Table settings are shown during a preview in the State Dining Room of White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015, for the state dinner of the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. It will be Colorado lamb on the menu and Grammy-winning R&B singer Ne-Yo as the entertainment, when President Barack Obama welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House for a state dinner on Friday. [Photo / Aagencies] |
US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a state dinner for their much-anticipated guests of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan following an official Xi-Obama summit slated on Friday.
With what the White House is going to entertaining visiting Xi and China's first lady? Xinhua will take you to a close-up look.
The state dinner, to be held in the East Room of the White House, starts with a wild mushroom soup, hinted by black truffle and the aromatic traditional Chinese Shaoxing Wine, according to an official menu for the Chinese guests.
The fish course pairs a butter poached Maine lobster with spinach, shiitake mushroom, and leeks, with Penner-Ash's 2014 Viognier from Oregon.
With Pride Mountain's 2012 Merlot, the main course showcases a grilled cannon of Colorado lamb with garlic fried milk and baby broccoli.
The dessert course is made up of poppyseed bread and butter pudding with Meyer lemon curd and lychee sorbet, along with Schramsberg Cremant Demi-Sec 2011.
What's more, a dessert display named "A Stroll Through the Garden" are to be served to welcome the Chinese friends coming afar.
The dish is composed of a Chinese-styled handmade chocolate pavilion and bridge decorated by sugar roses and white flowers that symbolize good fortune, with a selection of miniature pastries including pumpkin mooncakes, peanut sesame bars, mango kiwi cups, maple chocolates, and apple cider tarts, in a show of combination of Chinese and American cuisine.
Jointly created by White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford and White House Executive Pastry Chef Susie Morrison, the state dinner menu is said to have been inspired by the harvest of the late summer and fall as well as Chinese and American culinary traditions.
Upon entering the dinner, guests will be entertained by the Sphinx Organization String Quartet from Michigan, while the White House will also host a state dinner performance featuring selections by Grammy winner NE-YO following the evening gathering.
Xi began his first state visit to the United States Tuesday after he became Chinese head of state in 2013, a landmark trip aimed at building up trust and stepping up cooperation between the world's two biggest economies.