>> in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress , the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider . >> former white house executive pastry chef talk to attendees at the white house historical association site summit in washington d.c. he was introduced by the social secretary good afternoon . >> hello everybody. i've been coming around saying hi to you, if i get up to the stage i need a round of

applause. [ applause ] >> the reason is, i have creamed my foot and this is my first outing in the first walking up the and only for of roland mesnier a would i make it up on the stage. we are delighted and we look forward to many partnerships when this sumner -- summit is over. anytime this week, stop by our shop and buy, buy, buy. [ laughter ] you knew i would have to say that. there's a pop up when outside where we are eating a full-line store across pennsylvania avenue and the white house visitor center and another store at 1610 eighth street. stop by any of them.

show your summit id and receive a 10% discount. now, the real reason i'm here. i had the great pleasure of working with our next guest speaker, chef roland mesnier for the first five years of the clinton administration. i was the white house social secretary and he was the executive pastry chef. i still hold him responsible for the weight that i put on while working there. >> i mean it. it was about 10 pounds, because i used to sneak over there every day. he is a world-renowned pastry chef and author who has held important positions in the most prestigious hotels. the savoy in london, greenbrier in west virginia and in paris. he served five extraordinary presidents, jimmy carter, ronald reagan, george hw bush,

bill clinton and he deserves a round of applause. [ applause ] >> too many of us he was also a very good friend and trusted colleague and here is where i got in trouble, he was always ready with a cookie, a truffle, a piece of cake or a sliver of pie, no matter what else was going on in the white house that week. when it comes to creativity, while i may be a little bit biased but few match roland mesnier in that department. everyone from local tours to global heads of state have marveled at his one-of-a-kind creations. his holiday gingerbread houses were consistently amazing, whether models on the presidents boyhood home, the first ladies or even fox the cat.

when president and mrs. clinton hosted their first state dinner for their majesties, emperor and empress of japan, roland was ready, he did his research taking in --'s inspiration from the japanese cherry trees and created what he called simply, cherry sorbet. but believe me, this dessert was anything but simple. picture a foot tall handblown sugar cherry with white almond ice cream, california bing cherries and yes, cherry sorbet , nestled inside. a chocolate basket with bamboo handles and hand-painted cookie , marzipan cookies, made to look like sushi, completed the masterpiece. it was a work of art. her majesty was so enraptured that she asked me roland and

congratulate him personally. i was scared to death because i thought something was wrong when she called people over but she just wanted to say congratulations on the beautiful desert. she was far from his last admirer, my mouth is still watering, thinking about the beautiful clever and always delicious concoctions this man created. please join me in welcoming my friend and chef extraordinaire, him comparable, roland mesnier . [ applause ] >>

>> does this thing go down a little bit? no? i'm just a pastry chef. yes, the papers fly everywhere, i don't know . >> good morning everyone.

welcome to the beautiful capital city of washington d.c., of course. and this beautiful hotel. yes, my name is roland mesnier and i was the executive pastry chef at the white house for 26 years. i served proudly five presidents. you know, to get into the white house everybody wants to work at the white house until they get the job. [ laughter ] then they don't know what they'd are supposed to do with it, i mean it that's the truth. you have to understand how this job is very scary because of the people you are serving. you no longer serving just anybody in a restaurant, you are serving people that have achieved great things in life,

so you better be on the same level with your food. i also served numerous emperors, kings, heads of state, all during my tenure. but when i started at the white house, i was already in that line of work for 20 years, learning under the best chef available in paris france, in germany and especially the hotel i mentioned , because that particular hotel used to be known as the number one hotel in the world. it still exists today but i think it lost a little to the years because it's now part of a chain. in those days, the savoy was owned by family, big difference. the customers that i guess that

we were feeding at the savoy in those days, just to give you a short list, we had a lot of people from hollywood, of course, frank sinatra, gregory peck, we also had the royal family all the time, i served the queen of england, long time ago for the first time in many, many more after that. we also had like, liz taylor, charleston heston, james cagney, and then we had jackie kennedy that would come for dinner, but at the time she was in a kennedy anymore, she wasn't married anymore because she was still jackie kennedy but not married, the president had already passed away. her husband

later would have dinner at the hotel at that time with his girlfriend at the time, the opera singer. this was the caliber of people that we fed every day at the savoy. we had a customer that was a billionaire and this man, when he came he always said reserve a big roundtable and he expected that every time, the end of the meal to receive an enormous plate -- silver tray filled with homemade chocolates and cookies and all that. he expected it. he did not order it. when that tray came to his table, what he did, one kind of cookie needed to be there all the time on that tray, was kind of a bent cookie, and it was so delicate,

