Eating a jelly doughnut (my favorite!) at Coffee An’ in Westport, CT.

About DumplingsAndDoughnuts.com

Dumplings & Doughnuts, besides being two of my favorite foods (I wanted to go on with “and Pancakes and Cookies” but the URL was too long!), are delicious cross-cultural foods that you can find all around the world. Parceled meat and fried dough is pretty much universal, and always delectable. This blog is a collection of global cooking and family recipes inspired by my family, my heritage and lots of traveling. I love exploring where food, culture and history collide, in rich traditions and endless meals.

About the Author: Kirsten Vala

I grew up near Omaha, Nebraska, where my parents own Vala’s Pumpkin Patch & Fall Festival, a seasonal entertainment business. I spent many hot summers picking sweet corn and working at my Dad’s corner farm stand, where I learned to appreciate (and crave) the freshest produce.

I studied Anthropology and Psychology as an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis. And then, inspired by Gourmet magazine and Food Network (along with a brief stint as a culinary intern in Madrid, Spain), I decided I wanted to be a food writer. I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but I knew New York City was the place to be – I was off in a flash to get my M.A. in Magazine Journalism from New York University.

After graduating from NYU I entered the biggest intern and job-search struggle of my life, but through some super luck I was hired as a freelancer to help launch Gourmet.com (what a dream come true!) and then BonAppetit.com. All of a sudden I had digital experience, and I was fortunate to land a full time job as an online editor for FoodNetwork.com, where I worked for 4 amazing years.

But now, craving suburbia and a change of pace, my husband and I moved to a cute little town just north of Boston. I’m working remotely for Vala’s Pumpkin Patch, helping with everything tech, social and food related, but I’m also launching this new blog and continuing to write. As a journalist, writer and food lover, I’m always searching for my next story and planning my next meal.

You can check out some of my writing on the Food Network’s FN Dish and Cooking Channel’s Devour.