Nov 062009

Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden is about to become a culinary battlefield.

The Food Network announced Wednesday that an episode of “Iron Chef America” will be taped at the White House featuring Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse.

The three chefs, joined by White House chef Cristeta Comerford, will be welcomed by the first lady and allowed to use anything found in the garden to help create their meals.

The competition will then move back to the network’s Kitchen Stadium in New York, where Flay and Comerford will face-off against Batali and Lagasse to produce five dishes showcasing the ingredients.

The judges will include chef Nigella Lawson, Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin, and actress Jane Seymour.

The episode airs Jan. 3.

(source)

Posted by steph at 6:06 am Tagged with:
Nov 042009

Katie Couric interviewed First Lady Michelle Obama for Glamour’s Women of the Year issue. Topics they talk about include the importance of role models, mentoring and her biggest surprise as First Lady.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Posted by steph at 6:44 am Tagged with:
Oct 242009

What’s President Barack Obama’s most annoying habit?

Practicing his speeches for hours in front of the bathroom mirror? Talking too much foreign policy at the dinner table?

No – first lady Michelle Obama said Friday it’s his tennis game. When they play, the president usually wins.

“He beats me quite often,” she said on NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show,” appearing via satellite hookup from the White House. “That gets to be pretty annoying.”

The show was taped for airing later Friday evening.

In a brief skit, Leno pushed her to talk about her husband’s flaws. At first, she sarcastically said he has none.

“He’s perfect,” she quipped.

Then she let it out: It’s their battles on the tennis court that get her peeved.

It also looks like Bo – the Obamas’ dog – is living like a king. The first lady said the presidential pooch celebrated his first birthday earlier this month with a Rose Garden party.

Bo, a Portuguese water dog, feasted on a cake shaped like a dog house that was made out of veal.

“We had a really sweet celebration,” the first lady told Leno. “We had party hats.”

The first lady told Leno there are White House secrets she will never reveal – she refused to divulge what daughters Malia and Sasha are wearing for Halloween.

“You need security clearance for that,” she said.

Leno also wanted to know what she whispers to her husband after his speeches.

“I usually ask him did he take out the garbage,” she said.

Posted by steph at 7:49 pm Tagged with:
Sep 302009

With all the incredible chefs and bakers in the presidential kitchen, what’s Michelle Obama’s secret to not gaining the White House 15? Moderation.

“I try to have no absolute no’s,” admits the 45-year old First Lady in the November issue of Prevention Magazine. “I love French fries, I like a good burger, and I like pie. And that’s okay. I would be depressed if I felt I could never eat the things that I love,.”

She adopts the same policy when it comes to her children, Sasha and Malia.

“I also don’t want my girls to be obsessed about food,” she says. “We don’t have a ‘no junk food’ rule – I just want them to think about their choices. When my older daughter asks, ‘Can I have pie?’ I’ll say, ‘Did you have it yesterday? Well, what do you think?’ And she’ll come to the conclusion that, ‘You know, you’re right, I shouldn’t eat pie every night.’”

It’s a lesson Obama has learned well, saying that in recent years, she’s actually in better shape than ever before.

“I’ve had more time [to work out] as my kids have gotten older. There was a period, actually right before the campaign started up, that I was really in tip-top shape. I was really there. And then my husband ran for president.”

Right.

But now that she’s settled into her new routine, Mrs. O is back on track with her exercise.

She commits to a no-nonsense workout plan that involves 4:30 am workout sessions, which range from Pilates to cardio to weight training.

The grueling workout is worth it, when the world is watching her every move and muscle. Especially her biceps.

“I enjoy arm exercises because you can see what it’s hitting,” she says.

(source)

Posted by steph at 6:25 am Tagged with:
Sep 222009

Michelle Obama gave her husband the silent treatment at one point in his campaign for president because so many women “pushed their bodies up against his, slipped phone numbers into his pockets” and whispered lewd suggestions in his ear, a new book out today claims.

In “Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage” (William Morrow), Christopher Andersen reports, “On more than one occasion, Barack tried not to look startled when some random woman in the crowd would grasp him firmly by the derriere — and sometimes try to hold on.”

After an appearance in Peoria, Ill., the future president slid into the back of his SUV, and allegedly said, “Jesus, I wish they’d stop grabbing my ass.”

“Michelle, understandably was not amused,” Andersen writes. He quotes her as saying, “. . . I want to tell these women, ‘Back off. Get a life.’ It’s just embarrassing, that’s all.”

The book relates, “Michelle knew that all the unseemly fawning nourished Barack’s admittedly already oversize ego. ‘He’s loving it,’ she muttered at one point. ‘He’s a man, isn’t he?’ Once again, she resorted to giving him the silent treatment.”

Andersen cites rumors “that it was more than just the random flirting from strangers that was getting to Michelle. Her husband, it would later be reported, had grown close to an attractive young African-American woman [working for the Obama campaign] named Vera Baker.

“When Baker suddenly and inexplicably vanished from the campaign and resurfaced on the Caribbean island of Martinique, tongues reportedly began wagging. A jealous Michelle, it was suggested, had engineered Baker’s departure.”

Andersen writes that Baker later told a reporter, “Nothing happened . . . I don’t have anything to say.”

(source)

Posted by steph at 10:16 am Tagged with: ,
May 072009

MICHELLE Obama had one request at Tuesday night’s annual Time 100 gala at the Time Warner Center — no reporters. The six scribes invited to sit for dinner were all told beforehand, “Do not speak to [Obama], she’s just here to relax.” Not that they could get to her. The first lady was surrounded by Secret Service agents, sitting with Oprah Winfrey, Time editor Rick Stengel and Gayle King. Most speakers talked about their idols, bringing tears to eyes — except for Stella McCartney, who, flanked by Liv Tyler and Kate Hudson, praised her parents for instilling in her the bravery to design clothes without leather or fur. Emcee Jimmy Fallon did a Bono-inspired song called “Carwash for Peace.”

(source)

Posted by steph at 6:35 am Tagged with:
Nov 122008

Michelle Obama is one low-maintenance, First Lady!

For her visit to the White House with husband, Barack Obama on Monday, she chose a bright coral dress straight from her closet.

The designer, Maria Pinto, had no idea Obama had elected to wear a piece from her collection to the White House until she saw her on TV.

“That’s what I love about her,” Pinto told Women’s Wear Daily. “She has things in her wardrobe, in her closet, and she’s ready to go.”

Pinto said that fashion choices “come very naturally” to Obama.

“In working with clients I have found that everyone has a button,” she told WWD. “For some, it’s angst-driven. For others, it’s more natural. Michelle is very natural.

She moves beautifully, and is naturally confident and comfortable. She knows what she looks good in but, at the same time, she’s open to suggestion.”

What does Pinto see Obama wearing for the January 20 inaugural ball?

“I see her sleek…. I don’t see her in a big, poufy ball skirt.”

She added: “A lot from the collection is sleek, but also with embellishment.”

(source)

Posted by steph at 6:31 am Tagged with:
Jul 082008

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