blog — molly yeh

party

a macaron party

in ,

one thing about living 1,500 miles from the closest ladurée is that a french macaron sighting is literally less common than an albino buffalo sighting. 

so we compensate.  

we put on the french café spotify radio, we wear stripes and invite the town french teacher, and we pile into my kitchen to beat egg whites to stiff peaks and pipe dozens of little macaron shells. 

ok i'm saying this as if this is some sort of weird tradition that we do every month. we don't. yet. but! we did this past weekend for the first time and in the time that it would have taken us to ride the 6 train up lexington and then wait in line for ladurée (and take instagrams of our ladurée), we whipped up our batter, drank wine, made a sprinkle mess, and then ate macarons to the point of belly aches. well, really i got the belly ache, all of my friends are on wedding diets or whatever.

it was so fun!! i love a good chewy macaron. 

want to have your own macaron party?? here are my tips!

make a batch of shells in advance. this isn't 100% necessary if you have mad macaron skills, but i recommend doing this to a) make sure that you have the recipe down (here's my recipe) and b) so that there are some extra shells to fill while the ones that you actually make at the party are baking. 

sift the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture in advance. this process takes so long! it helps to do it in advance (or do most of it in advance and then demonstrate with the rest once guests arrive). 

buttercream. make a big batch of plain buttercream in advance and then set out extracts, food coloring, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and other flavorings so that guests can make their own macaron fillings.   

the setup. each guest should have a baking sheet with parchment (or you can have two guests to a baking sheet), one piping bag for the macaron batter, one piping bag for buttercream, a rubber spatula, a bowl for frosting, a plate for finished macarons, and a container for taking some home. also have some kitchen towels on hand, as well as decorations, like sprinkles! 

don't forget the salty snacks and wine. salty snacks because all of that playing with buttercream will make you crave them. i served sea salted butter dipped radishes, mini quiche, and caramelized onion tarts. and wine, of course! i served kendall-jackson's grand reserve late harvest chardonnay. omg it is so good. 

timeline. make the batter as soon as guests arrive, fill their piping bags, and get piping. since the macarons take a bit of time to sit/bake/cool, get this step out of the way and mingle/nosh/drink afterwards. at some point before the macarons come out of the oven, mix the buttercream and fill piping bags. assemble the macarons, decorate, and eat! 

-yeh!

thanks so much to chantell ziegler for helping with these photos!!

and thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!! all opinions are mine mine mine.

pictured: this dress

smoked gouda fondue + a fondue party!

in , ,

for the past few weeks, on evenings when we don't have volleyball games or music things or figure skating to watch, we've been plopping ourselves in front of the office with a stack of guidebooks for our honeymoon. eggboy hasn't totally figured out trip advisor yet, so we're going with guidebooks for now :) we'll be spending some time in vienna with a day trip to budapest before tinkering around the alps because to be totally honest we have just not gotten enough snow up here in winterfell and i need moarrrrr. 

my ideal vacation consists of staying in a mountainy lodge/castle, eating hotel breakfast until i get kicked out, looking at mountains, maybe doing a somersault in the snow or going in a sauna, basking in areas of no cell phone reception, and then eating schnitzel or fondue, depending on what side of the swiss/austrian border we're on. eggboy's ideal vacation consists of walking around a city and seeing historic things, especially as they pertain to alban berg, hence the vienna part. i hear they have good cake there though, so i am v excited.

perhaps the most amount of excitement for our honeymoon that i've had thus far was when we had our little fondue party last week. i was swirling the melty cheese and eggboy was playing a mahler 9 record and our friends came wearing the cutest sweaters and it occurred to me that next month we're going to be eating fondue in the alps and hearing the cowbells that mahler heard when he wrote his 6th symphony and maybe even skiing!!!!! i can't contain my excitement. this fondue party was like a little amuse bouche to our trip, it was so fun.

here was our menu:

smoked gouda fondue // with pretzel rolls, salami, grapes, broccoli, and apples for dipping

matcha white chocolate fondue and dark chocolate fondue // with strawberries, cake, marshmallows, and pretzel rods for dipping

kendall-jackson grand reserve pinot noir 

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!!

