South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Yeh’s lockdown filled with baby firsts
Somewhere between testing beet and carrot juice, blueberries and mint in search of the precise hues for a fourtiered rainbow cake celebrating her daughter’s first birthday in spring 2020, Food Network star Molly Yeh was forced by the pandemic’s gathering storm clouds to abruptly cancel the party she’d spent six months planning.
Since then, Yeh, 32, has balanced the daily frustrations and isolation of quarantine life with the many joyful firsts of her toddler, Bernie. The constant that has held it together is food, or in Yeh’s case, tahini. She’s fond of incorporating her favorite ingredient in original recipes that fuse her Chinese and Jewish heritage.
“Food has truly taken on a different meaning, both in starting a family and also in the pandemic,” says Yeh, who lives on a sugar beet farm with her husband and baby near the Minnesota-North Dakota border.
The young family never went to a restaurant and rarely ordered takeout, cooking from scratch and finding delight in Bernie’s milestones, despite monotonous routines and seemingly endless household chores.
“There were so many special moments that were happening in this terrible thing around us,” says Yeh. “Imagine your first time smelling and tasting fresh bread, your first time baking cookies.”
Yeh, the star of Food Network’s “Girl Meets Farm” show, has been a bright spot in a gloomy year for many viewers, with her infectious smile, recipe mashups (think harissa honey labne, hummus dumplings, kale matzo pizza, and bacon and egg drop soup), and endearing habit of liberally dousing desserts with homemade sprinkles or marzipan.
Pretzel challah was among the first recipes that gained traction on her blog “My Name is Yeh.” And she’s delighted to report that her daughter’s art canvas of choice is painting egg wash on a braided loaf.
Yeh has experienced a rough pandemic year full of pitfalls and pivots like the rest of us. She shacked up with her in-laws while overseeing a massive home renovation, and started work on a new cookbook, “Where The Eggs Are,” featuring easier, go-to weekday meals.
Early in 2020, as Americans baked their way through the uncertainty, Yeh’s older cake recipes became popular again, including carrot cake with hawaij (a Middle Eastern spice) and tahini caramel frosting; chocolate cake with halva filling and tahini frosting; and mini pumpkin loaf cakes with cream cheese glaze and candied bacon.
The new mom admits she struggled when she realized she’s not the fun parent. “It’s become clear that Nick is the fun one, dancing and singing and spinning her up in the air,” she says.
But food has fixed that too. “I get to see Bernie’s face when she eats my chicken noodle soup, and I get to fill the house with the smell of mac and cheese when she wakes up from her nap,” she says.
June 20 birthdays: Actor Bonnie Bartlett is 92. Musician Brian Wilson is
79. Singer Anne Murray is
76. TV host Bob Vila is 75. Singer Lionel Richie is 72. Actor John Goodman is 69. Bassist Michael Anthony is 67. Actor Nicole Kidman is 54. Actor Tika Sumpter is 41. Singer-actor Alisan Porter is 40. Singer Grace Potter is 38.