About

Hi, I’m Kristen and I love food.

When I graduated from college I had two ideas: go to DC and get an office job or go to the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. I went with DC and am glad I did, although there were times I wondered if I’d rather be baking. I took a pastry course at L’Academie de Cuisine and took on a weekend job working at Cake Love in DC. I was seriously contemplating a career change, but couldn’t get over the hours and the low pay. In retrospect, I’m sure my experience was tainted by working 7 days a week. It just wasn’t sustainable.

In 2010 my husband, Joseph, was the one who suggested that I start a food blog. I was feeling stuck at work and unsure about what I wanted to do. A food blog was a way of blending my love of photography and of food. I started not really knowing what I was doing, but I came back from a trip to Paris with lots of beautiful food photos intent on trying this blog thing and Pixelated Crumb was born.

I still muddled through work from 9-5, but I  had this creative outlet that I enjoyed on the side. I got to do really cool things, like tour America’s Test Kitchen and go to special food blogger events. I got to judge Jonathon Waxman at a food competition! I got free stuff including kitchen gadgets from OXO, a brand I love. There were lots of fun perks.

In early 2013 I got pregnant and between feeling sick for most 10 weeks of pregnancy and then heartbroken after a misscarriage, I didn’t particularly feel like cooking and writing about it. The following year I had my daughter, and…well, babies are hard. And my daughter was especially hard. She cried ALL THE TIME. I felt like a failure of a mother. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I thought I would never cook for fun again.

Things started to get a little easier when my daughter got a little older, but when it came down to it, I still didn’t feel like I had a spare moment in my life to spend on blogging.

Now, a few more years later, I’ve hit my stride as an instructional designer. Parenting can be hard, but I’ve learned a lot about patience and resilience, plus my daughter is pretty awesome. She’s also much more independent now, and very interested in this food blog thing. Especially if it involves more baking.

Joseph has been an invaluable asset to Pixelated Crumb since the very beginning of this blog. When it comes to the savory side of the kitchen, 9 times out of 10 he’s the executive chef and I’m the sous chef. He is an amazing cook and is always willing to try new things and has an incredible talent for improvising and improving recipes. His love of photography is equal to mine and he has helped with many of the photos you see on the blog. He is incredibly patient and has stood by me, trying to get the best shot, while our dinner grows cold. More than anything, he is my biggest cheerleader and is always inspiring me to do more both in and out of the kitchen.

All photographs and text are my original, copyrighted work unless I state otherwise. If you would like to use them for personal use, feel free to do so, but please cite me as the photographer/writer and include the direct link to the post where you found it. Please contact me directly if you want to use any of my photos or text for any non-personal uses.