goodies pictured in this post: fondue pot // wood board // tiered plate 

mac + cheese party!!!!

in ,

this weekend we took our imaginary little delorean back to the 90s for some fruit by the foot, neon accessories, a synchronized skating competition at the town ice rink (what!), and a party in celebration of the only food that i would eat for a bulk of the 90s: macaroni and cheese. even though i totally forgot to wear light-up sneakers and make lisa frank goodie bags, it was fantastic.

i set up a little bar with two kinds of pasta, cheesy roux, mix-ins, and toppings, and had my friends fill up cute mini cocottes before we stuck them in the oven to bake. those who wanted to fully relive the 90s in the form of hot dog mac and cheese with extra cheese and ketchup could (that would be me), and those who scoffed at the hot dog idea and wanted the healthier option of whole wheat pasta, vegetables, a teensy bit of cheese, and a sprinkling of za'atar could (oh hey, eggboy). 

while the mac and cheese baked, we had wine and salads and discussed the pros and cons of putting ranch dressing in our mac. have you ever done that?? i'm a new convert, it's so creamy and tangy! however, we did conclude that you can put pretty much anything in a pot of cheese and pasta and you won't really screw it up. except sprinkles. sprinkle mac and cheese might get weird. 

here was our menu:

for noshing // a simple mixed greens salad, so we could at least try to be healthy with all of this mac and cheese.

main course // basic cheddar mac and cheese (recipe here)

toppings // cut up hot dogs, broccoli florets, peas, chopped red bell peppers, everything bagel spice, za'atar, gomasio, crushed red pepper, sriracha, ketchup, ranch, breadcrumbs, black pepper, and parmesan.

dessert // fruit by the foot, gushers, fruit roll ups, rice krispie treats :)

to sip // kendall-jackson avant red blend

here are some tips for throwing your own mac + cheese party:

1. go completely crazy with mix-ins. i think next time i'd like to add chopped apples, crushed walnuts for a topping instead of breadcrumbs, bacon, pesto, tater tots... the possibilities have no end!

2. toss your pasta in olive oil so that it doesn't stick together while it's sitting out. this isn't totally necessary if you cook your pasta right before guests arrive, but if you'd like to cook it earlier in the day, toss it in a tablespoon or two of olive oil, let it cool, and then keep it covered and in the fridge until party time.

3. you can prepare your cheese sauce an hour or so in advance. keep it on the stove on low, and stir it often so that a film doesn't form on top. ideally, it's best to keep it on the stove on low even as guests are dishing up, but if you're going to use it immediately and want to have everything set up on one table, you can put it out on a trivet.

5. pre-heat your oven to 375 in time for when guests arrive. i found that baking our little cocottes for 15-20 minutes did the trick. you can certainly turn the broiler on to get some more color on the tops, but i didn't because i am terrified of the broiler. 

6. if you don't have mini cocottes or other little oven safe dishes, you can nix the baking step all together. for this route, cook the pasta right before it's time to dish up, and whereas for a baked mac you'd want your pasta pretty al dente, cook your pasta fully so that it's ready to eat.

7. have snacks and drinks ready for while the mac is baking. and keep them on the lighter/healthier side since mac and cheese is so darn filling. (same goes for dessert! save the rich chocolate cake for a salad party.)

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!!

jerusalem bagels, harissa honey labne, and a middle eastern wine & cheese party ( + a giveaway)

in

you know what i love about being a grownup, other than being married and being able to buy nice overalls without fearing i'll get too tall for them? getting away with a 4pm wine and cheese party. like, really partying, getting to sleep by 9, and then waking up early enough to make sweet potato gnocchi and accomplish one bread rising cycle before the sunday morning political shows even begin. i love it. i love being old. i love having wine glasses from our wedding registry and i love putting out olives with my cheese even though i don't eat them. 