he would pick one up and drop it on the table, and the table at the savoy were heavily padded , and the cookie had to shatter into 1000 pieces. if the cookie didn't break that he would call the butler and they take this garbage out of here, i don't want it, it's not any good. he didn't even taste it. so, you know, the pressure was on. and, in the center of this big silver tray, there was always a beautiful pulled in blown sugar to play -- display are always, always. just to give you a little taste of what the savoy was. it was an exceptional place to work and i learned so much there in this special place. after that, i worked -- i was the pastry chef for the princess

in bermuda and was also the pastry chef for the governor's palace in bermuda. the princess was then owned by the richest man in the world, his name was mr. dkv quick and he had taken the boat to the united states and many other businesses and he was a real businessman, let me tell you. he had a hotel in acapulco, called the acapulco princess, the first hotel shaped like a pyramid. when i was doing this, we also had a business millionaire that died at the hotel. we had to feed him, i had his name here somewhere, but my papers got rearranged. what was his name?

o, walt hughes. remember walt hughes? he had the total top floor of the hotel, and we fed him, he didn't want to see anybody. we fed him under the door, every plate of food needed to fit under the door, every window was boarded up, that was the end of the life of this man. so, you know, all sorts of crazy things were hard for him to live with, really. then, after that i came back to france for a while, i was pastry chef at the george sachs hotel which was privately owned, family owned, and then i worked in the three star restaurant also in paris. i was back in bermuda by popular demand. the homestead hotel was my next

job where i spent five years and this is where my family and i started our lives in the united states. i was also a consultant to the greenbrier hotel for six years. so, those were very significant places, jobs where quality needed to be, not just anyone could work there and say i will be the pastry chef tomorrow, no, no, no, you needed to be really experienced in many, many ways. by the way, after my speech i will take some questions if you need clarification. >> then, in 1979, mrs. jocelyn carter spoiled the job for me. i was happy at the homestead and some of her staff were coming to the homestead regularly and saw my work and approached me one day and said, roland, mrs. carter is looking

for a pastry chef, why don't you apply? i said no, i'm happy here, i don't want to go to washington. i understand there's a mental problem in washington and i'm not about to get that disease, so i'm staying away from that place. [ laughter ] so, a few weeks later they came back in the hotel and they started again on me, when are you going to come? i said, oh man, please, i already told you, no interest. they did that a couple times and then, one time, they called me in december 1979, they called me at my house, the white house called my house and said, roland, i'm going to bring an employment sheet and i want you to fill it in, if you don't mind. and, also, mrs. carter wishes for you to come for a tour of the white house. that was a trick. so anyway, i

accept it, and in those days, i drove all the way from virginia to downtown dc to visit the white house. now, i was driving in 1965 dodge dart, avocado green, not the prettiest thing to bring down to dc, let me tell you. but, you know, the nicest thing, in those days they let me drive on pennsylvania avenue, they opened the big ache to drive right in and asked me to park my avocado under the colonnade, is that beautiful or what? i said, i starting to like this place. if i get a job here, i get to park your every day. no, that didn't last that long. well, anyway i took a tour of the white house and he should be on the tour welcoming me? mrs. ursuline carter with open arms, she was so nice.

she called me by my first name and gave me a hug and said come with me, we need to talk. so, she pulled me on the side and with the sosa security, we talked and that's when she asked me if i would take the job for a little bit. so, you cannot say no to the president. you cannot say no to the first lady. i said, madam, yes i will give you five years maybe and then we will see. okay, that's good. so gretchen poston, the social secretary, reminded mrs. carter that i was not an american citizen, i was on a green card. i was legal. green card. so, mrs. carter said to gretchen, she said listen gretchen, i want him and i want

him back, do you understand? [ laughter ] and now. so, don't worry about that. i'll fix it when he comes to the white house. and, sure enough, if you wonder why i love mrs. carter very much, because of what i'm going to tell you next, because, one day, surprise, surprise, i'm working in the white house kitchen and this dude shows up from nowhere, taps me on the shoulder and says get into the car that's outside, there's a black limousine, get in the car. i have no idea where he's taking me and no idea what's going to happen. so he takes me to the train station, to some offices, in an office, where the guy stops to ask me, what about the american government and all the questions and i said man, i don't know nothing. very simple. i don't know nothing. he was getting very irritated with me. he said do you know who the

president is? . i said sure, i see him everyday, his name is jimmy carter. >> he said good, you pass the test . >> i was ready to say, what test, what are you testing me for? and so, after that a he said get back in the car. so they drove me back downtown, not downtown, in alexandria and he said this lady is waiting for me on the doorstep, carrying a bible. i said, who died? [ laughter ]. she said, no, no jokes, there is business here. put your hand on the bible and repeat after me. i said sure and i did just that . >> congratulations, you are an american citizen. well, ladies and gentlemen, all of you in america, you leave your house in the morning as a foreigner

and come back in the afternoon as a citizen. his other beautiful country or what? [ applause ] and this is why mrs. carter has been in my heart all of my life. as a matter of fact, i was able to do something very special, not last year for their wedding anniversary, i think, i forgot, if it was 70 or something, they were celebrating at the naval academy and with a friend of mine, we made a reading cake -- a wedding cake, the president did not know and we showed up at dessert time and entered the room with this wedding cake. and those two were so happy. first of all to see me again after so many years, give me a big hug and everything in the president and mrs. carter were in fantastic shape, let me tell you.

