role in impeachment proceedings and investigations. the senate, conflict and compromise. i c-span original production, exploring watch original full-length interviews with senators. view farewell speeches from long-suffering members. to tour inside the senate chamber, the old senate chamber and other exclusive locations. remarks fromformer white house pastry chef roland mesnier is going to talk about what it was like working .

good afternoon. hello everybody. i have been coming around and saying hello to everyone. 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 mesnier would i climb steps. so good afternoon on behalf of the white house historical association. welcome to the 2018 presidential site summit. we're delighted you're here and we look forward to many partnerships when the summit is over. i'm ann stock, a member of the association board. roland is getting nervous because he's worried about what i'm going to say. i am chair of any time this week, stop by our the regional committee.shops and buy, buy, buy. you knew i would have to say that.

there is a pop-up one right outside where we're eating, there is a full line store across pennsylvania avenue in the white house visitors center, and there is another full line store at 1610 eighth street. so stop by any of them. show your summit i.d. and you'll receive a 10% discount. and 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, and i still hold him responsible for the weight that i put on while working there. and i mean it. it was about 10 pounds. because i used to sneak over there every day. roland is a world-renowned pastry chef and author who has held important positions in the most prestigious hotels. the savoy in london, the george

5 in paris and the green briar in west virginia. 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. >> [ applause ] >> but to 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 already ready with a cookie, a truffle, a piece of cake or 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 local head tourists to global heads of state have marveled at his one of a kind creations.

his holiday gingerbread houses were consistently amazing, whether modeled on the president's boyhood homes, the first ladies, or even socks the cat. and when president and mrs. clinton hosted the first dinner for their majesties, the emperor and empress of japan, roland was ready. he did his research taking inspiration on the tidal basin here in washington, and he created what he called simply cherry sorbet. but believe me, this dessert was anything but simple. picture a foot-tall, hand-blown sugar cherry with white almond ice cream, california danish cherries, and yes, cherry sorbet nestled inside a chocolate basket with bamboo handles and hand-painted

marzipan cookies made to look like sushi completed the masterpiece. it was a work of art. her majesty was so enraptured that she asked to meet 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 dessert. and she was far from his last admirer in those years. my mouth is still watering thinking about the beautiful, clever and always, always delicious concoctions this man created. please join me in welcoming my friend and chef extraordinaire, the incomparable roland mesnier. >> [ applause ]

>> only for you guys. >> this is the tricky part. >> [ speaking non-english ] >>is it facing down a little bit, no? remember, i'm just a pastry chef. i'm not an engineer or anything of that kind.

but uh yeah. the papers may fly everywhere, i don't know. good morning, everyone. welcome to the beautiful capitol city. washington, d.c., of course. and the beautiful willard hotel. yes, my name is roland mesnier and i was executive pastry chef at the white house for 26 years. i served proudly five presidents. you know, to get into the white house, you know everybody wants to work at the white house until they get the job. then they don't know what to do with it. i really mean it. that's the truth. you have to understand this job is very scary because of the

people you are serving. you are no longer serving just anybody like in a restaurant or hotel or whatever, you're serving people that have achieved great things in life, that have had great jobs, 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 chefs available in paris, france, in germany, and specially the hotel i mentioned because that used to be the number one hotel in the world.

it still exists today but i think it's lost to the years because now it's part of a chain. in those days the savoy was owned by family. big difference. big difference. and the customers, the guests 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, audrey hepburn, gregory peck. we also had the royal family all the time. i served the queen of england a long time ago for the first time and many, many more after that, and also we had like liz taylor, charlton heston, james cagney. and then we had jackie kennedy, but that at the time would be

coming for dinner. at the time she wasn't a kennedy any more. she wasn't married anymore, her husband had passed away. then onassis would come and have dinner by himself, not by himself, with his girlfriend at the time, which was maria callas, the opera singer. so this was the caliber of people we fed every day at the savoy. we had a customer at the savoy that was a billionaire. this man when he came, he always had to reserve a big round table, and he expected every time at the end of the meal to receive an enormous silver plate filled with chocolates and cookies and all that.

