "crashed" once again by Tareq and Michaele Salahi...and the Secret Service gets skewered...

StateGate Update: Rogers's Privileged Lunch, A BizBash Story That's Causing Problems; Maureen Dowd Weighs In Again

An old Rogers interview about White House crashers causes new trouble...and Maureen Dowd calls Rogers "an entitled and insulated swan"...
It's unlikely that any of the telephoto lens gang who regularly hang around the White House would've bothered to snap this photo of Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, before the State Dinner Crash became a national obsession. Rogers was shot Friday by a Reuters pool photographer, while she was carrying a tray of lunch across White House grounds.

State Dinner Guest Chef Marcus Samuelsson, On & Off The Record

The White House got an "official" photo of the State Dinner Crashers, but not one of the esteemed guest chef who created the menu. Are TV stars--and wannabe TV stars--the only ones who rate official photos?
During the State Dinner for India, no media was allowed in the White House kitchen for a peek at the historic goings on, even though it was the very first State Dinner of the Obama presidency, and the very first time in White House history that a guest chef--the wonderful Marcus Samuelsson--had been invited to create a menu for a State Dinner. Your intrepid blogger was on the White House campus the entire day, but didn't lay eyes on Samuelsson even for a second. Nor did any other journalists.* (Above: Samuelsson in the White House kitchen cooking the State Dinner)

President Obama Goes From The White House To Main Street To Hamilton Family Restaurant...For A Cheeseburger

Saving and creating cheeseburgers...
President Obama visited the Hamilton Family ("Ham Fam") Restaurant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, today, after giving a speech at Lehigh Carbon Community College. It was the first stop on his White House to Main Street Tour, in which the President will bring his thoughts on the economy and jobs directly to The People. New unemployment stats came out this morning, and these were better than expected, so POTUS celebrated with a cheeseburger at Ham Fam (lettuce, pickle, mustard, hot sauce, cheddar cheese). He was joined by Allentown Mayor Ed Pawloswki and other local notables. AP got the shot above, while the President's own photograher, Pete Souza, posted an "official" photo on the White House website of other restaurant goers watching the President dine (above). It has to be noted, again, that taking official photos of the President that don't actually have the President in them is a bit like taking a photo of the cast of Twilight without the vampires present...

The State Dinner Crash & The Birthers...Of Course

It's unclear who made this bit of State Dinner satire...but it was bound to happen.The comic was sent in by the charming Saul M. of Milwaukee, a devoted Ob Fo reader (thanks Saul!). Saul found it at the website I Hate The Media...and they're looking for the creator, too. The photo is the official White House photo of the State Dinner crash in action, snapped by WH photog Samantha Appleton, and then posted--in a weird stab at transparency--on the official White House Flickr. Oddly, yesterday Sarah Palin raised the spectre of Birtherism again, and told radio show host Rusty Humphries that everything having to do with President Obama's birth certificate is "a fair question to ask."

First Lady Reads Foodie Christmas Book At National Christmas Tree Lighting

It's been two weeks of holiday firsts for the Obamas, and tonight the entire First Family was on the National Mall to light their very first National Christmas Tree. Of course they put the Obama stamp on the proceedings, and threw in a pitch for literacy. Natch, First Lady Michelle Obama chose the foodiest Christmas book possible to read at the fun little ceremony. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore is loaded with food imagery: "Visions of sugar plums danced in their heads..." "..his nose like a cherry..." "...his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry...."a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly..."

The kids loved it. The First Family jointly pushed the button to light the tree, and voila! It was officially Christmas in America. 'Twas the Night before Christmas can now be added to the list of Obama Foodie Kids Books.

Related: Mrs. Obama debuts the White House holiday decorations here. Mrs. Obama receives the White House Christmas tree here.

House Holds Hearing On State Dinner Crash; Gibbs Invokes Executive Privilege; White House Changes Visitor Policy

White House invokes Executive Privilege to keep Social Secretary Rogers from testifying; Secret Service puts agents on leave; White House announces policy changes for all social events... VIDEO below
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers was not present at today's House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the State Dinner Crash, nor were crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi. The lone witness to receive the excoriating questions from the shocked Members of the House about the stunning security breach last Tuesday was Mark Sullivan, director of the Secret Service. At the dinner in honor of the Prime Minister of India, the Salahis managed to go through three different Secret Service check points and gain entrance to the White House despite not having an invitation. Once inside, the couple were photographed with the President--as well as Vice President Joe Biden, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and other guests. They roamed the White House grounds, and actually made it inside the dinner tent. It's still unclear if they actually sat and ate dinner, or left before guests were seated. (Sullivan, at the hearing today)

At the hearing, the exchanges with Sullivan were heated. Committee members tried every angle of questioning to try to get Sullivan to admit fault, as well as to indict Rogers and White House Social Office staff (Rogers, in photo). Sullivan did admit fault; he maintained that the security breach was a breakdown in Secret Service protocol.

