What is on the menu for the Obama inaugural luncheon in Washington next week? Well, first of all you should know that they meal has a theme: Abraham Lincoln and ‘The New Birth of Freedom.’ Really? OK –  if historians tell me that Lincoln liked seafood I’ll take their word for it but he might take a very different view of “seafood stew in puff pastry.”  I’d love to know what Mary thought. Still, I don’t mean to quibble on what should be a happy occasion. I merely point out the facts and let you decide how to use or ignore them. So, the menu:

• seafood stew in puff pastry (why ruin a perfectly good stew with puff pastry?)
• a “brace of birds” as Abe Lincoln would have said but which we call duck and pheasant (served with sour cherry chutney)
• molasses sweet potatoes (can someone explain to me the appeal of sweet potatoes? I just don’t get it.)
• apple sponge cake (which sounds absolutely delightful and which I shall try bext time the urge to bake strikes)
• and California wines (which doesn’t tell us much beyond the fact that someone at the end of the meeting remembered not to order French or Australian wines)

I approve of this menu (except for the puff pastry and the sweet potatoes but it is a democracy so to each his own). And I am not the only one with presidential grub on their minds. Not by a long shot.

• The Guardian has a few of the recipes for those who want to “share the experience ” at home.
• Showing even more UK interest in the culinary side of things is the TimesOnline who gives us a run down on what previous inaugural lunches have consisted of.
• The Library of Congress Blog (which I cannot recommend highly enough if you are like me and love learning tidbits and trivia covering a wide range of topics) has also been pondering “Food Fit for a President.” Great stuff. Thomas Jefferson designed a macaroni machine? Who knew?

All great stuff – and it’s making me hungry so if you all would excuse me . . .