On November 24th 2009 President Barack Obama  hosted the first state dinner since his inauguration in honor of Dr. Manmohan Singh the honorable Prime Minister of India and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur.  State dinners honoring foreign head of states are huge events and are attended by members of the top echelon of the society. The official White House fact sheet says: The first State Dinner for a foreign head of state was held by President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant on December 12 1874 for King David Kalakaua of Hawaii. Since that first dinner many traditions have been added to State and Official Visits – yet the common theme of forging friendships exchanging knowledge and building bridges that last for years to come remain unchanged. As the world’s two largest democracies India and the United States share common ideals and strengths and the United States and India are working together to address a number of global challenges of the 21st Century—from security to the economy to climate change to the health and education of our people. Previous State Dinners at the White House in honor of India include those hosted by the following Presidents and First Ladies: • President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush in 2005 • President William J. Clinton and Mrs. Hillary Clinton in 2000 • President Ronald Reagan and Mrs. Nancy Reagan in 1985 and 1982 • President Lyndon B. Johnson and Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson in 1966 • President John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy in 1963 The state dinner for Dr. Singh was held held under a tent on the South Lawn of the White House. The décor reflected the Obamas’ dedication to green and sustainable elements and  featured a garden theme. Tables will be covered in apple green linens.  Deep purple flower arrangements at each table pay homage to the state bird of India the Indian Peacock. The centerpiece bouquets were composed of flowers that are evocative of the classic American garden: hydrangea garden roses and sweet peas in a rich palette of deep plum purple and fuchsia. Arrangements of magnolia branches will surround the walls of the tent.  Magnolias are native to both India and the United States. The magnolia ivy and nandina foliage used for the occasion were locally grown and sustainably harvested. The tables were set with the following china from the White House’s historic collection. Service Plates - Eisenhower :  Porcelain 1955 New Castle Pennsylvania Castleton China Inc. U.S. Government purchase 1955. Service Plates - Clinton State China Service :  China 2000 Trenton New Jersey Lenox Inc. Gift of the White House Historical Association 2000. Commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the White House. Dinner Plates - George W. Bush State China Service :  China 2008-2009 Kinston North Carolina Lenox Inc. Gift of the White House Acquisition Trust 2009. The dinner was prepared by the award winning guest chef Marcus Samuelsson.  Mrs. Obama worked with Guest Chef Marcus Samuelsson and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and her team to create a menu that reflects the best of American cuisine continues this White House’s commitment to serving fresh sustainable and regional food and honors the culinary excellence and flavors that are present in Indian cuisine. Herbs and lettuces were harvested from the White House Kitchen Garden. White House Executive Pastry Chef William Yosses and his team created the desserts. The pears were poached in honey from the White House Beehive. Desserts were garnished with mint and lemon verbena grown in the White House Kitchen Garden.  I have attached the dinner menu at the bottom of this article. The dinner entertainment included two Academy Award winning musicians Jennifer Hudson and our own A.R. Rehman. The other performers included eight time Grammy nominee Kurt Elling the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch and the United States Marine Band. The star studded guest list included celebrities like Steven Spielberg Blair Underwood M. Knight Shyamalan Dr. Sanjay Gupta Kal Penn Bobby Jindal and many others. State Dinner Menu Photo Courtsey: AFP and AP Share this article Close   Bookmark and Share This Page Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo Email This to a Friend Copy HTML:  input readonly  readonly onclick  this.select  type  text value  The Green State Dinner size  84 title  Copy this HTML to create a link to this page /   If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed . 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Dinner+http://nynjbengali.com/archives/443 https://favorites.live.com/quickadd.aspx?mkt=en-us&amp;url=http://nynjbengali.com/archives/443&amp;title=The Green State Dinner http://bookmarks.yahoo.com/toolbar/savebm?opener=tb&amp;u=http://nynjbengali.com/archives/443&amp;t=The Green State Dinner http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailFlare?itemTitle=The Green State Dinner&amp;uri=http://nynjbengali.com/archives/443&amp;loc=en_US http://nynjbengali.com/archives/443#bookmarkify Dr. Manmohan Singh and Pres. Obama at the White House state dinner. The White House State Dinner in Honor of Dr. Manmohan Singh. [Ask] [blinklist] [Bloglines] [BlogMarks] [Blogsvine] [del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [LinkedIn] [Mister Wong] [Mixx] [Reddit] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] Dr. Manmohan Singh and Pres. Obama. The White House State Dinner in Honor of Dr. Manmohan Singh. View State Dinner Menu on Scribd View State Dinner Menu on Scribd Use these links to share this page with others Save to Ask Save to backflip Save to blinklist Save to BlogBookmark Save to Bloglines Save to BlogMarks Save to Blogsvine BuddyMark It Save to BUMPzee! Save to CiteULike Save to co.mments.com Save to Connotea Save to del.icio.us Digg It! Save to diigo Save to DotNetKicks Save to DropJack Save to dzone Save to Facebook FarkIt! Save to Faves Save to Feed Me Links Save to Friendsite Save to folkd.com Save to Furl Save to Google Bookmarks Save to Hugg Spot It! 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