Vice President Biden, Secretary Clinton Host Luncheon For China's Vice President Xi Jinping

State Department fete for 200 guests: The toasts, Chef Ming Tasai's menu, and the guest list...
Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton co-hosted a luncheon at the State Department on Wednesday for Vice President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China. The visit from China's next president is the second of the planned reciprocal visits between the Vice Presidents announced by President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao during President Hu’s State Visit to Washington in 2011; Biden visited China last August. About 200 guests were invited to toast US-China relations in the State Department's ornate Benjamin Franklin Dining Room, decorated in reds and pinks in honor of both Valentine's Day and the Year of the Dragon. (Above: The two Vice Presidents; Dr. Henry Kissinger is at left)

“I hope we can match the extraordinary hospitality that the vice president showed me for four days in August,” Biden said. “The U.S. and china have much to do together…our relationship is literally going to help shape the 21st century."

2012 marks the 4oth anniversary of President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China, and Nixon's Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger, was seated with the two Vice Presidents and Secretary Clinton at the Head Table. The three-course menu was created by acclaimed Chinese American chef Ming Tsai, executive chef and owner of Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, MA, and featured Alasakan Butterfish. Iron Horse Year of the Dragon Chinese Cuvée from California was served for the toasts. (Above: The Secretary and Vice Presidents toast)

Guests began their arrivals shortly after 12:37, and were entertained by a string quartet. Invitees included Chevron Chairman and CEO John Watson, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, Georgetown President John DeGioia, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, former Senator Chris Dodd chair of the Motion Picture Association of America, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, NBC's Andrea Mitchell and her husband Alan Greenspan, US Sens. John Kerry, Max Baucus, Dianne Feinstein, Lindsey Graham, Carl Levin, Daniel Akaka, and John Kerry, and members of the Chinese delegation. The other guests were leaders in foreign policy, academia and business, cultural and media figures, and Administration officials, according to the Vice President's office.



Xi, 58, first visited the US in 1985 as a communist party agricultural official on an exchange program, and stayed in Iowa. He will visit there later this week, and continue on to Los Angeles, accompanied by Biden, where they will be hosted by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. On Wednesday afternoon, Xi visited the Pentagon and attended a meeting with Biden at the US Chamber of Commerce. In the evening, the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden hosted a dinner for Xi at the Naval Observatory, also attended by Secretary Clinton, top Administration officials, and the Chinese Delegation.

For the luncheon, the eighteen tables, in addition to to the head table, were decorated in hot pink, red and gold hues. Each table had a center bouquet of red and pink roses and/or tulips, and three tall glass vases, each with a floating red candle. The wine and water glasses were rimmed with gold, and the menu at each plate was embossed with a gold eagle and a wax seal.

Luncheon Menu in Honor of Vice President Xi

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup
with a Crispy Duck Confit Roulade and Micro Greens

Soy Marinated Alaskan Butterfish
with black garlic sauce
Eight Treasured Rice Packet
with dried fruit and pork sausage
Gingered Swiss Chard

Flourless Bittersweet Chocolate Cake
with Cardamom Ice Cream

Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay 2008 was served during the lunch. The Iron Horse vineyard, located in northern California's Green Valley, has had its sparkling wines served at the White House during the past five Administrations, beginning with the historic Reagan-Gorbachev Summit Meetings. Vineyard co-owner Joy Sterling attended the luncheon. (Above: Xi's placesetting)

The Head Table...
Seated in the center of the head table: Vice President Xi on the left and Vice President Biden on the right. Seated to Xi's left was Kissinger, Friedman, and Watson. To the right of Biden: Iger, China's Minister of Agriculture Changfu Han, and Katzenberg. On the left end of the table: Sen. Graham, on the right side of the table: Sen. Baucus, Democrat from Montana and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Seated on the other side of the table from Biden and Xi from left to right were: Mitchell, Blankfein, Secretary Clinton, China's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jiechi Yang, Sen. Kerry, Kent and DeGioia.

Chef Ming Tsai's bio, provided by the Vice President's office:
Ming Tsai, a Chinese-American, was raised in Ohio where he grew up cooking alongside his mother and father at their family-owned restaurant. (Above: Ming at the luncheon with Joy Sterling)

After graduating from Yale University, Ming trained and worked in kitchens around the globe. In 1998, he opened the critically-acclaimed restaurant Blue Ginger in Wellesley, MA and went on to receive a James Beard Foundation Award. He also received an Emmy Award for the Food Network show he hosted, East Meets West with Ming Tsai and has authored four cookbooks. He is currently the host and executive producer of Simply Ming, an Emmy-nominated cooking show, is proud to serve as the national spokesperson for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, and is a founding member of Chefs For Humanity.

*Top photo by David Lienemann/White House; others courtesy of Joy Sterling

Denied: President Obama's Statement On Keystone XL Pipeline

Citing a possible risk to "the health and safety of the American people and the environment," President Obama today issued a statement on TransCanada's Keystone XL Pipeline, following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's decision to deny the pending application. Calling the Feb. 21, 2012 decision date mandated by Congressional Republicans and tacked onto the pay roll tax cut a "rushed and arbitrary deadline," the President said he agrees with the decision. He added that he is "disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision."

The $7 billion oil pipeline would have linked the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. The State Department, which has the authority to approve or reject proposals that cross international boundaries, indicated last November that it would reject the application for the 1,700-mile pipeline, which would go through six US states.

The President's full statement:

Earlier today, I received the Secretary of State’s recommendation on the pending application for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment. As a result, the Secretary of State has recommended that the application be denied. And after reviewing the State Department’s report, I agree.

This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people. I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil.

Under my Administration, domestic oil and natural gas production is up, while imports of foreign oil are down. In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security –including the potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico – even as we set higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and invest in alternatives like biofuels and natural gas. And we will do so in a way that benefits American workers and businesses without risking the health and safety of the American people and the environment.

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White House Holiday Photo Of The Day

Hillary Clinton, Gingerbread Lady...
Once upon a time, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was First Lady of the United States, when her husband Bill Clinton was President, 1993-2001. At the White House every holiday season, the painted portraits of past Presidents and First Ladies are each adorned with decorative elements. Clinton's First Lady portrait this year is gussied up for the season with a slightly askew gingerbread house, nestled in a bed of fir boughs and holly. Unlike the gorgeous 400-pound white chocolate-covered White House Gingerbread House that's on display in the State Dining Room, Clinton's is flat, and the gingerbread is visible through the sugar accents.

Painted by Simmie Knox, Clinton's portrait was formally unveiled in 2004, and hangs in a corridor on the ground floor of the White House. On the side table in the painting is Clinton's book published while First Lady, "It Takes A Village," and a plate from the Clinton State China service. The 300 place-setting service, with a pale creamy border and gold accents, was created to commemorate the bicentennial of the White House, which the Clintons celebrated during their residency. It is the only White House china service that features architectural images of the White House in the center of the plates rather than the Presidential seal.

*Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama