Local Girl Recalls Meeting President Obama At Kids' State Dinner

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- At Phipps Conservatory, the sweet smell of success isn't limited to flowers.

Chef Amy Tyner serves up a menu of fresh and healthy choices for lunch guests at Café Phipps. She doesn't have to go far for ingredients. The Conservatory's "edible garden" is just outside the door.

It seems she taught her daughter well. Eleven-year-old Sydney Tyner came up with a healthy recipe that won her a trip to the White House, representing Pennsylvania at a Kids' State Dinner.

She calls her invention the "chicken taco tower."

"It's organic ground chicken, which is real good," Sydney says. "And then we made a corn taco salsa with avocado, tomato, corn and lime juice."

"Tacos was one of her favorite items," her mother adds. "So she wanted to make her taco a healthy item. And that's where the chicken taco tower came from."

The Kids' State Dinner hosted healthy recipe winners, nationwide.

"I mean, I was there," Sydney recalls. "I actually met the President, shook his hand. He actually asked me about the Steelers."

"He was talking with her, and she was cool and talking back to him, and I could barely speak," her mother laughs. "So she did much better meeting the President than I did."

So will Sydney be a chef, like her mom? Not necessarily.

"Now, don't get me wrong, I love cooking," she explains, patiently. "But my real calling is the presidency."

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