he expected it. it was automatic. this man, when that tray came to his table what he did. one kind of cookies needed to be on there all the time. it was it had to be so delicate. he would pick one up and dropped it, set it on the table, and the table at the savoy was heavily padded and the cookie had to shatter into a thousand pieces. if the cookie didn't break, he would call the butler and say, take this garbage out of here. i don't want it. it's not going to be good. didn't even taste it. so, you know, the pressure was on. the pressure was on. and in the center of this big silver tray, there was always a

pulled and blown beautiful sugar display. just to give you a taste of what this the savoy was. it was an exceptional place to work and i learned so much there. it was a special place. after that i was the pastry chef for the princess in bermuda, and i was also the pastry chef for the governor's palace in bermuda. i also -- you know, the princess was owned by then the richest man in the world. his name was mr. d.k. ludwig. he had tankers that brought oil to the united states and many other business. he was an oil businessman, let me tell you. some of the chain picked up the desig. when i was doing the scene of acapulco, we also had the

millionaire also that died at the hotel. we had to feed him. his name is here somewhere but my papers got rearranged. my table is not exactly the best. what was his name? howard hughes. remember howard hughes? he had the 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 was asked for him. and then after that, i came back to france for a while.

the pastry chef at the george v hotel which was privately owned, family owned. and 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 also was 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 walk there and say, oh, i'm going to be the pastry chef here tomorrow. no, no, no, you needed to really be experienced in many, many ways. by the way, after my speech, i will take some question, if you need clarification on something. then in 1979, mrs. rosalynn

carter had to spoil the broth for me. because i was very 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 looking for pastry chef. why don't you apply? i said, no, i'm very 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. so, fine, a few weeks later, they come back in the hotel and they start again on me. when are you going to come? i said, oh, man, please, i already told you, no interest. so they did that a couple of times. and then one time, they call me, 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! so anyway, i accepted. and those days, i drove all the way from hot spring, virginia to downtown d.c. to visit the white house. now, i was driving in a 1965 dodge dart, 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 to drive right in, and they asked me to park my avocado under the colonnade. is that beautiful or what? i say, i start to like this place, you know? if i get a job here, i get to park here every day. no, that didn't last that long.

well, anyway, took a tour of the white house, and you should -- who should be on the tour welcoming me, mrs. carter, with opening arm, she was so nice. gave me a hug and she said, come with me, we need to talk. so she pulled me on the side room over there and with the social secretary the late gretchen posten, a very, very nice lady. and we talked, and that's when mrs. carter asked me if i would like to 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'll see. okay, that's good, that's good. so gretchen posten, the social secretary reminded mrs. carter that i was not an american citizen. i was on green card.

i was legal. green card. so, 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 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 on my bench in the white house kitchen. this dude show up from nowhere, tap me on the shoulder, and he said, get into that car that's outside, there's a black limousine, get into the car. i have no idea where he's taking me, i have no idea what's going to happen. so he's taking me near the train station to some offices, and in an office where the guy

starts to ask me, what's about the american government and all the questions and so i said, man, i don't know nothing. very simple, i don't know nothing. and he was getting very irritate with me. he said, who you know who the president is? i said, sure, i see him every day, his name is jimmy carter. good, you pass the test! i was ready to say, what test are you testing me what for? and so, after that, he said, get back in the car. so they drove me back downtown -- not downtown, but in alexandria, thank you. alexandria. and this lady is waiting for me on the doorstep, carrying a bible. i said, who died? she said, no, no kid -- no jokes, no jokes, there's business here. put your hand on the bible and repeat after me. i said, sure, i did just that.

