compromise. a cspan original production. exploring the history, tradition and role of this uniquely american institution. premieres wednesday, january 2nd at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific at cspan. go online to learn more about the program and watch original full length interviews with senato senators view fairwell speeches and take a look inside the senate chamber and other exclusive locations. >> when the new congress takes office in january, it will have the youngest class in history. new congress, new leaders, watch it live on cspan starting january 3rd. >> now remarks at a lunch

gathering of those attending the white house historical association presidential sites summit here in washington. this is an hour and 10 minutes. >> good morning. hi, everybody. i havei, been coming around sayg hi to you. if i got up to the stage, i needed a round of applause. and the reason is, i creamed my foot about six weeks ago and this is my first outing and first walking up steps and only for roland would i climb steps. good morning on behalf of the white house historical association welcome to the presidential site summit. we're delighted you're here and we look forward to many partnerships when the summit is over. he'sk getting nervous because he's o afraid of what i am goin

to say. i'm chair of the retail committeepl and here's my plug. any time this week stop by our shops and buy, buy, buy. you knew i would have to say that. there's a pop up one right outside where we're eating. there's a full store across pen avenue in the white house visitor's center and there's another full line store at 1610st 8th street. so stop by any of them. show your summit i.d. and you'll receive a 10% discount. i still hold him responsible for the weight that i put on while working there. and i mean it. it was about 10 pounds. iun used to sneak over there evy

day. roland is a world renowned pastry chef and author that held important positions in the most prestigious hotels. the savoy in london, paris, and thee greenbrier in west virgini. he served five, count them, five extraordinary presidents, jimmy carter, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, and george w. bush and i think that deserves a round of applause. but to many of us he was also a very good friend and trusted colleague, and here's where i got in trouble, who 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. and when it comes to creativity, well, i may be a little bit biased, but few match roland in

that department. over the years, everyone from localro tourists to global head of state have marvelled at his one of a kind creations. his holiday gingerbread houses were consistently amazing, whether modelled or the president's boyhood home, the first ladies, or even socks the cat.e and when president and mrs. clinton hosted their first steak dinner for their majesties and the emperor and empress of japan. he was ready. he did his research taking inspiration from the japanese cherry trees along the basin and he created what she called simply cherry sorbet, but believe me, this dessert was anything but simple. picturee a foot tall hand blown sugar cherry with white almond ice cream, california bing cherries, and yes, cherry sorbe,

nestled inside. a chocolate basket with bamboo handles and hand painted cookies made to look like sushi completed the masterpiece. it was a work of art. her majesty asked to meet roland and congratulate him personally. i wasso scared to death because thought something was wrong when she called people over but she wanted to say congratulations on the beautiful dessert and she was far from his last admirer in those years. please welcome me in welcoming

roland. >> this is a tricky podium here. does this thing go down a little bit, no? remember i'm just a pastry chef.

i'm not an engineer or anything of that kind. >> is that good for you? >> but, yeah. the papers may fly everywhere.. i don't know. good morning, everyone. welcome to the beautiful capitol city of washington d.c. of course. and the beautiful willard hotel. yes my name is roland and i was the executive pastry chef for the white house inor 26 years. served proudly five presidents. you w,know, to get into the whi house, youer know, everyone wan to work at the white house until they get the job, and then the

don't know what to do with it. i mean it. that's the truth. you have to understand this job is very scary because of the people that you are serving. you are no longer serving just anybody in a restaurant or whatever. you're serving people that have achieved great things in life. that have had great job, great thing, so you better be on the same b level with your food. i also serve numerous emperor, king, head of states, all during my tenure. but when i started at the white house in france, germany and

especially the hotel that i always mentioned because that hotel used to be known as the number one hotel in the world. it still exists today but now it's part of the chain and in those days it was owned by family. big difference. a big difference and the customer, the guests that we were feeding in those days, just to give you a short list. wewe had a lot of people, frank sinatra and i served the queen of england a long time ago for the first timee and many, many more after that and also, we had

like and then we had jackie kennedy that would be coming for dinnerd and was still jackie kennedy but has already passed away with the girlfriend at ther time. we had a customer that was a billionaire. this man when he came, he always reserved a big round table and heig expected every time, at th end ofat the meal, to receive a enormous silver tray filled with

homemade chocolates and cookies and all of that. he expected it. he did not order it. now when that tray came to his table, what he did, he -- one kind of cookies needed to be there all the time on that tray. thated was what we call a bend, cookies, he had to be so delicate. pick one up and put it on the table and the table was heavily padded and the cookie would shatter in thousand pieces. if the cookies did break he would say take this garbage out of here. i don't want it. it's not any good. wouldn't even taste it. so, you know, the pressure was on and in the center of the big silver tray there was always a beautiful display. always, always.