they are very honest people, and very nice. i work at the white house, and as a pastry chef, we do a lot of things, not directly because were not allowed to and i'm glad because too many people take advantage of that. we are there to take care of the president and first lady, regardless of the party. let me tell you. to have been able to do that, to present them with this cake it meant so much to me and to them it was very fantastic. they were so happy. i remember when they walked into the room, after working all day, they were working all day and they both went on the dance for for 20 minutes without stopping. i thought this is absolutely

fantastic. so, every president that i served, giving me different stories if you will, true stories, this is what i want to be, to be sure we understand. i do not speak in public to repeat but people told me -- what people told me, unless i lived it, unless it happened to me, i will not repeat it. the same for all my books. i have written seven books, eight books, but i was really on top of things to make sure that what is printed is the truth and the fact. there's many white house books out there, many, and some of them i wouldn't even use them to put it on the bottom of my birdcage. [ laughter ] because it's a lie after lie, they make up stories to be interesting, because they

didn't have anything else to put there. i said, when i start writing books, i told people who bought my books, if you see something in my book that is not correct, you let me know. i want to know. well, i am still waiting and it's been 15 years now. so, just to say, we are doing this story here, this is what the young people will read it, and whatever they read has to be very very actual and very correct. so, that's why this is something i would never, never pass without doing that. you know, as i said, the white house is a very intimidating place. i always had the fear of failing. my first year on the job, most people in the white house thought that i was probably an

arrogant man, because i didn't speak to nobody. that had nothing to do with arrogance, it had to do with failing, because i needed to concentrate like this. you know, talking about that, i am amazed today where we're going here. i hope there are some young people here, let me tell you one thing, this is what i see when i travel and this is also factual. you go to a restaurant or somewhere, you ask a waitress or a waiter for three things, she will have two hung on the last one she will forget it. i am not teasing you. most people will say, i didn't order that, i never mentioned it. >> what is this, oh i'm sorry, oh they're big on sorry, sorry is a cheap word now. sorry, sorry, everybody sorry and nobody is sorry. that bothers me because when i

say i'm sorry i mean it, i really mean it. i was raised and brought up in a very poor family in france, nine children, a very tiny house. we had no electricity and no running water in that house. but, trust me, when we were told to do something, you didn't forget. because, if you did, you never forgot after that, they made sure to put it in your head that you would never forget. today, everything is, oh who cares, enjoy yourself, oh don't worry, you'll never know the difference, just take it to the table. i am not happy in that. i like to spend good money on something, but i also expect something in return. and people are not focusing, not focusing it all, mostly on the job. you know why? hello darling, is that you? did you enjoy last night? okay, goodbye, i can't talk now.

this is enough. you know when i was at the white house, i was a very strict boy. when i hired somebody, i would say, i want you to listen and listen good, because i am only going to say it once. if i have to say that again, you will be taking the door and never coming again. it's up to you. it's your decision. i said you start at eight a clock em-2 work i don't want to rolling with a can of coke in your hand or talk about the other guy, about what you did last night. there's no importance here. here, we work. we are here to produce the best we can and, i need to to have all of your concentration to do that, and if i have to remind you of that, then you're not any good to me. so you decide if you want to stay here or if you want to go, it's very simple. and, you know i have noticed

one thing, that most people work best when someone has set some vigorous line and established guidelines to make sure they are respected. this is enough of this baloney thing to play, now they all dance. i said, great, that will feed the people, the new dancing. you know, we need to dissect, here now, it's a time where you have to be serious and do a job. when that is over, i don't care what you do with your life. you want to dance? go dance. but not in here. and you know, i had a young woman who worked for me a little bit and she was kind of losing hair. i would find hair in the pastry. is it disgusting?

