The Westchester Bar Bible – Westchester Magazine – January 2014 – Westchester, NY

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Oh boy, this one was…interesting. Great-interesting, not bad-interesting. It took over 2 months and about 60 or so bars for Scott, the other Westchester Mag editorial assistant, and me to narrow down to a handful of our favorites in the County. We hit bad dives and sipped warmish beer while watching the gin-soaked ghosts of cirrhosis-yet-to-come doze at the sticky bar. But we also hit ultra-luxe lounges that made us rethink our career choices. And everything in between. By the end, I could hear my liver let out a tiny, anguished scream every time I put liquid to lips. I think I’m still recovering. And by recovering, I mean drinking.

This is my job. My job is to eat and drink and travel and work out and speak with really interesting people and write with really fun people. I might not be blowing hundies in those ultra-luxe lounges every night, but my god, I’m not complaining.

That’s a lie. I complain all the time. About everything. Because I’m a Millennial, and that’s how we cope with global warming, and the Boomers taking all our Social Security, and living with our parents, and coming to terms with the fact that there are physical consequences to eating mac and cheese. Maybe it’s just me?

Anyway, originally published in the January 2014 edition of Westchester Magazine.

The Westchester Bar Bible – Westchester Magazine – January 2014 – Westchester, NY.

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Wine and Westchester: Portuguese Imports – Westchester Magazine – January 2014 – Westchester, NY

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Small piece on Adega Wine Shop, a Portuguese-focused wine shop in Ossining, NY. Put me in the mood for some vinho verde, but then what doesn’t? Originally published in the January 2014 issue of Westchester Magazine.

Wine and Westchester: Portuguese Imports – Westchester Magazine – January 2014 – Westchester, NY.

How to Pick a Fight in Westchester – Westchester Magazine – January 2014 – Westchester, NY

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Ok, so I’m an unabashed, drooling, YouTubing muay Thai nerd. A hopeless addict, carrying a roundhouse-kicking, Superman-punching monkey on my (now muscular) back. I’ve been training in the sport for several years now, and it’s offered me an outlet for stress and anxiety, as well as gotten me stronger and better conditioned than I’ve ever been in my life. Really, I can’t talk enough about it. In fact, I write this now shaking my spiritual fists in rage at the snow drifts and frozen roads outside my door, which prevented me from hitting class tonight. So, as you can imagine, it was hard not to squeal during the entire process of researching, reporting, writing this MMA guide for Westchester Magazine‘s January issue. As editor of the department in which it appears (Diversions),  as well as the fitness editor for the mag, I’m really excited to focus on active lifestyle topics in 2014. Stay tuned…

How to Pick a Fight in Westchester – Westchester Magazine – January 2014 – Westchester, NY.

Grand Central Oyster Bar Turns 100 – Westchester Magazine – December 2013 – Westchester, NY

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Grand Central Station’s iconic Oyster Bar turned 100 in 2013, and I spoke with Janet Poccia, a Yonkers resident and president/CFO of the company about her unusual path to the top, and got some tips from the culinary staff there on picking your own oysters. Originally published in the December 2013 issue of Westchester Magazine.

Grand Central Oyster Bar Turns 100 – Westchester Magazine – December 2013 – Westchester, NY.

A Local Pulitzer Winner on Violence Against Women – Westchester Magazine – November 2013 – Westchester, NY

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This was a great piece to work on: a profile of Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize winner, journalist, author, and banking exec, but most famous, perhaps, for her book on the global scourge of violence against women–Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, co-written with her husband, the New York Times‘ Nick Kristof. Their work would go on to become a two-part PBS documentary and a Facebook game. It was the most gutting research I’ve ever done. The stories of this kind of violence are staggering, not to mention the numbers of missing, murdered, and mutilated women; but more potent than the misery was the sense of hope many of these women possessed as they struggled to better their lives and the lives of those like them. Similarly, WuDunn’s sense of hope, even in the face of all she knows and has seen, is striking, as is the way she directs her business sense to discuss potential (and realized) economic solutions to the problem of violence, fundamentalism, and even terrorism. Originally published in the November 2013 issue of Westchester Magazine.

A Local Pulitzer Winner on Violence Against Women – Westchester Magazine – November 2013 – Westchester, NY.