Washington wines were on state dinner menu

WASHINGTON — The White House state dinner honoring China's President Hu Jintao Wednesday night featured a "quintessentially American" meal, capped with apple pie, of course, washed down with a pair of Washington state wines.

The first course included a D'Anjou pear salad with farmstead goat cheese, fennel, black walnuts and white balsamic dressing, followed by a course of poached Maine lobster — accompanied by a canape of shrimp from Ipswich Bay, Mass., and smoked rainbow trout from Idaho — with orange glaze carrots and black trumpet mushrooms.

The main course was a dry-aged rib eye with buttermilk crisp onions, double stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach, paired with a 2005 Columbia Valley Quilceda Creek Cabernet. The apple pie with vanilla ice cream was paired with a 2008 Poet's Leap Botrytis Riesling.

The White House Kitchen Garden supplied thyme, rosemary and sage used for sauces and other dishes.

Washingtonians

attend as well

Among those attending the dinner from Washington state were Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer and his wife, Connie; Gov. Chris Gregoire with daughter Courtney; and former Gov. (now Commerce Secretary) Gary Locke and his wife, Mona.

Good luck red

a good look, too

Michelle Obama chose a red Alexander McQueen gown that seemed typical of her atypical first-lady fashion sense: The gown featured an asymmetrical neckline and a petal-print silk organza fabric, and she wore a narrow wrap around her arms as she posed for photos in front of the White House.

"Red is an obvious color because in the Chinese color it means good luck, " said Kate Betts, author of the new book "Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style."

The Associated Press