can you imagine if this hair happen to go to the first lady, the president or some guest? so i pull her aside and i say tomorrow morning, i want you to come with a hairnet chef, why? that's going to -- mike 04 is going to be damaged . >> as it if you want me to damage it i can do it right now. >> no, hairnet. she showed up the next day with no hairnet and she, the same day she was going to a competition and she asked me if she could bring a piece of cake to me to taste, to see if it was good enough for the competition. i cut into this cake and was the first thing i pull out of the cake? i said, now you do want a picture of this thing, you know what that is? so, do me a favor, take your tool, go home, don't come back. that was it. that was it, but just to say -- you see today, i could solve,

ladies and gentlemen, in no time , i could solve 50% of your crisis, then you read the paper and you read the crisis, i could put it out there, my wife she can tell you, she's right there, i don't lie to her. i said i know exactly what happened there, i know what happened. but in washington, the remedy to everything is more money. we need more money. you know what? i want to be very honest with you. money stinks. i don't have any money. never had. never will. and i don't care, i'm a happy man, because i do my job the right way. i want to produce the best i can . whatever we put in front of the president and the first lady, i always wanted it to be so well-received, and i always thought, if i can give them a sweet moment with my dessert,

when they go through so much every day and also, the beat up they get every single day. i mean, which president did not get beat up? i don't know. i'm sorry to say, there is something very wrong with this thought, very wrong, very wrong. you know what, most of the time, the thing that i day, months ahead to my wife, two months later, there it is, and i say remember what i told you? there it is. we could've saved two months of headache if they had just come to roland. [ laughter ] but, i'm not bragging about myself, i was just raised a different way. very much a different way. money was not the main object. money usually is what will rot something to the court. as long as you have enough money to live on, what the do

you care? do you need three cars, five cars, six cars x do you drive all of them at the same time, you're a genius somehow. but it's very important to me, and all what i am telling you now, is going into the food business the same. that's why, i never went to school to learn how to bait, i learned with on-the-job training, working in some great hotel for some great chefs. in those chefs, they were just like i described how i was at the white house pike -- house. if you want to stay here, this is what you need to do. but just to give you a couple of lines on what is going on in the food business. have you noticed all of these terms that they use, that most of the chefs don't even know what they mean. they especially use french terms, and they don't know what

they mean, they know nothing about french, they just want to impress you. cuisine coach were -- coutoure, , you know what that is? of that has to do with close . >> then they have a word that is a slaughterhouse. the tuna cassoulet which is just a tuna casserole. i'm sure you watch the turkeys on tv that want to impress you. in america, there is a shortage of cheese, think that would be a revolution like you've ever -- like you've never seen.

have you seen those guys that cook on tv, there is cheesy and absolutely every dish by the sun. they used to be worried about cholesterol, no more, cholesterol is good for you. eggs. don't eat eggs, you're going to die. now eggs are fabulous for you. they're feeding you baloney every day but you are eating it with the biggest spoon you can find. nobody ever stood up and said, excuse me chef, you just said that but i don't think that's correct. i know differently. >> no, no, no, we eat it with a big spoon. now, i can predict to you the restaurant of the future. they're going to weigh you on the way in and wait you on the way out and charge you for the difference. remember when you used to eat and you had a nice table, and a nice flower and silverware that was so shiny. where is it today? today have you seen waiters

when they mean the table? the old wood table, no tablecloth, they come with a wet one and push the garbage on one side, so the table is sticky, you get stuck to the table because of the dirt, but you are, oh my god, -- this is -- you pretend to be somebody that knows this, but you don't. you really don't. what's wrong with the tablecloth? you remember that in france in the old days, every table had table class that were made of paper. do you know when the mill was over -- the meal was over, you asked the waiter for the bill, the guy took his pen and he rode it right on a nap can get he tore the peace and said, there is your bill. then he put a new one, there was a clean tablecloth every time on your table. i mean, have we progressed or not rex no.

we have progress for people that don't care to make an effort. don't care to work. that we protect all the way. but, a professional, and you know to do something great, something good, if it's in food or anything, you know very well it takes hard work, concentration, and you have to dedicate yourself. you know, when i was at the white house, as i said, i don't care who was the president, that didn't mean nothing to me, the only time that i had fun with that, one day, it was during the george w. bush presidency, i said, i'm going to prove that republicans and democrats can have a good time together. so, i created a dessert which is in one of my books, it's an elephant made of brown sugar, no mold, from freehand, and a donkey, blown sugar, sitting on his back, the same elephant,

with the front leg extended and there is a sugar trade there and the dessert on top of that it's a huge dessert. this was all made of blown sugar , donkey or elephant and again got no mold involved, all shaped as you blow. try it someday and come back and tell me what you think. so, anyway, the dessert came in and i said, my gosh, we're going to hear something here, and not a peep in the dining hall, and i said well what is going on? so, the dining room went crazy, the flash was going off, everyone was laughing having a great time. well, one of the guests, got the idea, the bright idea to take his knife at the end and decapitate an elephant.