so just to give you a little taste of it. it was an exceptional place to work and i learned so much there in these special place. now the -- after that i was a pastry chef in bermuda and also for thery governor's palace in bermuda. i also, you know, the princess was owned by then the richest man in the world. he had tankers that brought to the united states and many, many other business. he was a real business man. let me tell you. and he had the hotel at the time called the princess. the first hotel shaped like a pyramid, which after some chains pick up the design later on. when i was doing it we had the

millionaire also that dined at the hotel. we had to feed him. his name is here somewhere but my h papers -- my table is not exactly the best. what was his name -- howard hughes. remember him?wa he rented the total top floor of the hotel. we fed him. he didn't want to see anybody. we fed him under the door. every plate of food had to fit under the door. every window was boarded up. that was the end of the life of this man. so, you know, all sort of crazy

thin things. and we -- then after that another fabulous hotel that was privately owned, family owned and then i work in a three star restaurant in paris. i was back in bermuda by popular demand. the homestaead hotel was my nex job where i spend five years and this is where my family and i started our life in the united states. i was also a consultant for six years.go no, you needed to really be experienced in many, many e way. i will take some questions if

you needl clarification on something. thenme in 1979, mrs. carter hado spoil it for me. i was very happy at the homestead and some of the staff were coming to the homestead regularly and saw my work and approached me one day and said, roland, mrs. carter is looking for lopastry chef, why don't yo apply? i said'm no, i'm happy here. i don't want tohe go to washington. i understand there's a problemt in washington and i'm not about tod get that disease. so i'm staying away from that place. so a few weeks later they come back into the hotel. now when are you going to come? i said oh, man, please, i already told you, no interest. so then a couple of times and then one time, december '79,

they call 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 wish for you to come for a tour of the white house. that was a trick. that was a trick ladies and gentlemen. so i drove all the way from virginia to downtown d.c. to visit the white house. now i was driving a 1965 dodge, avocado green. not the prettiest thing to bring down to d.c. let me tell you. but you know, the nicest thing, those days, they let me drive on pennsylvania avenue. they opened the big gate and they asked me to park my avocado

under the come nlonade. is that beautiful or what? i said i start to like this place. if i get a job here, i get to park here every day. no, that didn't last that long. anyway, took a tour of the white house and who should be onho th tour welcoming me? mrs. roselyn carter with open arms. she was so nice. called me by my first name, gave me a hug and she said come with me, we need to talk. so she pulled me on the side over there and with the social secretary, very, very nice lady, and we talked and that's when mrs. carter asked me if i'd like to take the job for a little bit.e 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'll see, you know?

okay. that's good. so the social secretary reminded mrs. carter that i was not an american citizen. i was on green card. so mrs. carter said to gretchen, said listen, gretchen, i want him and i want him bad, do you understand? and now. so don't worry about that. i'll fixth it when he comes to e 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 dayd i'm working in the white house kitchen and these dudes show up from nowhere and tapped me on the shoulder and said get coutside. there's a black limousine. get into the car.

i have no idea what's going to happen. he's taking me near the train station to some offices and in an office where the guy stopped to ask me about the american government and allth the questions. i said man, i don't know nothing. very simple. i don't know nothing. and he was very irritated with me. he said do youu know who the president is. i saide. sure, i feed him every day, his name is jimmy carter. good, you past the test. i was ready to say what test are youto testing me what for? and so after that he said, get back in the car. so they drove me back downto downtown -- not downtown, alexandria, thank you. and these ladies waiting for me on the doorstep.ry carrying a bible. ii said who died? she said no, no joke.

no joke, put your hand on the bible and repeat after me. ift said sure. congratulations, you are an american citizen. well, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, only in america you leave your house in the morning as a foreigner and come back as an american citizen. is that a beautiful country or what? and this[ is why mrs. carter h been in my heart all my life. i say, as a matter of fact, i was able to do something very special,b not last year for the wedding anniversary i think, i forgot if it was 70 years or something. they were celebrating where the navy is there in the town, annapolis and with a friend of mine we made a wedding cake.

