Sproxno

I grew up with soups like this on repeat, and I still think it’s one of the most satisfying bowls you can make with humble ingredients. It’s hearty, it reheats like a dream, and it’s the exact thing you want when the weather turns or you just want something steady and real.

I like serving mine with a few Kalamata olives dropped right into the bowl and a piece of crusty bread on the side to soak up the broth. That salty olive + tomato + bean combo is hard to beat.

If you’ve never made fasolada before, this version stays traditional, tastes big, and doesn’t get fussy.

Greek Youvetsi is a traditional comfort dish of braised lamb cooked in a rich tomato sauce and finished with orzo pasta. It was one of my favorite meals growing up, and this version uses both lamb shanks and shoulder chops for extra flavor with slightly saucier orzo that reheats beautifully as leftovers.

I’ve wanted to make this for a long time, and it finally happened because my girlfriend’s mom gave me star anise — which pushed me toward a braised dish. I kept it no-wine, one pot, and built it for leftovers.

It didn’t look like the youvetsi I remember, but it tasted like comfort food should: deep, warm, and better the next day.

Some evenings the Hudson River turns into a mirror. The sky goes gold, the city lights start to glow, and the entire skyline feels like it's floating between two worlds — water and sky.

This photograph, “Current and City”, captures one of those moments looking south along the Hudson River toward Manhattan. The skyline stretches across the horizon while the river quietly carries the light of sunset.

I’ve spent years photographing the New York skyline from different vantage points across New Jersey. But this view — with the river pulling your eye toward the city — always feels timeless.

And that’s exactly why this image works so well as wall art.

Camping is a strange hobby. You spend the weekend sleeping on the ground, dealing with bugs, maybe getting rained on, and living without some of the basic conveniences you take for granted at home. Sometimes the tent leaks a little, sometimes the coffee takes longer to make than it should, and sometimes you wake up wondering why you chose to sleep on a pile of dirt instead of your bed. Yet somehow people keep coming back to it.

For me, camping is not really about camping. It is about waking up already inside the park. Most of the places I love hiking and swimming are at least a couple hours away, and turning those trips into day hikes means spending half the day on highways. When I camp instead, I wake up surrounded by forests, lakes, and trails. That means less time gritting my teeth and more time grinding coffee.

Most of the places I love hiking and swimming are at least a couple hours away from home. If I tried to do them as day trips, half the day would disappear sitting on highways. Camping solves that problem. Instead of driving back and forth, I can wake up already surrounded by forests, lakes, and trails.

Some of my favorite trips have been to places like the Delaware Water Gap, Stokes State Forest, High Point, Cheesequake, Allaire, and Wharton State Forest. Across the river in New York there are great parks too like Taconic and Beaver Pond. Each park has its own personality — different trails, different lakes, and different scenery.

One of my favorite early hikes was the Tillman Ravine Trail in Stokes State Forest. It is the kind of place that reminds you how beautiful these parks really are.

Camping lets me experience those places in a much more relaxed way.