boom. i don't care because i don't really use that stuff. then, the democrat, the republican, took his knife and boom, decapitated the monkey. and they did that at every single table. remember we had one dessert per table, there must've been 15 or 17, they were having a ball, bang bang bang. they all came back, no head. they like it, they thought i was going to be mad. i said, why should i be mad, i made that for you and i'm glad for once the democrats and republicans can get along together for five minutes. at least five minutes. so, for me that was a huge success. well ladies and gentlemen, i think i need to stop, right? i want to take questions, because they stole all of the timing. i don't know. we take question, okay because

the question, any question you have, remember, i am very knowledgeable about everything, [ laughter ], about many problems, sexual problems, car problems, what is it sexual car or -- [ laughter ] >> my staff, that's a good question. you not going to believe me. you're going to think i'm lying. when i started at the white house, i had zero staff, not even a part-time helper. and, i had no pastry shop, new pastry kitchen. i was in the main kitchen with the cooks in the main kitchen at the white house that would've been about, let's see from this table over there, come here, square, that was about it. now, as a pastry chef, try to work with chocolate, when the chef is browning meat on the stove. impossible to do, okay. so that was very hard.

anyway, i made it work for seven years. seven years like that. and after seven years, i had enough. i went to see mr. gary waters, who was the head usher, a very good man, and i said listen, sir, i cannot continue to work like this. because, with each president, by the way, the work load got stronger and bigger. and i said, i'm not putting a knife under your throat or anything but, if i cannot, if you tell me that i cannot have a pastry kitchen, i will be leaving. i have a job waiting for me. pastry kitchen? yes. you will get it. and i said, i also need a serious raise. my wife can tell you, she never saw me. she never saw me. we have a son, i don't even know when that happened. [ laughter ] i hope you remember.

. it's a joke. [ laughter ] but no, it's true, my wife was disappointed many times. we never did anything, we couldn't do anything, my wife was -- my life was centered at the white house. 12 to 15 hours a day was not uncommon. i would say to her, next week and we will go out to dinner and i would come home and say no, no dinner, i have to go to the white house, the president and the first lady are celebrating something tonight. i could not have done it any other way. it's not possible for me. i would not have enjoyed myself. so, i asked my boss that i said, i also need a serious raise, because i had two jobs, all my life i had two jobs, i was not only at the white house , the executive pastry chef, but i'm the one that catered the first professional pastry program in washington d.c. at

the cuisine academy. i started that. we were producing about 20 chefs per year, because there was no pastry chef in washington. so, i did that for 10 years. so i told mr. gary waters, i said i cannot do that anymore. i cannot do two jobs. i will be finishing at the white house some night at 11 p.m. , after a state dinner and then go home, sleep a couple hours and back to the white house the next day, and then that evening, probably to the school to teach for four or five hours. so, that was a very rough time for me. so, anyway, he said, yes to the pastry kitchen and the raise. and after a while, i was not hearing from him and i said, you haven't come back to me about the money, are you paying me something, because i want to

quit the other job and i can't do that. and he said yes, he said it will be substantial. and it was, he kept his promise . >> he says the white house has defined a spot we can do the pastry chef kitchen. he kept his promise and he was a very good man. so, we did come to that, we have a plan, then there was another usher at the white house , he was also an engineer, so he was good to work with for the equipment and the space and all of that. i have a picture of my equipment, all of my equipment was brought up with the crane in front of the white house. they remove the last window to the right to be able to bring my equipment into the place, it was so small. very tiny. there was one elevator to go up there that was also very tiny and the staircase with a spiral

one, like on the submarines. but it was better than nothing. and it worked for me, it worked very well. and later on, mr. water even gave me an additional home which we turned into the chocolate home at the white house, which we did a lot of chocolate candy and everything. so, everything is possible if you give it time, if your heart is in it. in the white house, i always say, was a place made for me. i love to work there because they let me really produce whatever i wanted to. but, all of my desserts had significance somewhere. you know, like we did -- sometimes, let's say a dessert for italy, i find something special around that town and that would be duplicated in the pastry, of course, maybe to decorate the tray of the pastry and everything.

i mean i did that all of the time, all of the time. and, that's what -- one of the first ladies that was very, very tough, if i would say that she was great, i love to to work for her because she knew what she wanted and that's nancy reagan. trust me, you better do what she ask you to do and do it the right way. and there's nothing wrong there, again, i love to work for people like this, i would rather do that than people who say oh i don't know i'm not too sure, we don't want that. i can remember very quickly, and then i'll take questions, the last one. with mrs. reagan, one day it's noon at the white house, and we were going to have on tuesday, the queen of the netherlands, you know the netherlands is known for beautiful tulips. anyway, i had already shown nancy reagan to

dessert which she says, roland, no. nancy reagan, i studied her very early on, she's an interesting care she was going to give you the zinger her head pooped to the right, and she did that to the reporters on television. when a reporter would ask a question, and i would see nancy going all man you don't know what's coming. [ laughter ] >> i am having a chill in my spine for you man, i feel for you, man, and sure enough, nancy, boom she was great and i left her to death. you know, i say, that i became the pastry chef that i am because of nancy reagan and i mean it. every time. i mean it. because, she was sold on what she wanted and that was it. you better make your research.

