About Karista

And just like that, 20 years working in the culinary industry have gone by.

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I started my journey developing recipes and articles for a regional food column. When life moved our family to a new part of the country, I gained practical cooking experience working in commercial kitchens — as a prep chef, cheese specialist, private chef, sous chef, and culinary instructor. Each job deliciously unique, and let's say, character building.

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Another pivot led me back into food writing and recipe development for national food and lifestyle publications, various food brands, and as an on-air recipe expert for AM Northwest Morning Show in Portland, Oregon. That chapter culminated in two cookbooks I'm enormously proud of — The Oregon Farm Table Cookbook (2020) and For the Love of Seafood (2023), available wherever books are sold.

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And then came the next pivot, the one I didn't see coming.

It turns out that a lifetime of writing, storytelling, and talking to my dogs was quietly building toward something. The Happy Huey series, which I'm writing with my daughter Amelia Husbands, began with a real dog named Huey whose wonderfully quirky appearance sparked a question that became our first book.

These picture books for ages 3–6 are rhythmic, giggle-worthy read-alouds celebrating self-acceptance and the joy of being wonderfully, uniquely you.

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These days I'm deep in the world of children's fiction, but I also write my Substack newsletter, A Taste of Belonging, and of course, still cooking. Mostly for family and friends, with the occasional recipe finding its way here and onto Instagram.

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I live in the Pacific Northwest where you can usually find me wandering the outdoors with my dog Gus, reading something wonderful, or dreaming up new adventures for Happy Huey and his friends.