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, come back as an american citizen. is that a beautiful country or what? >> [ applause ] >> and this is why mrs. carter has been in my heart all 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 you are 70 or something, they were celebrating where the naval academy is, what is the town? annapolis, thank you. and i -- with a friend of mine, we made a wedding cake. she did not know -- 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. gave me big hug and everything. and the president and mrs. carter were in fantastic shape, let me tell you. for all what they've done, all their life, and i love those people. they are very honest, be very nice, very, very nice. you know, i was at the white house. you know, as a pastry chief, we leave a lot of -- not directly, because we're not allowed to do, and i'm glad that's the case, because too many people will take advantage of that. and we're not at the white house to show our faces. we are there to take care to have the president and first lady, regardless of the party they represent and whoever they're thought of. and let me tell you, to have been able to do, to present them with this cake, it meant so much to me, and for them. it was really fantastic. and the president and mrs. carter were so happy.

i remember when they walked into the room that day, after working all day, they were working all day, and they both went on the dance floor for 20 minutes, no stop. at their age and everything, this is fantastic, you know, absolutely fantastic. so and every president that i served is giving me different stories, if you will, true story. this is what i want to be very sure they understand. 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 my books. i have wrote seven books, eight books, i think number eight is in making. but i was really on top of thing to make sure what is printed is the truth and the fact.

there's many white house book out there, many. and some of them, i wouldn't even use them to put it on the bottom of my bird cage. [laughter] that's just as good as it is. because lie after lie. they make up story 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, let me know. i want you to know, while i'm still waiting, okay? it's been 15 years now. so just to say, it has to be because i figure that we are doing this story here. this is history. that's what the young people will hear. and whatever they read about certain first lady and president has to be very, very actual, very correct. so that's why that's something that i would never, never pass without doing that.

the -- 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 has 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's some young people here, but let me tell you one thing. and this is what i see when i travel and this is also is factual. you go to a restaurant or somewhere, you ask a waitress or a waiter for three things, she will have two wrong and the last one she will forget it. most will say, i didn't order that, never mentioned it.

and what is this? oh, i'm sorry -- oh, they're big on sorry, have you noticed? sorry is a cheap word now. sorry, sorry, everybody's sorry and nobody's sorry. that's what bother me. because when i said "i'm sorry," i mean it. i really mean it. you know, i was raised and brought up from -- i was brought in a very poor family in france, nine children, 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, put it in your head that you would never forget. today, everything is, oh, okay, who cares? enjoy yourself, man. enjoy yourself. whether you want -- 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 at all. mostly on the job. you know why? hello, darling, is that you? did you enjoy last night? okay, good-bye. i can't talk now. boom. this is enough. you know when i was at the white house, i was a very strict boss. 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 it again, you will be taking the door and never coming again. it's up to you. that's your decision. i said, you start at 8:00 to work. i don't want you to roll in 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. here we are here to produce the best we can.

and i need you 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. very simple. and you know i have noticed one thing, that most people work best when someone set some rigorous line and establish those guidelines and make sure they are respected. this is enough of this baloney thing to play, you know, they think, you turn the old dance now, now they dance. i said, great, that would feed -- that's going to feed the people, the new dancing. you know, we need -- you 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 pastry. is it disgusting? can you imagine if this hair happened to go to the first lady, the president, or some guest? so i pull her aside, and i said, tomorrow morning, i want you to come with the hair net. chef, why? why? that's going to -- my coiffure is going to be damaged. i said, if you want me to damage it, i can do it right now. no problem. no, hair net. she showed up the next day, no hair net. and she -- the same day she was going to enter 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, what is the first thing i pull out of the cake? i said, now, do you want a picture of this thing?

you know what that is? so, do me a favor, take your tools, go home, don't come back. that was it. that was it! but just to say, you need -- you see, today, you know, i could solve solve, ladies and gentlemen, in no time, i could solve 50% of your crisis, that you read the paper and you read the crisis, i could -- i could put it out there and tell -- i tell 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 will tell -- i know what happened! this has 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 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's something very wrong with this thought, very wrong. very wrong. i could solve -- and you know what? most of the time, the thing that i say, months ahead to my wife, two months later, there it is, and i say, oh! remember what i told you? there it is! we could have saved two months of headache if they had just come to roland. but you know, i'm not bragging about myself. i was just raised a different way. very much a different way.