so then that time it was sunday at noon and the dinner is going to be tuesday night. she already rejected two desserts, too many things going on in my head at the same time -- she's having lunch at the solarium at the top at the white house, beautiful room in a very long table there and the president was eating at one end and nancy reagan at the other end. they were eating lunch and so when i came with the desert, nancy reagan looked at a dessert and and said, oh man, brace yourself man, and, roland, that's not going to do . she could never tell you why. but that's not going to do. president reagan came to my rescue and said, honey, he was talking to his wife, not to me, [ laughter ], he said honey, leave the chef alone, that's a beautiful dessert. so, nancy reagan looked up to

the president and said, honey, eat your soup, this is not your problem. so he went down and ate his soup. [ laughter ] well, i don't care, that's not my marriage, that's not my thing, although they did have a wonderful marriage, you know that. so then anyway i went down to the kitchen, and you know, one word came to mind, suicide. [ laughter ] i said, if there is a stock pot on the stove boiling hot, i'm probably am going to jump in. because, i don't know -- and i was fairly new at the white house, maybe a year or a year and a half and i said it's going to be a short stay. so, i am really in despair, i mean despair. and, the phone rings, it's mrs. reagan and she says roland , come back to the solarium, i know exactly what i want to do. i said, oh man, i rush upstairs,

thinking she's going to change her mind, and i get there and she says roland, you know what you're going to do, the netherlands is known for their tulip, i want you to make baskets made of sugar, one per table, with a beautiful handle, and on the handle i want you to put four tulips on each handle and i also want the basket to be filled with homemade assorted sorbet and ice cream and fresh fruit. it was in springtime. i said, mrs. reagan, this is beautiful, i do agree, and remember, i was the only pastry man at the white house those days, and i would have to make 15, 16 of those and it's sunday afternoon. so i tell mrs. reagan, i said madam, this is beautiful, but, madam, there's only two days left before the dinner. here comes the challenge, roland, correction,

you have two days and two nights. you know, i still have the chill in my back today, right now as we speak. and i said, yes madam. thank you very much. and i went back to my kitchen and started cooking sugar. so for some of you who don't know what a sugar basket is, it's really all made of sugar, we leave it like a basket, you can, in my book, dessert university, there's a sketch that shows you how to make a sugar basket. then you have to make for tulip baskets so , you can count how many sugar tulips that is, plus i have to make cookies and many many other things. the rest of the business don't stop because of that. so, she said, i have two days and tonight. now, ladies and gentlemen, here is when you know proud is.

because, of course, it did happen and it happened well. and, she got so many compliments and when, on my way home that night, i did not know i had that much strength in me, but i said, this is what encourages, this is what it is when you have passion for some thing got you not going to say oh i don't have time i have to play with the computer, though not possible and by myself, no, i would have felt less than a human being if i had done that. i said, mrs. reagan, yes, it's going to happen and it did happen. it did happen. and there are pictures of those desserts in some of my books. and you know, i was so proud and i said, this is what pride is. you know, you not born with

pride in you, pride is something you cultivate cultivate all the time and this makes you more proud and more proud and this is why i say nancy reagan made me who i am because i said, i want this feeling again. when we do the next dinner, i want to feel that feeling again. and it works for me, and if it will not work this way, i didn't feel good for myself. questions now, anybody questions please call yes young man? >> remember what i said earlier, when someone talks to you, you listen, especially if your waiter or an engineer, it doesn't matter, because you see the engineer that doesn't listen that we see what happens with the dc subway, all right rex [ laughter ] that's why i don't say anymore. >> -- okay next please .

>> the desert that you got the most compliments on? >> i would say that would be the answer of japan. i wanted to create a dessert that nobody knows what it is until they dig into it. there was a big bowl that was supposed to look like an oversized chick, the size of a soccer ball. that ball needed to be cut in half, it's not an easy task, it's very brittle.

these are looking like a bull that's open with cherries, and inside, i placed a round bowl of almond ice cream which is white, follow me here, that's the important thing, in the middle of that there's another bowl made of cherry sorbet which is deep red. now, just picture please, without giving me the right answer i give you the keys. if you dig into the white bull, you see the guest of the white house is the desert for a table of 10.

