Last night President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama honored Mexican President Felipe Calderon and first lady Margarita Zavala at their second state dinner. Guests included actress Eva Longoria Parker, actor George Lopez, Chicago's own gold-medal winning Olympic speed skater Shani Davis, and New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Entertainment afterwards included performances by pop singer Beyoncé and singers Rodrigo y Gabriela. And, of course, the meal was prepared by Chicago's Rick Bayless who - Twitter scandal aside - seemed to please guests with his meal of "herb green ceviche of Hawaiian Opah, Oregon Wagyu beef in Oaxacan black mole sauce, and for dessert, chocolate-cajeta tart, toasted homemade marshmallows and goat cheese ice cream with graham cracker crumble." more ›

We know that Rick Bayless is a Twitter master. But was he censored from tweeting from the White House? Did he tweet from the White House kitchen and get caught? Or was he putting some serious strain on his keypads with updates? more ›

Remember the Salahis, the infamous alleged White House party crashers? The couple had been finalists for a D.C.-based edition of Bravo's love letter to why the terrorist hate us, the "Real Housewives of..." series and many saw their gate-crashing at a White House state dinner in November as a publicity stunt, something the Salahis denied. Today, The Daily Beast reports that the Salahis wound up landing that tv gig and have already taped 12 episodes. After the state dinner incident, the White House grilled the Secret Service over the lapse in security and held hearings on the matter. And while White House officials denied the gate-crashing incident had anything to do with Desirée Rogers stepping down as the White House Social Secretary, Rogers was still heavily criticized for the incident and speculation remains as to how large a role it really did play in her leaving. [via] more ›

The Salahis weren't the only uninvited guests at last year's State dinner. The unnamed guest entered with Indian Prime Manmohan Singh and underwent all security checkpoints. The Secret Service said via a statement that the person, "went through all required security measures along with the rest of the official delegation at the hotel, and boarded a bus/van with the delegation guests en route to the White House." It's something the Secret Service and Congress can dig into as they keep investigating how the Salahis got into the November event. [Tribune] more ›

Do you recognize the couple pictured above with President Obama? A week ago, we would have all said no. But thanks to some shenanigans by a pair of gate-crashing, reality show grubbing jerkstores during one of the slowest news weeks of the year, we can't help but know. Tareq and Michaele Salahi, previously known for nothing at all, are finalists for a D.C.-based edition of Bravo's love letter to why the terrorist hate us, the "Real Housewives of..." series. Without an invite, the couple showed up to last week's White House state dinner - held in honor of India's Prime Minister Singh who was visiting - and managed to give the security the slip. The couple isn't on the list of guests released to the AP, anyway. After a photo of the couple with VP Joe Biden surfaced, initial reports claimed that the couple didn't meet Obama. As the photo above - released by the White House - shows, though, they sure as hell did. more ›