Mixing up a Storm

When Vivien Ho ’21 wants to bake, she starts by looking up recipes on mostly baking blogs from people like Molly Yeh, and her blog is called mynameisyeh, Ruby Random, and Shivesh Biharis, her blog is called bakewithshivesh. A lot of her baking ideas come from YouTube and watching a lot of videos.

Ho has a big passion for cooking. Most of the time she makes cakes, for her birthday she made pomegranate jam and a chocolate cake. Then she made a carrot cake with some caramel buttercream.  One time she was baking with some friends and one of her friends  couldn’t pick up anything and so they all have this joke where they call her” butterfingers”.

“When I bake, it relaxes me and when I get home I always do my homework right when I get home so in my free time I can bake,” Ho said.

Vivien’s older sister, Eleanor has grown up with Ho and considers her sister one of her best friends. Eleanor left for college about a month ago and Ho is the part of Iowa city that she misses the most.

“Vivien is really witty and smart. I love talking to her because she always makes me laugh, In general I just love spending time with her.Being able to watch her grow up makes me so proud because I know she’s gonna be a absolutely an amazing person.”Eleanor responded through text message.

One time Vivien made a carrot cake that has cream cheese frosting and little marzipan carrots. She also made caramel sauce that she drizzled on top.

“She always loves adding little personal touches to things and she likes making things beautiful. Theres also a bonus of being able to eat it later on.” Eleanor responded through text message.

Ho’s passion for baking  started when she had a lot of free time when she was younger and didn’t have a lot of homework after school, so she would always be baking. “I think Vivien loves to bake because she’s is such a creative person. She gets to make something with her own hands and it always comes out beautifully.” Ho and her mom would always make boxed banana bread and she would always make treats for her birthday. Louis and eleanor , Vivien’s older brother and sister both loved cooking as well. It was something they all loved doing together and having fun with it.   

“I always thought it was funny that i’m the older sister, but she’s so much better at this kind of stuff than I am. I Tend to just eat the food she makes and contributes by doing the dishes.” Eleanor responded through text message.