THE LATEST FROM FRAN BERGER
Food & Recipes
The Ultimate Guide to Crafting a Stunning Crudité Platter
Want to create a colorful and flavorful spread to entertain and delight your guests? A crudité platter makes for a beautiful and impressive dish for everyone to enjoy at any occasion. Follow this simple guide with personal suggestions from Fran...
Read MoreBuild a Simple Charcuterie Board with Our Easy Guidelines!
Shop Red Wine Glasses Charcuterie is a popular culinary art dedicated to enjoying preserved meats and cheeses. These bountiful spreads have been used to entertain dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Today, charcuterie boards continue...
Read More3 Reasons Why Wines and Cheese Go Together
Wine and cheese have been the perfect duo for hundreds of years. But why? There are so many aspects of your wine - flavors, tannins, aromas - that can be revealed from pairing with the right cheese. Knowing why and...
Read MoreBrunch Should Be Easy – So You Can Spend It With Your Friends
It’s so wonderful to be able to get together with friends again. Even though I’m almost always in the mood to entertain, hosting a weekend brunch may be one of my favorite ways to gather with friends and family. There’s...
Read MoreIt’s Summer So It Must Be Corn Season!
Corn etiquette: how to pick it, store it, and fix a bad choice. I look forward to summer every year for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fantastic produce that’s perfect and in season for...
Read MoreWhat’s the Best Summer Beverage in this Heat?
The simplest spritzer to help keep you cool in this heat. It’s summer. It’s hot, even in the evening. You have friends coming over and no one wants red wine. Even rosé just doesn’t seem cold enough. What to do?...
Read MoreTips on Storing and Serving Wine
How do you know if you’re doing it right? Picture it: You’re at a good restaurant with friends and one of them is a self-proclaimed wine snob so you hand him the wine list. He chooses what he says will...
Read MoreTips on How to Ripen that Rock-Hard Avocado
Can’t find a ripe avocado and you need one (or more) to make guacamole tomorrow? You invited friends over tomorrow night for a viewing party of the finale of your favorite TV show and you want to make your famous...
Read MoreRecipe for Summer Punch: Champagne, Fruit, and Fun Ice
An adult drink with champagne that only looks fruity sweet (it isn’t). It’s summer and that means outdoor or indoor fun with friends and family and usually in a group. I always recommend greeting your guests with an adult beverage...
Read MoreKitchen tip: How to use raw asparagus.
It’s Summer and that means Asparagus in all its glory! Who knew? Some of my most favorite fruits and vegetables are in season right now – beans of all types, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, stone fruit, berries, grapes, pears – the...
Read MoreRecipe Cooking Times Can Be Deceiving!
Often, they’re just a suggestion. Recipe writers can’t always be quite as precise as they’d prefer when they list cooking times in a recipe. So many variables enter into the equation. This Spring, a friend’s daughter was making her first...
Read More8 Fruits and Vegetables that Don’t belong in your Refrigerator
How to keep your fruits and vegetables tasting as they should. In a perfect world we’d shop daily and prepare what we purchased for that evening’s meal. But, we all know it’s just not that easy to get to the...
Read MoreHow to set up a hot beverage station for your morning ‘brew’.
It’s so easy to create a place for coffee or tea in your kitchen. We all have our routines that we follow in the morning. It might be that you jump up and head straight to the gym with just...
Read MoreParty treat: Champagne Jello Shots
This is the little party treat that will make a big splash at your next gathering. There are so many different ways to entertain guests: with mixed drinks, fun appetizers, and tasty finger snacks. This idea is an instant party...
Read MoreGet ready for a spring time treat—Roasted Asparagus
It’s a quick home recipe for roasted asparagus that’s perfect for any meal. I love the taste of fresh asparagus. And, the best way I know how to prepare them is roasting them with this very simple recipe. The first...
Read MorePeel, Don't Snap! A New Approach to Preparing Asparagus
You’ll enjoy more of your asparagus stems by peeling them. I’ve always loved asparagus and artichokes. They remind me that spring is coming. But they also bring back so many great food memories because there are so many ways...
Read MoreEverything you need to know about your cast iron skillet.
The iron skillet is one of the most valuable tools in your kitchen and probably the one you take most for granted. After a lovely dinner at the home of a friend, a few of us walked into his kitchen...
Read MoreHow to get the best zest from your citrus.
My three most favorite types of citrus zest: curly, sliced, and fine grated. I’m sure most of you have already run into “citrus zest” as an ingredient in a recipe. I can think of several mixed drinks that call for...
Read MoreThe Making of a Beautiful Morning Coffee Service
How to make your morning more beautiful with the perfect way to serve coffee. I’d love to share a food memory with you. It was several years ago on one of my many trips to Italy and I was staying...
Read MoreKitchen Hints: The Three Most Common Onions you need daily.
White, Red, and Yellow Onions are the three that you need in your kitchen, indeed! A friend of mine told me about this 7-onion soup that she had the other day. She said it was so good and so tasty...
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