i wanted to do something that was not just a dessert but it was perfectly hard when you dug inside there was a flag of japan. then after that we served another basket of chocolate, and they were made all different , they were shaped like sushi. sweet and very nice. so just picture the job, and the dinner for japan was pretty big, maybe 200. >> >> at the white house i have no place to work. remember, i have to store this

stuff because the sugar, after you make sugar, if you don't use it it gets sticky, sugar i needed to have enough space, and now it's even larger. and now you have to really plan well that was the ice cream when it comes to the table is to be perfectly soft, so the timing everything has to be worked out. so for me, that was the desert i was most proud of, there were so many components you had to work out . >> the dinner was in the rose garden, so there was humidity outside, so the timing on this was critical . >> yes . >> thank you.

exactly . >> so you know, but for me, the more difficult task i had, the more proud i feel you understand that? you know many people say it's too difficult, i don't know why you bother. why i bother plex for my insides, my feeling. try it someday, to be proud, it feels good., and with the years passing at the white house, i learned to love the first family at the white house, they are all absolutely fantastic. me, the first lady, the president, no problem. and so many times i had conversations and i can assure

you, during all my years in the white house, i have seen every president and first lady cry, i seen them cry and i've seen them laugh. i tell you one thing , it gets right to your heart, because the first family becomes your family. you know, many times, when i first came to the white house, i put guidelines within my head, i said, if the president first lady was attacked, would you put your body to shield them? it's not even a question. it's not even a question i would in a minute. you know this is enough of beating people on the head, complement, tap on the back, i

was 26 years in this position, and i know i would have never, never have the president or first lady having deception on what they expect in their home. my profession was very important to me. all of these television shows, food network, do they know what they're doing? do they know it's a shame what they are doing? do they know they are telling you stuff that is not true, do you know now when they do some sugar on television, do you know what they use flex there's not 1 ounce of sugar, you know what a cough drop is made of?, a product that looks like sugar that you , but has zero sugar can flavor? it is easy to

you don't need to work with it because it it does not get affected by the do you know a they used to stick together, but now they don't stick anymore. >> totally different breed here, okay? every single day, every single show. yes. >> which president or first lady was the most demanding? not in a bad way, just, who had the most ambition? or ideas for you, who had the lead? why did you retire when you did? >> okay, no president or first lady forced me on any type of

situation, but, i decided on the dessert. many look at it, and say, yes or no. and, the first lady was involved, there was more than one person involved there, saying yes or no. okay? so, when i started having that feeling about doing special stuff, do not come and asked me to make a pie. the pie shop is around the corner, not me. you know? it has to be special, special, and many times a desert will go refreshed, you know? not a flag, the flags are too easy, it has to be something else, you know? and then sometimes, there is

another story on that, but, we need to do that. yes? yes. samples the first lady will sample, and, coming around and look, everybody -- >> -- and gained 10 pounds? >> [ laughter ] i did not finish the last question over there, which was?>> why did you retire? >> i was already going downhill, physically. you know? 16 hour days catch up with you, and i was really really really in bad shape, and one day i sat down with my wife and i said listen we need to decide on a date, i need to stop this. i cannot do that anymore. and, because of the style, do not tell me to do simpler things, i cannot do that. so, you know? that is why, yes. i am sorry. there was a question, yes. >> all of those years, did the

sugar ever stood? -- stick? >> no problem with sugars, but the souffli is an interesting one. that happened once, and, not even part of my control. we were doing, a hot souffli. >> which is delicious, the recipe that i used, the dessert could be a low-calorie diet dessert if you will, it is a wonderful recipe. fresh raspberries and everything. we were doing that for a while, i forgot which country. in spring, i put that on a menu. i wanted the hot raspberry souffli at the white house, we made a big souffli like that. because, that is the dessert. so, i tested the recipe,

checked it out, testing, testing, the timing and everything, everything was about timing, and it works beautifully. so, the dinner, i knew what time, okay, egg whites, egg whites, we had egg white at the time. and, you know what? they never came up. i said, man, this is the worst. but, i mean, honestly, the guests are going to comment, because i so fillet that size needs over one hour to bake. -- a souffli takes over an hour to bake at that size at least. and they did it in less than one hour, really, i said okay, we washed everything and started all over, started again, they come out again, now

the clock is ticking and you know the white house? when they come for dessert, you cannot say, i need another 10 minutes. you cannot do that. the only world that they want to hear is speed up, so, we were talking eggs again, washing doubles, when i heard, i was watching and walking around the main kitchen with the staff, the chef and the assistant talking about the mayan age that they made on that machine that morning. do you know how many drops of oil it takes to mess up the egg whites? one drop, that is it, forget it, forget it, and they do the mayonnaise, but i did not see it i was not there when they did it, so it all splashed underneath the machine, so when you came with your next thing, you do not see it, you don't

