Dinner Under The Stars!

Last night we went to the annual Dinner Under the Stars at the National Arboretum.

Friends of the National Arboretum celebrated the arboretum's contribution to agriculture. We snapped its vice chair, Center for Watershed Protection's Bill Matuszeski, who welcomed guests to the Capitol Columns Meadow grounds for a delightful reception and dinner. He's surrounded by the National Arboretum's Dr. Margaret Pooler, CropLife America's Beau Greenwood, former board chair Tuckie Westfall and her husband, Don.

The evening started with cocktails in the Herb Garden, which is celebrating the year of the pepper and featuring 60 colorful varieties of chili pepper plants. Guests enjoyed sips of wine and bites of mini crab cakes and beef tenderloin. Here, The F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Co and board member Robert Bartlett Jr. and the National Arboretum's Dr. Richard Olsen.

The farm-to-table menu featured sage crusted organic chicken, bourbon flambeed niman ranch pork, asparagus risotto and grilled root vegetables. Dessert was herbal cupcakes and jeweled fruit tarts. Here, Williams and Jensen's Christopher Hatcher, Corn Refiners Association's John Bode, Ben Gruitt and Kailee Tkacz surrounding Cornerstone Gov't Affairs' Denise Bode and Food Marketing Institute's Jennifer Hatcher.

After dinner, a tram toured guests for highlights of the 446-acre Arboretum and everyone went home with a capsicum annuum black pearl chili pepper plant to grow in their backyards. Here, board member Kevin McIntosh and his wife, Marla, and the National Arboretum's John Hammond.