THE LATEST FROM FRAN BERGER
Blogs
Kitchen hack: Save your leafy herbs, chop them the right way
How to chop leafy herbs AND keep all that wonderful flavor for your recipe. Open a recipe and you’ll find a call for a leafy herb – chopped. To be honest, unless you’re just using the herb as garnish (or...
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How to pick olive oil – read the labels!
Want a great olive oil? Here are 6 tips for reading labels and looking for signs. I went to dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Beverly Hills with a group of friends. My history buff friend was...
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How to dice an onion – the easy way.
This trick will make dicing onions quick and so very simple. Onions get all the grief. They stink up our kitchens and they sting our eyes and make us cry. Yet, onions are in so many recipes, all kinds of...
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Unlock Flavor: 3 Pro Tips to Zest Citrus Like a Chef
My Three Tips to get the best of your ‘zest’. A friend of mine and I were looking over a drink recipe. When we got to the part about adding “zest” to the drink, she wondered, “what kind of zesting...
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We love our Guacamole FRESH
Use this method to keep your guacamole fresh looking – even after you prepare it the night before! You have guests coming at noon tomorrow, and you want to make a guacamole dip. But NOBODY wants to eat brown guacamole,...
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We love our Avocados GREEN
An easy to remember trick to keep your cut avocados from turning that unappetizing brown. If you have been following me for a while, you know that I collect little stories about this and that. I think that’s one of...
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Kitchen Tip: How to slice a mango
Love the mango – tips on picking, prepping, and enjoying. A few weeks ago, I was with a friend, walking around a local farmer’s market (one of my favorite pastimes). We stopped at one booth where we found mangoes –...
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Kitchen Hacks: Must Have Spices for any Home Cook
“Sniff test” your cabinet – it may be full of spices but are they still usable? Even if you cook every day, there’s always a chance you’re going to run into a situation where you just don’t have all of...
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How to get the perfect rug size for your dining room.
Tips for Home Décor – creating the right “balance” between look and function. When I buy rugs for my home, I think about how they’ll look in my home – color and style, and how they will ‘get along’ with...
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Enjoy Al Fresco Dining – Even in Winter!
What a great opportunity – to cozy up with warm drinks, hot food, and close friends. The Italians love dining outside so much that there’s a term for it in Italian – Al Fresco; dining in the fresh air. Dining...
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A Sparkling ‘Welcome’ Drink for Your Guests
A great recipe for a truly fruity drink: Freixenet, Cointreau, Cranberries, and Oranges! When entertaining at home planning is everything. If it’s a themed party, you want just the right decorations for your guests to enjoy. If you’re hosting a...
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Upgrade your Coffee Table or Dining Room Table
Make a statement with cool accents and fabulous conversation starters. A lesson I learned from my mother: if it has dust on it, it’s been out too long. The lesson from that idea may not be what you immediately think....
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