money was not the main objective. money usually is what will rot something, definitely, to the core. so long as you have enough money to live on, what the do you care? do you need three car, five, car, six car? do you drive all of them at the same time? i don't know. you're a genius somehow. 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 why i was -- 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 chef, they were just like i describe i was at the white house. either, if you want to stay here, this is what you need to do, okay? and so on. so, but anyway, just to give you -- i want to give you a couple of line on what's going

on in the food business. have you noticed all these terms that they use, that most of the chef he was don't even know what they mean. especially they use french term that they say, i know they don't know what they -- they don't know nothing about french. but they just want to impress you. you know, cuisine couture, you know what that is? i saw it on a menu not too long ago. cuisine couture. you know what couture is? it has to do with clothes. so do you sew a steak together? i don't know. now, you know, cuisine a batois. you know what that is? a slaughterhouse. is that something you want to hear right before you eat? the famous tuna cassolet, which is nothing but a tuna casserole. and i know you watch that chef on tv, that want to impress you.

in america, if we ever have a shortage of cheese, i think there will be a revolution like we have never seen. >> [laughter] >> have you notice? have you seen those guys that cook on tv. there is cheese solidly in every dish by the ton. they used to be worried about cholesterol. no more! cholesterol is good for you. >> [laughter] >> eggs, don't eat eggs, you're going to die. now eggs are fabulous for you. they're feeding you baloney every single day, but you are eating it with the biggest spoon you can find. that's the shame. nobody ever stood up and said, excuse me, chef, you just say that, but i didn't think that was correct. i have read differently. i have known differently. oh, no, no, no, we eat it with a big spoon, you know? now i can predict to you the restaurant of the future, they're going to weigh you on the way in, weigh you on the way out and charge you for the difference.

>> [laughter] >> remember when you used to eat and you had a nice tablecloth and nice flower and silverware that was so shiny. where is it today? today, have you seen waiters when they clean, or a waiter when they clean the table? the old wood table, no tablecloth. they come with a wet one and push the garbage on one side, push it there, so the table stick, you get stuck to the table, because of the dirt. but you are -- oh, my god, my -- oh, no, this is -- you know that -- you pretend to be somebody that knows this, but you don't. you really don't. what's wrong with the tablecloth? you know, remember in france in the old days, every table had tablecloths. they were made of paper. and do you know when the meal was over, you asked the waiter for the bill, the guy took his pen, and he wrote it right on a

napkin, he tore the piece and said, there is your bill. then you put a new one, there was clean tablecloth every time on your table. i mean, have we progressed or not? no. we have progressed 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, who was the president and what -- that didn't mean nothing to me. the only time, the only time that i had fun with that, one day at the -- it was 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 desert, which is in one of my books. it's an elephant made of blown sugar, no mold, from freehand, and a donkey, blown sugar, sitting on his back, the same elephant, with a front leg extended and there is a sugar tray there and the dessert on top of that. a huge dessert. and that was all made of blown sugar, donkey or 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 desserts 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, whoa, what's going on?

so incidentally, then the dining room went crazy, flash going off, everybody laughing, having a great time. well, one of the guys, 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. and then the democrat, the republican took his knife, and boom, decapitate the donkey, and they did that at every single table. remember, we had one dessert per table. there must have been 15, 16, 17 -- they were having a ball. bang, bang, bang. they all came back, no head, but i liked it. i said, they thought was going to be mad. i said, why should i be mad? that was made for you. and i'm glad for once the democrat and republican and democrat can get along together for five minutes, at least five minutes. so for me, that was a real success.

well, ladies and gentlemen, i think i need to stop, right? i want to take questions, yes because i stole all the timing. i don't know. we take question, okay. because the question will -- any question you have, remember, i am very knowledgeable about everything. >> [laughter] >> about money problem, sexual problem, car problem. what is it, sexual car or -- [ laughter ] my staff, oh, that's a good question. you -- you're 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, no pastry kitchen. i was in the main kitchen with the cooks, and the main kitchen at the white house would have

