Food & Drink: Obama in Ann Arbor: What would you feed the president?

By Jessica Webster Community Content Coordinator

Posted on Fri, Apr 30, 2010 : 3:30 p.m.

I’m still waiting for the phone call.

“Hey Jess! It’s Rahm Emanuel. Yeah. So you live near the stadium, right? Barry’s going to be @$#&* hungry after that speech. Can we swing by after graduation?”

(Rahm Emanuel swears a lot, right? What kind of imaginary phone call would it be if I didn’t make it authentic?)

Yeah, I know that having HMX-1 fly over my house and maybe parking a few parents of graduates on my lawn is about as exciting as my day is going to be on Saturday, but that won’t stop me from dreaming.

What would you cook for the president if he showed up at your front door?

I’ve done some looking online, and it appears that when he’s at home in Chicago, President Obama enjoys eating food prepared by Rick Bayless. Have you even looked at some of Rick Bayless’s recipes? Twenty or more ingredients and hours of preparation. I’m not sure I could pull that off. Certainly not on short notice.

Other sites list his favorite foods as Nicorette, trail mix and protein bars. Really, Mr. President?

Maybe this would best be tackled as a collaborative effort. During the campaign season in 2008, my son brought home an issue of "Time For Kids" that listed what both McCain and Obama like to cook at home. At the top of Obama’s list was chili. I make chili! People refer to my chili as “famous” and ask me to cook it for their birthday parties.

Maybe President Obama could come over and we could cook up a batch of chili together in my kitchen. I’ll show him my trick of roasting the three different kinds of peppers in the toaster oven. I’ll talk to him about how much better ground beef tastes when you know it comes from grass-fed cattle. I might even share my secret ingredient. We’ll laugh about how important it is to choose the right music to listen to while you’re cooking.

Yeah. The president and me, hanging out and cooking up a storm in my kitchen.

Wait. My kitchen. My kitchen is a mess. I’ve been trying to get my brother over to paint the ceiling in my kitchen for about a year now. We even called him up and sang our plea to the tune of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' this winter and he still didn’t come. (“Come paint our ceiling! Don’t you know it’s really peeling! Come paint our ceiling right away!”) There’s no way I can have the President of the United States of America in my kitchen.

I guess I'll just have to take him out for lunch, if, you know, Rahm Emanuel calls me up and asks me to feed the president. Now, let’s see ... where would you take the president out to lunch in Ann Arbor?

Leave a comment below and share: What would you cook for the president or where would you take him out to lunch?