Canadian whiskey on menu for White House state dinner

A baked Alaskan halibut casserole garnished with spring vegetables will be served in a tureen for the first course, and be followed by a pungent salad of roasted apricots in ginger, cardamom and White House honey and sitting on a bed of greens.

Not since April 1997, when then-President Bill Clinton hosted Jean Chretien, have an American president and Canadian prime minister clinked champagne flutes at the White House.

The glitzy dinner will mark the end of a day for Trudeau that begins with a pomp-filled arrival ceremony on the South Lawn and will provide him with plenty of time in private talks and in front of cameras with Obama, who remains a popular figure in Canada.

After standing alongside Obama at a news conference, Trudeau will head to the State Department for a lunch hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry before he returns to the White House for the dinner program.