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? and so that was very hard. anyway, i made it work for seven years. seven years, i did that. and after seven years, i had enough. i went to see mr. gary waters, who was 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, by the way, the workload got stronger, bigger. and i said, i'm not putting a knife under your throat or anything, but i said, 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 time. we never did anything. we couldn't do anything. my wife was centered with the -- life was centered with the white house. she can tell you. 12, 14, 15 hours a day was not uncommon. i would say to her, next weekend we go out to dinner. i would come home say, no, no dinner, i have to go to the white house. president and first lady are celebrating something tonight. and i would not -- i could not have done it any other way. this is not possible for me. i would not have enjoyed myself. so, you know, the -- so i ask my boss, 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. okay. that was the academie de cuisin. i started that. and we were producing about 20 chefs a 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 would be finishing at the white house some night at 11:00 after a state dinner and them -- then go home, sleep a couple of hours, and back to the white house the next day, and then that evening, probably to the school to teach for four, five hours. so that was a very rough time for me, very rough time. 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? he said, you know, because i want to -- he said, yes, it's going to be good, substantial. it was, it was, he kept his promise. and then the pastry kitchen, he start saying to me, walk around the white house and try to find a spot where we can do it. and i will help you do it. he kept his promise, he was a very good man. so the -- we did come to that. i got a plan and then there was another usher at the white house, dennis freemeyer, his name was, and he was also an engineer. so he was good to work with for the equipment, the space and all of that. -- all that. and i have the pictures, not with me today of my equipment.

all of my equipment was to brought up with a cane in front of white house. they removed the last window to the right to be able to bring my equipment into the place. it was small, very tiny. there was one elevator to go up there, it also very tiny, and the stair consist was one of those spiral one, like on the submarine submarine, but it was better than nothing, and it worked for me very well. and later on, mr. waters 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. and the white house, i always say, was a place made for me i loved to work there, because they let me really produce whatever i wanted to. but all of my desserts had significance somewhere. you know, like when we did -- sometimes, let's say a dessert for italy.

i find something special around the town and that would be duplicated in pastry, of course. maybe to decorate the tray of the pastry and everything. i mean, i did that all the time. all the time, all the time. and that's what -- you know, one of the first lady that was very, very tough, if i would say on thing, she was great. i loved to work for her, because 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 way. and that's nothing wrong there. again, i love to work for people like this. i would rather do that than people, oh, i don't know, i'm not too sure, we don't want that, we don't want that and i remember very quickly, and then i'll take the question, okay? the last one, with mrs. reagan,

we are sunday noon at the white house, we're going to have on tuesday the queen of the netherlands, and you know the netherlands is known for its tulip, the beautiful tulip over there. anyway, i had already shown nancy reagan two desserts which she said, roland, no. you know, nancy reagan, i studied her very early on. she's an interesting character. when she was going to give you the zinger, her head also booped to the right. and she even did that to the reporter on television. when the reporter would ask a question and i would see nancy going, oh, i said, man, you don't know what's coming. i am having a chill in my spine for you, man. i feel for you, man. and sure enough, nancy, boom. you know, she was good. she -- 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 sold on what she wanted it, and that was it. you better make your research -- anyway. that time, then we -- sunday noon, again rememeber, the dinner is going to be tuesday night. she also rejected two desserts. too many things going on in my head at the same time. and she's having lunch at the solarium in the white house, a beautiful room and a very long table there for some reason for some thing else else. and the president was eating in one hand and nancy reagan at the other hand, eating lunch. so when i came with the dessert, nancy reagan look at the dessert, and oh, i said, man, brace yourself, man. and roland, that's not going to do. and she could never tell you why. but that's not going to do. president reagan came to my rescue. he said, he said, honey -- he

was talking to his wife, not to me. >> [laughter] >> he said, 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. >> [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 i went down to the kitchen and you know, one word came to mind, suicide. i said, if there is a stockpot on the stove boiling hot, i am probably going to jump in. because i don't know how long -- and i was fairly new in the white house, maybe a year, year and a half. and i said, you know, it's going to be a short stay. so i am really in despair. i mean, despair.