the president did not know. wee showed up at dessert time ad entered the home with this wedding cake and those twoi wer soof happy, first of all to seee again after so many years, gave me a big hug and everything. and the president and mrs. carter were in fantastic shape. let me tell you. i love those people. they're very honest, very nice, very, very nice. you know i was at the white house. asou a pastry chef, we leave a lot, too manyo people will tak advantage of that and we not at the white house to show a our faces.s. we're there to take care of the president and first lady regardless of the party they represent. and 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 and president and mrs.an carter wer soca happy. i remember when they walk into the room that day, half working all day, they were working all day fund-raising and they both went on the dance floor for 20 minutes and not stop. i remember thinking this was fantastic. absolutely fantastic. so every president that i serve has given me different stories. i do not speak in public to repeat what people told me unless i lived it, unless it happened with me, i will not repeat it. the same for all of my books. i have wrote 7 books, 8 books,

number 8 is in the making, but y was really on top of things to make sure p that what is printe 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 bird cage. lie after lie. they make up stories to be interesting because they didn't have anything else to put there. when i start writing books, i told people who wrote my books, if you see something in my book that is not correct, let me know. i want to know. waiting, okay? it's been 15 years now. so just to say, it has to be because i figure that doing history here. this is history. that's what the young people will hear. whatever they read about certain first lady and president has to be tovery, very accurate. very correct.

so that's why that's something that i would have never, never passed without doing that. as i said, the white house is a very intimidating place. i always had the fear of failing. my first year onn 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 has to do with failing.do because i needed to concentrate like this. you know, talking about that, i am amazed today. i hope there's some young people here, but let me tell you one thing, and this is what i see when i travel and this is factual. you go somewhere and you ask a waitress or a waiter for three things, she will have two and

the last one she will forget. most of them say i didn't order that. never mentioned it. and where is this? oh, i'm sorry. oh, they're big on sorry, have you noticed? sorry is ae cheap word. sorry, sorry. everybody's sorry. and nobody sorry. that's what bothers me because when i said i'm sorry. i meanry it. ii really mean it. i was born in a very poor family in france. nine children. very tiny house. we had no electricity and no running water in the 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 iss oh, who cares? who cares? enjoy yourself. enjoy yourself. don't worry, they'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 focussing.l. not focussing at all. mostly on the, job. do you know why? hello, darling? is that you? did you enjoy last night? good-bye. i can't talk now. c this is enough. you know when i was at the white hou house, i was a very strict boss. when i hire somebody i would say, i wanttr you to listen and listen good because i will only say it once. if i have to say it again, you'll be taking the door. that's yourio decision. you start at 8:00 to work. i don't want you to haul in with a canit of coke in your hand. or talk about the other guy

about what o you did last night. there's no importance here. here we work. here we are here to produce the best we can. and i need you to have all your concentration to do t that. if i have to remind you of tha then you're not any good to me. so you decide if you want to stay or if you want to go. very simple. and you know, i noticed one thing. that most people work best when someone set a rigorous line and establish theab guideline and me sure that they are respected.th this is enough of this bologna thing. i said great, that won't feed the people. you need to dissect.

here now, it's a time when you have to be s serious and do the job. when that isov't over, i don't what you do with your life. you want to dance, go dance. but not in here. and you know, i had a young woman that worked for me and she was losing hair. i would find hair in pastry. is that disgusting? can you imagine if this hair happened to go to the first lady or thehe president or some gues? so i pull her aside and i said tomorrow morning i want you to come with the hair net. chef, why? why? i said if you want me to damage it, i can do it right now. no problem.ht no hair net. she showed up the next day, no hair net. and she, the same day she was going to enter 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 cat, whke, what the first thing i pull out of the cake. i said now do you want a picture of this thing? do you know k 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 tot say, you need -- u see today, i could solve, ladies and gentlemen, in no time, i could solveve 50% of your crisi when you read the paper and you read the crisis, i could put it out there and tell them, i tell my wife, she can tell you, she's right there. i don't lieth to her. i said i know exactly what happened there. i will tell you. i know what happened. this hasha nothing to do -- but you know, 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 first lady, i alwayssi wanted it to be so wel 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 the beat up they get every single day. which president does not get beat up? i don't know. i'm sorry to say, there's something very wrong with the thought. very wrong. and most of the time the thing that i say months ahead to my wife, two months later there it is. oh, do you remember what i told you? there it is. we could have saved two months of headache. if they had just come to roland.

