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White House Pastry Chef
Sponsored by the Kilmarnock Garden Club, “Beyond the Rose Garden: A Conversation with Roland Mesnier, the White House Pastry Chef to Five Presidents” takes place April 9, 2014 at 2:00 pm at Good Luck Cellars winery.
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Chef Mesnier
Chef Mesnier and his associate put the final touches on a fishing-themed birthday cake for President George W. Bush.
Looking for a recipe for a guaranteed good time? Take one part philanthropy, mix in a dash of celebrity chef culture, stir in wine, cheese, and sweets, and you’ve got the makings of the Northern Neck’s hottest spring happening. Sponsored by the Kilmarnock Garden Club, “Beyond the Rose Garden: A Conversation with Roland Mesnier, the White House Pastry Chef to Five Presidents” takes place April 9, 2014 at 2:00 pm at Good Luck Cellars winery.
It’s not just that the French-born Mesnier worked at London’s Savoy, Paris’s The Four Seasons Hotel GeorgeV and the Princess Bermuda resort before moving to the USA to work as the Homestead’s pastry chef. This is the man who was initially hired by First Lady Rosalyn Carter and went on to become the longest-tenured chef, pastry or otherwise, in the history of the White House, retiring in 2006. These days he’s almost as busy writing cookbooks, giving talks, judging pastry competitions and helping raise money for worthy causes.
You might not see the connection between gardening and pastry, but the Kilmarnock Garden Club, founded in 1967, has a long history of giving back to the community. One of the club’s original service projects was providing wedding flowers for brides unable to afford the luxury of flowers. “Scholarship awards began early in the club’s history,” says event chair Laurie McCord. “As a small garden club, fundraising was challenging, so the annual scholarship was relatively small. The club preferred to award the prize to a student of horticulture, botany, or the earth sciences. In recent years, the club has changed its policy to award the scholarship every other year so it can offer double the funding.”
The club’s scholarship chairman works with guidance counselors at Northumberland and Lancaster High Schools to identify qualified candidates with the club voting on the recipient. This year’s scholarship winner, Kelvonna Clayton, is currently a freshman at the College of William and Mary.
It wouldn’t be right to listen to Chef Mesnier without indulging a sweet tooth, so refreshments will be served following the program, including a variety of cookies made from recipes found in his book Dessert University. That book, along with All the Presidents Pastries: A Memoir and A Sweet World of White House Desserts, will be available for sale and autographing by the chef afterward.
Tickets can be purchased by calling Jane Denton at 804-435-6877. Donations to the scholarship fund can be sent to Kilmarnock Garden Club, Post Office Box 265, Irvington, Virginia 22480.
This article appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of The Local Scoop Magazine, pgs. 8-9.