and the phone rings, that's mrs. reagan. she said, roland, come back to the solarium, i know exactly what i want to do. i said, oh, man, i rush upstairs. i get there and she says, roland, here is what you're going to do. she said, you know netherlands is known for the tulip. i want you to make sugar basket. a basket made of sugar, that big, one per table, with a beautiful handle. and on the handle, i want you to put four tulip on each handle. and i also want this basket to be filled with homemade assorted sorbet and ice cream and fresh fruit. that was in spring time. 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.

so i told mrs. reagan, i said, madame, this is, it'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, madame, thank you very much. and i went back to my kitchen and start cooking sugar. for some of you who don't know what a sugar basket is, it's really all made of sugar. we weave it like a basket and all. you can -- in my book "dessert university," there is a sketch that shows you how to make sugar basket. and then you have to make four tulip basket, so times 15. you can count how many sugar tulip 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, here is when you know proud is. because, of course, it did happen and happened well. and she got so many compliments and when i -- on my way home that night, i sat still, i did not know i had that much strength in me, but i said, this is what courage is. that's what is when you have passion for something. you're not going to say, oh, i don't have time. i have to play with the computer. or, no, not possible, i'm by myself. no, no, i wouldn't even -- i would have felt less than a human being if i'd 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. i said, this is what pride is. you know, you're not born with pride in you. pride is something you cultivate, cultivate all the time and this is why i said, 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 worked for me. and if it did not work this way, i would not feel very good for myself. question, now, question. anybody question, please? yes, young man? ah! remember what i said earlier, when someone talk to you, listen, especially if you're a waiter or an engineer, it

doesn't matter. because you see the engineer that don't listen, we see what happen with the d.c. subway, all right? that's it. i don't say no more. [ inaudible question ] [ inaudible question ] [ speaking non-english ] i don't have any here, okay? no. okay, next, please? yes? >> the dessert that you got the most compliments on? >> well, i would say the dessert that i describe about the emperor of japan. i wanted to create a dessert for the emperor of japan that nobody really knows what it is until they dig into it.

she described it very well. there was a big bowl that was -- ball -- supposed to look like an oversized chaise, red. the size of a soccer ball. that ball needed to be cut in half. that's not an easy task, to cut sugar in half, very brittle. those two half-bowls were placed on a disk of white chocolate while it was still soft. so it looks like the cherries is open. and inside, i placed a round ball of almond ice cream, which is white. now, follow me here, that's the important thing. and then in the middle of that, there was another ball that was made of the cherry sorbet, which is deep red. now, just picture, please, whoever give me the right answer, i give you the key to that cadillac out there. if you dig into that white bowl, because you see, the

guests at the white house -- now, it was a dessert for a table of ten. remember, the guests serve themselves. people serve themselves. if you go into that white bowl, what's going to appear? thank you, sir, you win the cadillac. the flag of japan. i wanted to do something a little bit that is not just a dessert, but that was perfectly round inside, you dig into it, there is the flag of japan. and then after that, we serve a another basket made of chocolate that was they were petits fours shaped like sushi. all sweet, very nice. so, can you imagine, just picture the job. and the dinner for japan was pretty big, i think maybe 200. that was -

>> 189.>> oh, well! but who's counting? and you have to come -- well, that would have been -- i would make enough for 20 tables. to 20 of those bowls to make. and at the white house, i have no place to work! i have to, remember, i have to store this stuff. because the sugar, after you make sugar, if you don't use it, it gets sticky, especially a day like today, sugar does not like humidity. so i needed to have enough space to store. and it's even larger. and after when we were cutting in half and so on and mount it in the chocolate, still needed to be stored. and now that's even larger. so that was -- and then you have to -- another thing you have to really plan well is the ice cream when it comes to the table has to be perfectly soft. you don't want anybody to go, start poking the thing. when you go like this. so the timing, everything has to be worked out. so that was, for me, the dessert that i was most proud. there was so many components

that you had to work on. what's your favorite dessert to eat? .. roland i would like to ad done more thing. we were outside. >> dessert, a good old american many people say that's too difficult. pie.