but i'm notot bragging about myself. i was just raised a different way. money was not the main objective. money usually is what will rot something. to the core. as long as you have enough money to live on, what do you care? do you need three car? five car? sixhr car? do you drive all of them at the same time? i don't know. but it is very important to me. and i have -- and all what i'm telling you now, all what i'm telling you now is going into the food business the same. that's vewhy, i never went to school to learn how to bake. i learn on the job training, working in some great hotel for some great chef and those chefs, they wereef just like i describi was at the white house. either if you want to stay here,

this is what you need to do. i want toi give you a line on what's going on in the food business. have you noticed that most of the chefs don't even know what they mean. i know they don't know. they don't't know nothing abouto french. but they just want to impress you.ou cuisine do you know whatis that is?? i saw it on a menu. do you know what that is? it has to do with clothes. do they sew the steak together? i don't know. now that's a slaughter house. is that something that you really want to hear just before eat? the famous tuna which is nothing but a tuna casserole.

and i'm sure you watch on tv. that want to impress you and -- have you seen, in america, if we ever have a shortage of cheese, i think there will be a revolution like youou have neve seen. noticed? anything those guys that cook on tv, there is cheese in every dish by the ton. they used to be worried about cholesterol. no romore. cholesterol is good for you. eggs. don't eat eggs. you're going to die. nowdi eggs are fabulous for you. they're feeding you bologna every single day, but you are eating it with the biggest spoon you can find. that's the shame. nobody every stood up and said, excuseod me chef, you just say that but i didn't think that was correct. i have read differently. i have known different. no, no, we eat it with a big

spoon. now the restaurant in the future they're going to weigh in on the wayy in and weigh you on the wa out and charge you for the difference. remember when yououen used to e and you y had a nice table clot and nice flower and silver that was so shiny. where is it today? today have you seen a waiter when they clean the table? the old wood table, no table cloth. they come with a wet one and push the garbage on one side. so the table stick. you get stuck to the table because of the dirt. but you are, oh, boy, this is -- you pretend to be somebody that knows this, but you don't.ll you really don't. what's wrong with a table cloth? you know, i remember in france in the old days every table had table cloths, they were made of paper. and do you knowo when the meal

was over, you asked the waiter for the bill, the guy wrote it right on a napkin, and he tore the piece and he said there is your bill. i mean, have we progressed or not? . no we have progressed for people that don't care to make an effort. that we protect all the way. but a professional, you know, to do something great, to do something ggood, if it's in foo 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,ou as i said, i don care who was the president. a that didn't mean nothing to me. the only time that i had fun with that, one day during the george w. bush presidency, i

said, i am going to prove that republican and democrat can have a good time together. so i created a dessert which is in one of my book. it's an elephant made of blown sugar, and a donkey blown sugar, sitting on his back, the same electrical fan, with the front leg extended and there is a sugar tray there and a dessert on top of that. it was a huge dessert. and it was all made of blown sugar, donkey and elephant and again, no mold involved. all shaped as you blow. try it some day and you come back and tell me what you think. so anyway, the dessert came in and i d said oh my gosh, we're going to hear something here. not a peep in the dining hall.

i said oh, what's going on. the dining room went crazy. flash going off. everybodyo laughing. having a great time. one of the guests got the idea, the bright ideas, to take his knife at the end and decapitate an elephant. boom. i don't care. and then the republican took his knife and decapitate the donkey. they did that at every single table. oneeab dessert per table. they were having a ball. bang, bang, bang. they all came back no head. but i liked it. i said they thought i was going to be mad. why should i be mad? that was made for you and i'm glad force once the republican d

democrats can get along together forng five minutes, at least fi minutes. so that was for me, that was a huge success. well, ladies and gentlemen, iso think i need to stop, right? i want to take questions because i was told of the timing. i don't know. we take' questions, okay? because the question will -- any question you have, remember, i am very knowledgeable about everything. about money problem, sexual problem, car problem, what is it? sexual car or -- >>af my staff. that's a good question. you're note 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. andve i had no pastry shop, no

pastryk kitchen. i was in the main kitchen with theok cooks. and the main kitchen at the white house would have been about let's say from this table over there, square, that was about it. now as a pastry chef trying to work with t chocolate when the chefit is browning meat on the stove. impossible to do. i worked for seven years like that. after seven years i had enough. i went to see the head usher. very good man. very good man and i said listen, sir, i cannot continue to work like this because with each president thehe workload got stronger, bigger. and ig said i'm not putting a knife under your throat or anything but i said if you tell me thatca i cannot have a pastr kitchen, i will be leaving.