(remember the 10pm party from college? how did we do that?) 

my 4pm wine and cheese party was my first ever wine and cheese party and i can't believe it's taken me this long to have one. it was so fun and grownup. we played records as the sun set, and talked about baby showers and bachelorettes. in brooklyn, my idea of a fancy cheese plate would have consisted of an oozy epoisses and some delicious old chatham... maybe a hunk of bleu des causes and a ramekin of salvatore ricotta... but here, with no cheesemonger in site, if we want to get fancy we're forced to be way more creative than going to the store and buying a wheel of cheese (not that there's anything wrong with that): marinate all the feta, strain all the yogurt, drizzle on the date honey! before long i had myself a middle eastern cheese party menu and it tickled me so. i did have to google middle eastern cheese and in a perfect world i wouldn't have driven all the way across town in a failed search for halloumi, but i'm v happy with how it turned out. v v happy. here was our menu:

harissa honey labne // it's sweet, hot, and refreshing all at the same time. i was afraid its pepto bismol-ish color would scare my friends away, and maybe i was hoping that would happen so i could have all of the leftovers to myself, but alas (or luckily) they loved it. recipe below.

marinated feta, inspired by eva // because feta is just so much classier when it's in a brick and all prettied up with herbs, no?

dates stuffed with cream cheese, sprinkled with smoked maldon salt, and drizzled with date honey // dates drizzled with date honey... is that what meta is?? major hugs to chanie for the israeli date honey hookup.

dukkah crackers // mmmm these are so good and made with chickpea flour, so they're gluten free. you can make them with za'atar or dukkah or both.

jerusalem bagels // jerusalem bagels are fluffier and way bigger than new york bagels. they're best shared with a bunch of friends on the streets of jerusalem with a little baggie of za'atar for dipping. and it turns out they're also best shared with a bunch of friends on a farm a million miles from jerusalem. recipe below.

olives, olive oil, za'atar, roasted chickpeas, grapes, nuts, and honey // noshies and condiments, noshies and condiments.

a trio of halva for dessert // classic, cinnamon, and coffee flavor, straight from the machane yehuda market in jerusalem, also c/o chanie because that girl knows the way to my heart <3 <3.

pinot noir // ok, this isn't middle eastern, but we had a ton leftover from our wedding :)

harissa honey labne

ingredients

1 qt plain full-fat yogurt

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 1/2 tsp harissa powder

4 tsp honey

olive oil

clues

line a strainer with cheese cloth and set the strainer over a large bowl. mix the yogurt with the salt and then pour it into the cheese cloth. let it strain in the refrigerator for 24 hours, checking once or twice to pour out the liquids from the bowl. 

place the strained yogurt in a large bowl and mix it with harissa and honey, spread it on a serving plate and drizzle with olive oil. serve with crackers or bread.

jerusalem bagels

makes 6 large bagels

ingredients

4 c bread flour

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tb sugar

1 c warm water

1/2 c warm milk

1/4 c olive oil

1 egg, slightly beaten

sesame seeds and salt, for sprinkling

clues

in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. add the water, milk, and oil, and mix for about 10 minutes, until you have a nice smooth dough. transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let rise for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

on a work surface, divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll them out into long pieces, about 1 1/2 feet long, and shape into ovals. place them a few inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment, brush them with the egg, and sprinkle all over with sesame seeds and a few pinches of salt.

let rise for 30 more minutes. preheat oven to 350, and then bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned.

serve warm, with za'atar for dipping.

-yeh!

this post was done in collaboration with le creuset in celebration of their new wine and cheese line!! the goodies i used for this post are their round platter with cutting board, large carafe, compact lever (which is some serious magic), and foil cutter. it's a beautiful line that could maybe even make a night of velveeta and two buck chuck feel classy (hehe). oh oh! and do you want to win a round platter, a compact lever, and some other fun le creuset goodies??? leave a comment here with your favorite cheese!!!!!! open to u.s. residents. update: this giveaway is now closed.

p.s. (!!!) in march, i will be taking my first ever trip to north carolina for a weekend of eating, food styling, and fly fishing on cold mountain with eva and carey! it'll be the tastiest slumber party in all the land. care to join us??? right this way.