i don't know why you bother. i learned to love whoever was in the white house. so many times , i can assure you another thing, during all my years in the white house , i saw every president and first lady cry, i have seen them cry, and i have seen them laugh. i tell you one thing, it gets right to your heart. because the first family becomes your family with the years. many times, when i first come to the white house , i put a guideline for me in my head. i said if the president or first lady was attacked, would you put your body to shield them? that is not even a question? that is not even a question! i would act in a minute.

this is enough of beating people on the head. trust me, complements pats on the back, they will solve a lot of crisis. i was 26 years in this position. i know i would have never, never let the president or first lady have a deception on what they were expecting. my profession was very important to me. this is why television and all that, i could not care less. all the sports the go on, do they know what they're doing? do they know it is a shame what they're doing? do they know they're tellin you stuff that is not true? do you know now when they do some sugar sculpture on television, do you know what they use? there is not one ounce of sugar in it. i will tell you but they use.

you know cough drops? you know what cough drop is made of? malt. it is a product that looks like sugar that you can flavor but it has zero sugar in it. it does not get affected by humidity. do you know cough drop? many years ago, and some of you have been around a little bit, they used to stick together after you opened the back. now they don't stick anymore. but the pastry chef, they still come on tv, don't get me started -- you know, i mean, they know, we are totally two different breed, okay? they are taking you for full. every show. yes? >> which president or first lady was the most demanding.

you mentioned nancy raegan. not in a bad way, who had the most ambitious ideas for you ? why did you retire when you did? >> okay. no president or first lady force me on anything. most of the time i decided on the desert. the social secretary, they would look at it, person involved. after, when i started to have that feeling about doing special stuff, automatically when i planned it it was over the. someone asked me to make a pie. i said the pie shop is around the corner, not here. you know, it has to be here, special, and many time the

desert, they would invite head of states. a flag is too easy, it has to be something else. then sometimes, you know there so many stories of that, but we need to curb it. yes? >> did you do a sample to make sure it would work? >> yes, social security would come around and look. i didn't finish that question. which one? >> >> why did you retire? >> why? because i was going downhill, in a 15 hour day will catch up with you. and one day i sat down with my wife and i said listen, we need to decide on a date, i cannot do that anymore. and because of the style i

created, don't tell me to do simpler things. i could not do that. i could not do that. so, you know that's why, yes, i'm sorry. so yes? >> did the sugar ever stick to the souffli? >> sugar, no problem but the souffli is an interesting one there. and that did happen once, and it was not even part of my control. we were doing a hot raspberry souffli, which was delicious. the recipe i used, the desert could be a low-calorie, a diet dessert, if you will because it's a wonderful recipe. made with fresh raspberries and everything. >> and we were doing that for a while, i forget which country. that was in spring, i put that

on the menu. i wanted the hot raspberry souffli. and at the white house, we made a souffli like that. two per table because i told you we had a great dessert. so, i tested the recipe, check it out, tested, tested and the timing and everything. then everything was about timing. and it worked beautifully. so here come the night at the dinner i knew what time, okay we start the egg white, let's whip the egg white, we were hoping all day egg white at the time. and you know what? they never came up. i said man, i used a different word. but i mean honestly, here the guests are going to come because a souffli that size needs over an hour to bake. at least. so, and the dinner at the

white house takes maybe a little bit less than an hour already. so i said okay let's throw those away, we washed the bull we start all over. we start again. they don't come up again! now the clock is ticking and you know at the white house, when they come for dessert, you cannot say i need another 10 minutes. you cannot do that! the only word that they want to hear is speak up, now. so, we were cutting eggs again, wash the bowls when i heard, i was still working in the kitchen with the main ship spirit i heard the new chef and the assistantship told him about the mayonnaise that they made on that machine that morning. you know how many drop of oil it take to mess up in a great?