i have a job waiting for me. >> pastry kitchen. she never saw me. we have a son. i don't even know when that happened. i hope you hremember. it's's a joke. we never did anything. we couldn't do anything. my life was centered with the white house.ce she can tell you. 12, 14, 15 hours a day was not uncommon. i would say to her next weekend we'll go, out to dinner and com home and say no, no dinner. i have to go to white house. president and first lady arere celebrating something tonight and i could not have done it any other way. it is not possible for me.

i would not have enjoyed myself. i had two jobs. all my life i had two jobs. i was not only the executive pastry chef but i'm the one that created the first professional pastry program in washington d.c. okay? irt started that. and we were producing about 20 chefs awe year because there wa no pastry chef in washington. so i did that for years. and i told him, i cannot do that anymore. i cannot do two jobs. i would be finishing at the white house some t nights at 110 after a state dinner and then go home and sleep a couple of hours and back to the white house the next daynd and then that evenin probably to the school to teach for four or five hours.

thath was a very rough time for me. veryh a rough time. so he said yes to the pastry kitchen and i was not hearing from him and i said, you haven't come back to me about the money. are you paying me something? yes?- he said it was going to be good. substantial. and it was. he kept his promise. and the pastry kitchen he said walk around the white house and find a spot where we can do it and i will help you do it. he keptl his promise. he was a very good man. and he was also an engineer so he was good to work with for the equipment, the space, and all of that. and i have the pictures, not

with me today, of my equipment all of my equipment is brought up with a crane in front of the white house. they removed the window. then therere was one elevator tt was tiny and the staircase was a spiralal one and it was better than nothing. later on, you can see everything isea possible and the white hou i always say was a place made for me. i loved to work there because

they let me produce whatever i wanted to but all of my dessert had significance some way. let's say dessert for italy, i find something special around the town. i did that all the time. all the antime. all the time. that's what, you know, one of the firstas ladies that was ver very tough, if i would say, she was great.at she knew what she wanted. that's nancy reagan. trust me, you better do what she asked you to do and do it the right ngway. i love to work for people like

this. the last one, with mrs. reagan, we are sunday noon at the white house we are going to have on tuesday the queen of the netherlands and the t netherlan is known for the tulip. the beautiful tulip. anyway, i, already had shown nancy reagan two desserts which she easaid, roland, no. you know, nancy reagan, i study her very early on. she is interesting. when she was going to give you the zinger her head went to the right. she evendi did that to reporter on television. when reporter would ask a question and i would see nancy going, i would say, oh, man, you don't know what'sm coming. i amm having a chill in my spin for you, man. i feel for you, man. and sure enough, nancy boom, you

know? she was good.as i loved her to death. i loved 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 so on what she wanted and that was it. you better make your research. then remember, dinner is going to be tuesday night. she alreadybe rejected two desserts. too many things going on in my head at the same time and she's having lunch right on the very top. beautiful home and at a long table there for some reason and when i came with the dessert nancy reagan look at the desserr and i said man, brace yourself, man. and, roland, that's not going to

do.do and shesh could never tell you why. but that's not going to do. president reagan came to my rescue. he said, honey -- he was talking to his wife, not to me. honey, leave the chef alone. that's a beautiful dessert. and 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. i don't care. that's notot my thing. have a they did wonderful marriage. you know that. so anyway, i went down to the kitchen and one word came to mind, suicide. i said if there is a stock pot on the stove, boiling hot, i'm probably going to jump in because i don't know.