In a hearing filled with weird moments--including House Members holding up poster-size photos of the Salahis at the State Dinner--Sullivan admitted that he'd found out about the Dinner Crash via Facebook--and the media.

After long questioning, Sullivan finally admitted that a member of the Social Office helping to verify IDs and check invitations at security stops on the night of the State Dinner would have helped prevent any uninvited guests from entering the dinner. But this was not enough for some House Members.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) was among those who thought that Rogers should be thrown under the bus, and take blame for the security breach.

"We expect Secret Service to take a bullet for the President," Rep. Dent said. "We don't expect them to take a bullet for the president's staff."

White House Birthday Party: Larry Summers

President Obama celebrated Larry Summer's 55th birthday with a cake in the Oval Office on November 30. Summers is the Director of the National Economic council...and the cake, carried by a White House valet, looks appropriately...small. Maybe next year it'll be...bigger. The photo was taken by President Obama's official photog, Pete Souza, who's getting better and better at snapping presidential foodie shots. However, it was Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's fiftieth birthday on Sunday, and Souza hasn't posted any photos from the White House celebration. The cake for Summers is a fun departure from the White House cupcake habit.

The White House Gingerbread House: Beehive Honey Used, A Kitchen Garden, A Shadow Box...and Bo! UPDATED WITH VIDEO

UPDATE Dec. 22: VIDEO Below
The traditional holiday White House Gingerbread House has some very Obama elements...
White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses has been as busy as an elf in Santa's workshop--for months. In addition to a loaded schedule that includes making the thousands of sweets for all the White House holiday events (17 parties, 11 Open Houses)--and for private Obama family consumption--Yosses has also had a whole architecture project going on for the past six weeks, during the creation of the annual White House Gingerbread House, a holiday tradition that in the past was brought to stunning heights of creativity by former White House Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier, the only chef to last for 26 years in the Executive Mansion. (Above, the 2009 White House Gingerbread House). Yosses's latest version, debuted today at First Lady Michelle Obama's Holiday Decorations Preview, can hold its own with past holiday gingerbread extravaganzas. And it was a big team effort, according to Yosses, something of a pet project for White House staff.

"We had everyone working on this," Yosses noted at the press preview. "Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, lots of staff." (Yosses, above, speaking with the media)

And, according to Yosses, Malia and Sasha Obama also came in to check on holiday house progress, and loved what they saw. The incredibly detailed, 390-lb white chocolate- covered gingerbread house (250 pounds of chocolate and 140 of gingerbread), at 56 X 29 inches, is based on White House architect James Hoban's original design, but cheats a little: Windows are missing from the South Portico, so it doesn't have the dramatic "bow" effect of the real South Portico, and the doors at the base of the Portico are straight on top, rather than arched. The balconies for both levels are not true to scale, either; these are where the President speaks during big events on the South Lawn. That's quibbling--the house is a masterpiece. Mrs. Obama referred to Yosses as "brilliant" in her holiday remarks. (Yosses and the GB White House, above)

A video of the creation:


Yosses became Exec Pastry Chef in 2006, and this year's White House Gingerbread House is his third. Last year's, for former First Lady Laura Bush, was also a white chocolate-covered house, with a view of the North Portico, and featured a marzipan fife & drum corps. The Obama version contains some personalized Obama elements: A marzipan replica of the White House Kitchen Garden, and an over-sized Bo the First Dog sitting at the bottom of the South Portico stairs. The south wall of the State Dining room has been removed, so there's a shadow box view into the room. And yes, White House Beehive honey was used to bake the gingerbread. That honey has now been used in a lot of projects; most recently, Yosses used it for the desserts for the State Dinner, and in the thousands of cookies that were handed out on Halloween to Trick or Treaters. The White House bees are now asleep for the winter, and Yosses estimates that there are about 70 pounds of honey left, down from the original 134 pounds.