2 drops, one drop, forget it. and i didn't see it, i wasn't there when they did it, so all of this splash on the machine. so when you came with your next thing, and you don't see it, you don't know what it is. so, you know, when i heard them talking i said oh my god, should i keep them a half hour? i was very upset, that they didn't tell me. they said oh, we made careful we made mayonnaise with this. so i washed another machine and here go the egg whites, now meanwhile i have lost a great deal of time. now here it comes, this is when you have knowledge and you have experience, you can rescue that, because you have been there before. but here, a young kid who came out of school, forget about that, what is he going to do,

call 911? call his mother? probably his mother. no, no. so i gave the order to pack up the oven maximum, the stove even, that you cook on, maximum, and those souffli we put on baking pans with water directly over the flame. to get that boost, and i was able to save a great deal of time on those soufflis. you know what? when the butler came in and said souffli, pick up ready, not even a minute delayed. that happened if you have the experience. don't tell me of a guy that has just graduated from the school, from the country club i called the school, it's a country club not a school. and this is not possible unless you lived it, unless you were there. food is a different kind of business, okay. yes was to mark

>> what is your best favorite kind of food? >> to eat a good american pie!? i love a good old american pie, because most pies are no good. the bottom crust that isn't even baked. every time you find a good pie. okay are we good? we're going to do book? we are going to be selling books at cost my latest book that came out last year which is the white house in gingerbread. a wonderful book. it has many recipes, gingerbread recipes, dessert, christmas recipes they are in this book we have this fabulous egg nog recipe, which is the original from the white house, which was messed up later on by another chef.

and nobody, no, i'm telling you the truth, you want to know the truth, hold on. you know the eggnog every night is not the same. after the party, nobody wants to drink it. in my time there was never enough eggnog. >> [ inaudible question ] >> i see you have been in it. [ laughter ] and it's true what i'm saying, but that was a delicious eggnog. you know? but anyway, this book, i will be signing it, if you purchase, now remember, christmas is just around the corner. let me save you some time on your shopping. and another thing, this book, this book because it's so good, the recipes are so true and the

book is based on the truth about, if i were you i would buy several cases and put them in my basement. because this thing will be costing a lot of money later on. i'm not kidding you, take a look at it. and i will be signing it, beautiful signature everybody get 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 has been giving a cord to everyone. thousands and thousands of book and you know what? i've never received a phone call. okay? so that tells you something, that should tell you something, so they started association, i started working with them after

i finished at the white house, and i was so taken by the quality of all the sales, i mean really if you look for a beautiful christmas present, and you locate a few steps from here, if you go see the store and hey, things are being done. it was very taken, this is why i decided to do my book with it because it first i went with a publisher, you know simon & schuster. and i was not really tickled pink with them. but then the association has really blew me away because they don't shortchange everything, go a long way, they liked my dessert, let's do it right. and this is why i appreciate working with them and i hope that we will be continue this nice communication we have.

ladies and gentlemen i wish you the best of time in dc i will see you again around, but enjoy yourself and i hope you enjoy the this showcase. thank you. [ applause ]

♪the c-span bus recently traveled to tennessee asking folks what does it mean to be american? >> what it means to be american, looking at my students, studying the history in the past and sometimes they say why did that replicate? so looking at them specifically and questioning things that go on now to really push the idea of democratic citizenship, voting and seeing what you can do and how you can 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 am free to relate to other people no matter who they are, i'm free to have the

oxygen around me and expressed 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 is to know that you are involved in your city and state and local government and you can learn about problem solving and look at some of the areas in your local government and surrounding communities and see how you can use your voice, your background, your area of expertise to improve and make

it better. to be an american means that you're aware of things going on in your local community and your larger communities across the nation and you're actively looking for ways to improve and make it better for the next generation. >> it's a great place to be here to talk about what it means to be american. that's one of the multifaceted questions that really, what can you do to better your community, local. and then statewide and then of course all of that trickles up to the national opportunities. 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 them finish out the years. so it's really, as we said in the hospitality business, how can you make it a better place to be? >> voices from the road on c-

span. next, descendents of presidents ford truman mckinley johnson and theodore roosevelt meant to share their family stories. the white house historical association hosted the meeting attended by representative from presidential sites 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 association historical and deborah rutter , president of the john f. kennedy center for performing arts. [ applause ]. good evening everyone on behalf of the white house historical association is my pleasure to welcome you to the celebration of the 2018 site. the kennedy center is the perfect venue for this, it