and in the, white house maybe year and a half, i said, you know, that's going to be a short stay. soso i am in despair. i mean despair. and the phone rings, that's mrss reagan. she said come iback. i know exactly what i want to do. oh, man, i rush upstairs. so when i get there, she said, roland, here's what you're going to do. you know the netherland is knows for the tulip. i want you to make sugar basket, basket made of sugar, that big. one per table with the beautiful handle and on the handle i want you to put four tulip on each handle. and iip also want this basket t be filled with homemade asorted sorbet and ice cream and fresh fruit. that wash 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 noon. i told 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 n i said, yes, madam, thank you very much. i went back to my kitchen and start cooking sugar. for some of you that don't know what a sugar basket is. it's all made of sugar, weaved like a basket and all. in my book dessert university, there is a sketch that shows you how to make sugar basket. and thenow you have to make fou

tulip per basket, so times 15, 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 two nights. now ladies and gentlemen, heren is when you know because of course it did happen and it happened well. and shewe got so many complimen, and when i -- on my way home that night, i did not know that i had that much strength in me. but i said this is what courage is. that is what it is when you have passion for something. you're notme going to say oh, n have time. i have to play with the computer. oh, no, not possible.

i'm by emyself. no, no, i would have felt less than a human being if i had done that. i said mrs. reagan, yes, it's going too happen. and it did happen. it did happen. and there are o pictures of tho in some of my books. and you know, i was so proud. i said this is what pride is. you know are not born with pride in you. pride is something that you cultivate, cultivate all the time. 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. it works for me. and if it's flat, if it will not work this way, i did not feel very good for myself, okay? question now. question. anybody question, please.

>> if someone talk to you listen,, especially if you're a waiter or engineer it doesn't matter. because the engineer thatt don' listen, we'll see what happen with the d.c. subway, okay?p that's it. i don't saywa no more. yes. >> oh, no. i don't have any here, no. okay. next, please. >> the dessert that you got the most compliments on. >> i would say the dessert described about the emperor of japan. i wanted to create a dessert for the emperor of japan that nobody

reallywh knows what it is until they dig into it. she described it very well. it was a big bowl that was supposed to look like an oversized cherry, red. the size and that bowl needed to be cut in half. that's not an easy task. to cutry sugar in half. very brittle. they were placed on a disk of white chocolate. while it was still soft. so itat looked like the cherry open. and enside i -- inside i placed a round bowl of almond ice cream, which iss white. that's an important thing. in the middle of that there was another bowl t that was made of the cherry sorbet which is deepg red. nowsw just picture, please, if u

dig into that white bowl, because you see, the guest of that was a use, dessert for a table of 10. now remember the guests serve themselves. if you go into that white bowl, what is going to appear? thank you, sir, you win. the flag of japan. i wanted to do something that is not just a dessert but that was perfectd inside and you dig in it and there is the flag of japan. and then after that, we serve another basket made of chocolate and they weree shaped like sush. all very nice.b so just picture the job. the dinner for japan was very

big. maybe 200. >> 189. but who is counting. >> well, that would have been, big enough for 20 tables. and i s have no place to work. after you make sugar, if you don't use it, it gets sticky. especially a day like today, the humidity. sugar does not like humidity. so i needed to have enough space and then after, now that's even larger. and then you have to -- another thing that you have to really plan well is the ice cream when it comes to the table has to be perfectly rfsoft. you don't want anybody to go start poking the thing. so the timing, everything has to

beg, worked out. so that was for me a dessert that i was most proud. there were so many components. >> the dinner was in the rose garden. so there was humidity outside. so the timing on this was absolutely critical. or we would have had a melted mess. >> yes, thank you. exactly. exactly. so, you know, for me, the more difficult task i have, the more proud i feel. do you understand that? you know, many people say oh, difficult. oh, i don't know why you bother. why i bother, for my feeling. and pride, some day, to be proud, itls feels good. it feels good. and you know, with the year passing at the white house, i learned to love the first family of the white house, the president and first lady, whoever they were and you know,

i served five and many times people ask me the same question, which one were your favorite. and i said they were all my favorite. oh, you're al good politician. it's nothing to do with politics. truth.he it's the truth. they were all absolutely fantastic. fantastic. with me,ta first lady, presiden no problem. and so many times i have conversation with some and i can assure you another thing. during offe of my years in the white sehouse, i have seen ever president and first lady cry and i have seen them laugh. and i tell you one thing, it gets right here. it gets right to your heart. because the first family become your family. many times when i first come to the white house i put like guidelines for me in my head. i said, if the president or first lady was attacked, would you put your body to shield

them? there's not even a question. there's not even a question that i would have in a minute. you know, this is enough of beating people on the head. you don't achieve things like this. trust me, compliment, tap on the back, really solve a lot of crisis. and i was 26 years in this position ando i know, and i woud have never, never had the president or first lady on what they were expecting and so on. this is why television and all of that. i couldn'ton care less. all the poor souls that go on the food network and stuff? do they know what they're doing? do they know it's a shame what they're doing? do they know that they're telling you stuff that is not true. do you know now when they do a

