Dinner fit for a president: Friday's menu showcases Canadian ingredients
Dinner fit for a president: Friday's menu showcases Canadian ingredients
OTTAWA -
United States President Joe Biden is staying in Ottawa on his short trip north of the border, but the catering team from the National Arts Centre plans to take him on a cross-country culinary tour Friday evening.
The president and first lady Jill Biden are set to be the guests of honour at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum.
The meal, put together by executive chef Kenton Leier, features ingredients such as East Coast yellowfin tuna, Alberta beef, flaxseed, Quebec maple syrup and Yukon gold potatoes.
The three courses also include a cabernet sauvignon jus made with wine from Pelee Island Winery in Kingsville, Ont., and a rum caramel made of Newfoundland's famous Screech rum.
Because this isn't an official state dinner, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her husband, Whit Fraser, are relieved of hosting duties -- though both will be in attendance.
The guest list also includes various cabinet ministers and leaders from Canada's business community, including Canadian American Business Council CEO Scotty Greenwood.
The Prime Minister's Office says all opposition party leaders were invited, along with former prime ministers, former ambassadors to Canada and the U.S. and members of the prime minister's NAFTA advisory council.
It seems the dinner has not escaped the partisan bickering that has taken over Parliament Hill of late: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is attending the dinner, but earlier Friday that remained in doubt, with his office having said it had no record of receiving an invitation.
The Prime Minister's Office insisted that Poilievre was invited via email on March 15, and said he was still welcome. Before that got sorted out, Poilievre's office accused the PMO of "playing childish games."
Jean Chretien and Joe Clark will be there, along with former envoys Bruce Heyman, James Blanchard, Gordon Giffin, David Jacobson and David MacNaughton.
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are also expected to be there, in their first public appearance since they were released from Chinese detention in 2021.
The two were detained for more than 1,000 days, charged with spying offences in apparent retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 at the request of the U.S. government.
National Indigenous organizations will be represented by Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed, and Metis National Council president Cassidy Caron.
Caron said she felt it was important to be there "to show the progress we are making as a nation" and to build relationships.
There will be performances by the Metis Jiggers, Inuit throat singers, an Algonquin drum group called Eagle River and musician Tyler Shaw.
Celebrity guests include filmmaker Sarah Polley, actors Eugene Levy and Gabriel LaBelle, comedian Mark Critch and musician Alan Doyle.
Other invitees include representatives of groups such as Egale Canada, Unifor, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, gun control group PolySeSouvient and Rainbow Railroad. The CEOs of GM Canada and Moderna are also on the list.
Biden attended a dinner in his honour in Ottawa in 2016, when he was vice-president to Barack Obama, and gave a toast that highlighted the deep ties between the U.S. and Canada.
The full menu for Friday night:
First course
-- Cedar salt and seaweed crusted rare-seared East Coast yellowfin tuna
-- White bean hummus, cucumber, pickled radish and bitter greens
-- Flaxseed cracker and lemon parsley emulsion
Main course
-- Alberta beef braised short rib
-- Butternut squash puree and Yukon gold potato pave
-- Wildflower honey roasted carrots and fine green beans
-- Pelee Island cabernet sauvignon jus
Dessert
-- Wild blueberry and Quebec maple mousse cake
-- Screech rum caramel and sweetgrass meringue
-- Fresh berries
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2023.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
As wildfires rage across Canada in what’s being called an unprecedented season, one expert says there’s more that individuals and communities can do to adapt and prevent forest fires from causing widespread devastation.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.
The hot, dry conditions that are fuelling wildfires countrywide are just the beginning of what summer could look like in Canada this year, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.
Tumbler Ridge, a community with a population of 2,400 in northeastern B.C., has been ordered to evacuate Thursday due to the danger posed by an encroaching wildfire.
The decision to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women and who will fund it remains up in the air a month after a feasibility study was completed.
A $100 million class action lawsuit launched on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Manitoulin Island has been abandoned after the victims reached individual settlements with the church.
No one was harmed when a bus transporting elementary school children to a field trip in B.C. caught fire Thursday, with the flames fully engulfing the coach, spreading to an outbuilding and prompting wildfire concerns.
The federal government is looking at creating some kind of national disaster response agency in the face of an unusually intense and destructive start to the wildfire season across the country.
At least five Africans are dead and dozens believed missing after three boats attempting to carry migrants across the Mediterranean Sea sank in recent days off the coast of the Tunisian city of Sfax, the Tunisian coast guard said Thursday.
Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former U.S. president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
Embers from a smouldering scrap wood fire set days earlier outside a home used by a Christian religious communal group along with a sparking power line caused a 2021 Colorado wildfire fanned by high winds that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and left two people dead, authorities said Thursday.
A replacement plane for an Air India flight diverted to Russia because of an engine problem landed in San Francisco on Thursday, carrying all passengers and crew, the airline said.
Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, arrived in the United States from Peru on Thursday to face charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing woman's mother.
Nearly two dozen teenagers from a summer camp were injured when an elevated walkway collapsed Thursday in a beachside city in Texas, with five flown to the hospital by helicopter.
As forest fires rage across the country, experts are sounding the alarm over the physical and psychological impacts of the wildfires and saying that they pose a serious public health issue, which individuals and governments need to acknowledge and act upon.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
Scientists have documented the first-known instance of a 'virgin birth' by a crocodile, which had been living in isolation for 16 years at Costa Rican zoo, according to a study published Wednesday.
The James Webb Space Telescope set its sights on a galaxy 20 million light-years away, capturing a dazzling star-forming galaxy in images streaked with the signature of passing asteroids.
What happens to the brain when you take gravity away? According to a new study looking at astronauts both before and after space travel, that experience causes physical changes that researchers believe requires at least three years between longer missions to recover from.
A lawyer for Prince Harry finished setting out the royal's case against a newspaper publisher on Thursday, quizzing a former tabloid reporter about information inserted into stories by then-editor Piers Morgan.
The many lives of Arnold Schwarzenegger get neatly divided into three equal parts in 'Arnold,' a Netflix documentary-cum-self-led tour through his remarkable success story as bodybuilder, actor and politician, each more improbable than the other.
Parents are finding it tougher than ever to save for their children's post-secondary education, but the mainstays of post-secondary saving remain key tools, as do clear goals and plenty of planning.
Irving Oil says it’s undertaking a “strategic review” with an eye to its future. In a release Wednesday, the company says it’s looking at a number of options, including the sale of its assets.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Bret Hart's longtime connection with the late Iron Sheik was first made in the early 1970s when an Iranian amateur wrestler -- real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri -- came to Calgary to learn from promoter Stu Hart.
Racing at Belmont Park was cancelled and the Washington Nationals' home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was postponed Thursday due to poor air quality from wildfires in Canada.
A group of climate activists claimed responsibility on Wednesday for deflating the tires of sport utility vehicles in Denmark's capital. More than 100 vehicles were vandalized, police said.
Insurance industry group Equite Association says vehicle theft in multiple provinces surged last year. Vehicle theft was up by 50 per cent in Quebec year over year, by 48.3 per cent in Ontario, by 34.5 per cent in Atlantic Canada and by 18.3 per cent in Alberta.
