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Former White House Chef Walter Scheib, left, prepares hors d’oeuvres in the kitchen with Colonnade Executive Chef Sean Keeney during a visit to Scranton on Wednesday evening. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Former White House Chef Walter Scheib talks about his experiences preparing meals former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their families.

Former White House Chef Walter Scheib, left, chats with guests during a visit to the Colonnade in Scranton on Wednesday evening.

Guests sample Mexican fusion grilled shrimp hors d’oeuvres prepared by former White House Chef Walter Scheib at the Colonnade in Scranton on Wednesday evening.

President George W. Bush liked peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch. A teenage Chelsea Clinton only wanted macaroni and cheese — the kind in the blue box — for dinner. As first lady, Hillary Clinton had more than 100 bottles of hot sauce and got an inkling for fajitas once in a while.

These inside tidbits are just a sampling of the tales former White House chef Walter Scheib shared with about 50 people May 13 at the Colonnade in Scranton. Scheib served breakfasts, lunches and dinners to the two first families from 1995 to 2007. The experience, while probably ranking as one of the coolest jobs ever, was stressful and required a different outlook on food and cooking, Scheib said.

“When you’re working at the White House, it’s not a hotel or a restaurant, or a private club. It’s a personal home,” he said. “Our goal wasn’t just to cook food at the White House, it was to give the first family an island of normal in a very, very crazy world.”

In addition to helping create a calm world amid pivotal moments in history including the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Sept. 11, Scheib said the idea of “bringing dinner back to my mother’s table, the concept of comfort food … had really come to the forefront as people were scared. Where do you go when you’re scared? Back to Mom and Dad, back to the family’s table. Sometimes it’s just like, America, come back home.” he said.

Chef talked about a dinner he was planning for 3,000 government employees and their families. The dinner was disrupted that infamous Tuesday in September 2001.

“The day of 9-11 we were going to have a congressional picnic on the south grounds of the White House,” Scheib said. “We were all evacuated that day, the scene on the street was pandemonium. I was back in the house by about noon and then we spent the rest of the day taking all of the food we had for these 3,000 people that were supposed to be at the picnic and served 3,000 soldiers and policemen and all of the security that was surrounding the White House.”

Scheib recalled some sweet moments, some awww moments, in the home that the public might not be privy to, especially about Bush.

“He’s actually a very romantic guy, he would always get a coffee, have the butlers bring the coffee to him and he would take it to Mrs. Bush in bed and give her coffee in bed every morning,” he said.

“Was Bill as nice to Hillary?” one curious attendee asked Scheib. The question was followed by laughter, but the chef quickly silenced the crowd.

“They had a different relationship than normal folks,” Scheib said. “It is a deeply loving, deeply committed relationship that was, at that time, in complete free-fall.”

While Scheib was trying to create a normal environment inside the White House, he stocked up on experiences and memories during his crazy life while on the job. Balancing a family of his own, Scheib clocked an 85-hour work week consisting of early mornings, late nights, and parties for hundreds of people, with guests including South African President Nelson Mandela, United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Diners Frank and Tammy Sakevich, Olyphant, said they were looking forward to sampling the same cuisine as such world leaders.

“It’s not every day you get to meet and talk with a White House chef,” Tammy Sakevich said. “I’ll be able to say I ate the same thing he served to Boris Yeltsin.”

The May 13 menu included spice-rubbed beef with a tequila cumin relish, deviled eggs, vegetable bruschetta with herbed feta cheese, grilled shrimp with a Thai curry tomatillo salsa, and panko crusted halibut with green saffron relish.

Taking a bite of the halibut, Jennifer Roach, Philadelphia, said the concept of the panko crusted fish brought back memories of a childhood staple — fish sticks.

“That’s just what chef was talking about with ‘my mother’s table,’ the comfort food,” she said. “Of course this is so much better, but that idea of bringing it home to the kitchen table is so true.”

The event was hosted by Colonnade owners Paul Blackledge and John Mast and sponsored by Fortune Financial Group founders Chris and Mary Beth Scalese. The event was a fundraiser for The Foundation for Cancer Care.