sugar sculpture on television? what they use? there's not one ounce of sugar in it. i'll tell you what theyy use, yu know cough drop. do you know what it's sugar that you can flavor, but has zero sugar in it. and it's so easy to work with because it does not get affected by the humidity. do you know cough drop many years of you who have been around for a little bit, they used to stick together after you opened the bag. now they don't stick anymore. but the pastry chef that still comes on tv, they are not even pastry chefs, don't get me started. i mean, they're not. they're not, they're not. we're totally different breed here, okay? they -- taking you for fool every single day, every single show. yes? >> two questions.

which president or first lady was the most demanding, and not just in a bad way, but who had the most ambitious ideas for you and the least? and why did you retire when you did? >> about that, no president and first lady forced me on any -- except nancy reagan with the basket the one time, but most of the times, i decided on the dessert. and many will look at it and say yea or no and the first lady was involved. there was more than one person involved there on saying yes/no, okay? so -- after the -- when i started to have that feeling about doing special stuff, or i plan the dessert, it was always over the top. don't come and ask me to make a pie. the pie shop is around the corner.

not here. it has to be special. a lot of times the dessert -- they invited head of states. the flag is too easy. it's too easy. has to be something else. and then sometimes -- there's a story on that, but we need to curb it. yes? >> would you sample to make sure it's going to work? >> yes, samples, the first lady would sample and secretary would come around and look and -- >> [ inaudible question ]. >> i didn't finish your last question over there. which was? >> why did you retire when you did? >> because i was really going downhill physically. 16-hour days catch up with you and i was in really, really bad shape. 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 before -- because of the style i created, don't tell me to do simpler thing. i could not do that. i could not do that. so, you know, that's why. yes, yes, i'm sorry. the answer, yes. >> in all those years, did the sugar ever stick? did the souffle not rise? what advice would you give -- >> sugar -- no, no, no problem with sugar but souffle, an interesting one. that happened once. that was not even part of my control. we were doing a hot raspberry souffle, which is delicious. the recipe i use, that dessert could be a low-calorie, diet dessert, if you will, because it is a wonderful recipe.

made with fresh raspberries and everything. we were doing that for -- i forget which country. that was in spring. i put that on the menu. i wanted hot raspberry souffle. at white house, we made a big souffle like that. we pass the dessert. so then i tested the recipe, chested it out and tested, tested, and everything. everything was about timing. and it was beautiful. so, it come the night of the dinner. i knew what time. okay, let's start the egg white. whip the egg white. we were whipping the egg white at the time.k and you know what? it never came up. i said, man. or different word. [ laughter ] but i mean honestly, the guest

are going to come in.be so, at the dinner, the white house takes a little bit less than an hour. so i said let's throw those away. we wash the bowl. start all over. it don't come up again. the clock is ticking.n, you know at the white house, ck when they come for dessert, you cannot say, i need another 10 minutes.fo you cannot do that. the only word the butler wants u to hear is, speak up, now.h so, we were cutting eggs again. washed the bowl. when i heard -- this is when i was still working in the main kitchen with the chefs. i heart the executive chef and the assistant chef talking about

the mayonnaise they made on the machine that morning. do you know how many drops of oil it takes to mess up on those egg drops? one drop, two drops, that's it, forget it. they do the mayonnaise, but i didn't see it. b i wasn't there when they did it appear so the oil splash on the machine. so, when you came with your y meringue, you don't know what it is. when i heard them talking, i said, oh, my god, should i kick their ass now or later? i was very upset, that they oh didn't have the sense to tell me. be careful, we made mayonnaise. so, luckily i washed it under the machine and there goes the egg whites.ly now, meanwhile, i have lost a great deal of time. now, here it comes, because when you have knowledge and you have experience, you can risk that because you've been there before.

but a young kid out of school, forget about it. what's he going to do, call 911, call his mother? probably call his mother.ha no, no. so, i gave the order to crank up the oven maximum. the stove even. the stove that you cook on. maximum. and the souffle we put on baking man, over the flame, to get that boost, you know, and i was abled to save a great deal of time on the souffle. you know what, when the butler came in and said, souffle, pick up, ready, not even a minute delayed. not even a minute. that happen if you have the experience. don't tell me the guy that just graduated from the school, from the country club, i call the school, country club, no school. and, no, this is not possible until you lived it, unless you were there.

