Pair It Up! Her Name Is Yeh
As much as the majority of my career has centred around the intersection of wine and food, I do less reading about the latter than I’d like. Sure, I flip through the big magazines, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit and Saveur (my favourite), but my online reading habits are most often found solely in the wine column. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading (and learning) about food, and I’m a big fan of excellent food photography, but the websites that keep me coming back have been few and far between.
There’s one website, a food blog that I caught on to recently (though it was via Saveur magazine), that I’ve really clamped on to for the written content, tone and awesome photography.
My Name Is Yeh is a blog by Molly Yeh, who grew up in Chicago and then lived in Brooklyn while going to Juilliard to get her degree in percussion. At school she met a guy whose regular life was as a fifth-generation farmer outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota. When school wrapped up, she picked up and moved to the farm to be with him, and documents her life on the website. Her back-to-basics lifestyle looks quite romantic and full of charm.
Food is a passion of hers, and she does a fantastic job of sharing her enthusiasm in recipes, words and (incredible) photography. It’s a fascinating enough world she shares, and extra interesting to see how she brings her heritage (Chinese and Jewish) into her food from time to time.
Her recipes are inspiring and easy to follow. Her Fettuccine Carbonara adds a generous helping of green beans. I like that addition to the rich and saltier bacon and parmesan traditional components; it adds liveliness and, well, a sometimes much-needed vegetable component to dinner.
While you can match the pasta’s richness with something like JoieFarm Un-Oaked Chardonnay (its lees-y character is what brings a little more weight to the lively apple and citrus notes), feel free to pour a little something that will dovetail with the ‘pop’ of the green beans, the zippy Seasons Pinot Grigio would do just fine!
As a nod to her Jewish side, Yeh knocked it outta the park with this recipe for Rosemary Ricotta Blintzes with strawberry rhubarb sauce. While they’d be great any time of day, I’m thinkin’ they’d sit well on any brunch table. In pondering of a good wine pairing - because wine will make a good brunch into a great brunch - I immediately gravitate towards a dry rosé. The strawberry and rhubarb-laden Honest John’s Rosé by Road 13 Vineyards, composed of Syrah, Merlot and Gamay, should hit the spot. As an added bonus, its hint of a classic South Okanagan sage-y note would happily greet the recipe’s rosemary component.
Do poke around her website. While it sounds like it may be a stretch, after just a few clicks, you just may want to move to rural North Dakota.
Kurtis Kolt is a Vancouver-based wine consultant, writer, competition judge and enthusiast. He’s not half as fancy/boring as that sounds. He Tweets and Instagrams @KurtisKolt.