know what it is, so you know? when i heard them talking i said, oh my god, should i burn the house down now? i was very upset, very, they had to tell me, to be careful we made mayonnaise. so, luckily i washed it on to the machine, and there goes the egg whites, meanwhile, i have lost a great deal of time. now, the crumbs, when you have knowledge, and you have experience, you can do that because you have been there before, but, a young kid that just came out of school forget about that. what is he going to do, call 911 over his mother? probably call his mother, you know? no, so, i gave the order to crank up the oven maximum, the stove even, the stove that you cook on, maximum, and those

soufflis were put onto baking pans, directly over the flame, to get a boost, you know? and i was able to save a great deal of time, on those soufflis, and you know what? when they came in for the soufflis, pickup ready, not even one minute delay. not even one. that happens if you have the experience, do not tell me of a guy that just graduated from school, from the country club i call a school, it is a country club not a school, and you know? this is not possible unless you have lived it or unless you were there, it is a different kind of business, you know? okay, yes? >> what is your favorite food to eat? >> american pie. blueberry, apple, i love a good all-american pie, because most

pies are no good. the bottom crust that is not even baked, it is like a noodle. any time that you can find a good pie, okay, are we good? we are going to do, oh, we are going to be selling books, my latest book came out last year, which is the white house in gingerbread, it is a wonderful book, it has many recipes, gingerbread recipe, dessert, recipes, in this book we have fabulous eggnog recipes, the original from the white house, which was messed up later on by another chef, and, no, i am telling you the truth you want to know the truth? i have to call her out, i told you. you know the eggnog every night went down the sink? after the party went down the sink nobody wanted to drink it.

in my time there was never enough eggnog, and i pull that back, >> -- >> i, i see that you have been into it. and it is true what i am saying, but, that was a delicious eggnog. you know? but anyway, the book, i will be signing it, if you purchase. remember, christmas is just around the corner, let me save you some time on your shopping, and another thing, this book, because it is so good, the recipes are so true, and the book is based on the truth, if i were you i would buy several cases of books, put them in my basement, because, these things will be worth a lot of money

later on, i am not kidding you, take a look at it, and, i will be signing it, a beautiful signature, and everybody gets my business card, with every book that i sign, which has my information, now, when was the last time you went to buy a book and the author gave you his phone number? anything happen to you like that? but, this author has been giving a card with his phone number for 15 years. thousands and thousands of books, and you know what? i have never received a phone call. okay? that tells you something, that should tell you something. so, and, i started working with them after i finished at the white house, and i was taken, by the quality of all that they sell, i mean, really, if you look for beautiful christmas presents, they are located two

steps from here. it is worthwhile to go see this. and, christmas shopping is done, on one thing, really, which is why i decided to do my book with them because at first i went with a big publisher, you know? simon and houston and i was not ready to compete with them, and then, this association, blew me away because they do not shortchange everything, they go with the long way, they like my dessert, you know? let's do it, and let's do it right. this is why i appreciate working with them, and i hope that we can continue this nice communication that we have for a long time. ladies and gentlemen, i wish you the best of time, i will see you again, but, enjoy yourself and i hope that you enjoyed the dessert. okay, thank you. thank you so much.

[ cheers ] here is a look of what we

are covering on friday 10:00 a.m. eastern c-span of the role of digital media in the progressive movement at 11:00, the brookings movement addressing police shootings of unarmed black men, in the morning on c- span 2 health and human services secretary alex cesar will talk about pricing proposals for medicare part b and later at 12:00, the steps for strategy in syria, on c-span 3 10:00 a.m. the 2018 military reporters and editors conference, hearing from joint chiefs of staff, joseph dunford and coast guard commandant, carl schultz. new york times best-selling author jodi pico is the guest on in-depth fiction edition on november 4 that 9:00 a.m. eastern the recent book is a spark of light other books include small great things, the

storyteller, lone wolf, +20 other novels, she has also written five issues of the wonder woman comic book series for dc comics, watch in-depth fiction addiction with author jodi pico sunday, november 4, from 12:00-30 clock eastern, and brad meltzer will be our guest later, book tv, c-span 2. sunday on c-span's western an answer, james man, talks about his biographer of prayers didn't george -- president george w. bush. >> i am still studying theodore roosevelt. >> harry truman, and, they are not going to be an objective

history done on this administration for a long time. it is not too soon to judge on some aspects of his legacy, i mean, it is not too soon to judge, on the war in iraq, why? because it did not accomplish because it did not accomplish what he thought it would be for the start of the war it cost 4000+ american lives on $2 trillion, and, i think that i write in my book, and i do not think that this judgment will change, it was one of the biggest strategic blunders, in american history. >> james man, sunday night at 8:00 eastern, on c-span monday. next a look at efforts to digitize the nation's history, make it more accessible, speakers including representatives from the white house historical association the national park service, the smithsonian institution, and the library of congress. this portion of the presidential site summit is one hour and 45 nu