food is a different kind of business, definitely. >> what is your favorite dessert to eat? >> to eat? a good old american pie. blueberry, apple. i love a good old american pie because most pies are no good. bottom crust that is not even baked.d. it's like noodle. every time you find a good pie. are we good? we want -- oh, book. we are going to be selling books at cost. my latest book that came out last year, which is "the white house and gingerbread." is a wonderful book. has many recipes, gingerbread, christmas dessert recipe. in this book we have this fabulous eggnog recipe, which is

the original from the white house, which was messed up by another chef. and nobody will -- no, i'm -- i'm telling you the truth. you want to know the truth. hold on. i told you. you know, the eggnog every night went down the sink. after the party, went down the sink.yoth nobody want to drink it. in my time, there was never e enough eggnog. and i brought that back. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> i see you've been in it. and it's true. but that was a delicious eggnog. but anyway, that is that. the book, i will be signing it if you purchase it. remember, christmas is just around the corner. let me save you some time on shopping.

and another thing. this book is so good, so good, the recipes are so true. and the book is based on the truth. if i were you, i'd buy several cases, put them in my basement, because these books will be a lot of money. i'm not kidding you.i take a look at it. and it's -- and i will be signing it. beautiful signature. and everybody gets my business card with every book that i na sign, which has my information. now, when is the last time you want to buy a book and the author gave you his phone number?y i and anything happen to you like that?ou but this author has been giving a card with his phone number for 15 years. this is thousands and thousands of books. you know what.um i've never received a phone call to complain. okay. so, that tells you something.

that should tell you something.t i started working with them after i finish at the white house.ta and i was so taken by the quality of all they sell. i mean, really, if you look forw beautiful christmas presents, or present, period, it's located a few steps from here. it's worth while to go see the store. christmas shopping done, boom, boom.. this is why i decide to do my book with them.to because at first i went with the big publisher, you know, simon & schuster. i was not really tickle pink with them. but then the association really groom the way. they don't shortchange anything. they go the long way. they like my dessert.ev if it takes six hours? then let's do it, do it right. this is why i appreciate working with them.

i hope we will continue nice communication we have for a long time. ladies and gentlemen, i wish you the best of time in d.c. i will see you again around. but enjoy yourself and i hope you'll enjoy this speech. thank you. [ applause ] thank you so much. n. [ concluded ]

the c-span bus recently travelled to tennessee asking folks what does it mean to be american? >> what it means to be american, looking at my students studying the history or the past and sometimes they say, well why did that replicate. and so looking at specific and questioning things that going on now to really push the idea of democratic citizenship, voting and seeing what you could and how to impact your community on the local level. >> to me to be an american means to be free to think, to speak, to express my thoughts.

i'm free to relate to other people, no matter who they are. i'm free to have the oxygen around me and express everything that i want to be and i'm free to be everything i want to be. it's so important to appreciate being an american. >> what does it mean to be an american? in america, you are part of the greatest experiment in self government that the history has ever known. and part of being an american is understanding that we believe at our core that each individual is created equally and they have the same god given rights as every other individual. >> to be an american means you are an active citizen, that you are involved in your city, your state, and your local government so that you could really learn about problem-solving and look at some of the areas in your local governments and your surrounding community and see how you could use your voice,

your back ground, your area of expertise to improve and make it better, to be an american means that you are aware of the things that are going on in your local community and your larger community at large across the nation and actively looking for ways to improve and make it better for the next generation. >> it is a great pleasure to be here and talk about what it is to be an american. that is one of the multi-faceted questions that really -- what can you do to better your community, local, and then statewise and then of that trickles up to your national opportunity. but really everything is local. and so what are you doing to make your community better by helping our younger generation, which is our future and to help the older generation, which we respect and that we need to be able to help as they finish out their years. so it is really, as we said in the hospital business, from beginning to end, how could you

make your community a better place to be. >> voices from the road on c-span. >> next, decenters of president ford, truman, mckinley, johnson and roosevelt share their family stories of the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts here in washington, d.c. the conference was attended by represent is of presidential sites from around the country and descendents of presidents from james monroe to gerald ford. this is 50 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome fred ryan, chairman, white house historical association board of directors and deborah rutter, president of the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts. [ applause ] >> good evening, everyone. on