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The Best Dinner Party Questions for Fun Conversation Starters

This post on dinner party questions will help you avoid awkward silence and maintain a lively conversation with your dinner guests. Plus you can get a printable version of 112…

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Easy Mixed Berry Sauce Recipe for a Grown-Up Dessert

This Sangria Mixed Berry Sauce recipe makes a deliciously flavorful sauce starring juicy berries in a Sangria-style sauce. It is a simple fruit sauce recipe that makes a dessert topping…

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What Temperature to Store Red Wine | Best How To Guide

So, you finally started buying enough red wine that you need to store it, but do you know for how long or at what temperature to store red wine? Wine…

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How To Make This Easy Homemade Chocolate Dipping Sauce Recipe

This Chocolate Dipping Sauce recipe makes a thick, delicious chocolate sauce that is both an elegant and fun dessert. Think chocolate fondue, but without the hassle of using a Sterno…

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Temperature Guide: How to Grill the Perfect Steak Dinner

The perfect steak dinner

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  • Delicious and Easy Homemade Salsa Recipe
    Food,  Recipes

    Delicious and Easy Homemade Salsa Recipe

    /No Comments

    This is such a delicious and easy homemade salsa recipe that you’ll make it over and over. This Hot Stuff Salsa is bright, fresh, and very easy to make, but you control the heat! You can serve it as a condiment with any meal. You might be asking why you should make salsa when there are about 10,342 kinds on the shelves of grocery stores all across the nation. Not to mention those you can pick up at your local farmer’s market! NO, the best salsa is not from a grocery shelf. The Farmer’s Market is better, but it is less expensive to make homemade salsa and you can do…

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    RANI

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    Labor Day Grilling Menu

    Grill Out for Labor Day

    08/17/2020
    Hollandaise Sauce ingredients

    Best Ways How to Reheat Hollandaise Sauce

    08/23/2022
    How to Cook a Baked Potato at 375 or 400

    Best Advice How Long to Cook a Baked Potato at 375 or 400: In Foil or Out

    01/17/2023
  • Easy Steps to Host your Double Date Dinner
    MENUS,  Plan Your Gathering,  Wine

    5 Easy Steps: Host Your Fabulous Budget-Friendly Double Date Dinner

    /2 Comments

    Here are 5 easy steps to host your fabulous Double Date Dinner at home. And this budget-friendly menu will cost less than the price for one couple to eat out at a nice restaurant – wine included!

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    RANI

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    Gold and jewel-toned eggs with moss Easter Bunny Tablescape

    Easter Brunch Ideas | A Complete Menu with Wine Pairings for a Fabulous Spring Brunch Gathering

    04/07/2022
    White Wine in Glasses

    Tasting notes: Josh Cellars, Sauvignon Blanc, 2019

    05/14/2020
    Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting

    St. Patrick’s Day Desserts | Make this Recipe for Guinness Cupcakes

    02/22/2022
  • Understand Wine and Food Pairing: How to Actually Savor your Amazing Adventure
    Blog,  Wine

    Understand Wine and Food Pairing: How to Savor your Amazing Adventure

    /4 Comments

    Wine and food are meant to be together! But at home, or even in a restaurant, creating a good wine and food pairing is a challenge. Do you understand wine and food pairing? You may be surprised where your adventure of wine and food pairing takes you.

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    RANI

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    Sparkling Wines to Enjoy

    Tasting notes: Rosé Sekt, Schloss Biebrich, 2019

    07/15/2020
    Sparkling Wine and Bourbon Cocktail

    Easy and Elegant Sparkling Wine and Bourbon Cocktail Recipe

    12/08/2021
    White Wine in Glasses

    Tasting notes: Josh Cellars, Sauvignon Blanc, 2019

    05/14/2020
  • American Sparkline Wine bottles
    Sparkling,  Wine

    American Sparkling Wine: The Case to Celebrate Amazing Local Bubbles

    /No Comments

    American Sparkling winemaking has a fresh approach which represents a new type of wine thinking where curiosity and experimentation are comingled with tradition and technique. Sparkling wine producers in America may very well have the key to boosting the category’s popularity even more and transform it from a purely special occasion or celebratory wine into an everyday drink.

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    RANI

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    Clean Burnt Pot looking like new

    How Clean Can a Burnt Pot Be? Like New!

    06/28/2022
    Sliced loaf of Traditional St. Patrick's Day food

    Bake this Irish Soda Bread Traditional Recipe for an Amazing St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

    02/24/2022
    Grill lit up with wine on tables for backyard bbq

    Best Backyard BBQ Dinner Party Ideas: Easy Outdoor Guide

    08/16/2022
  • New Year's Resolution A Cooking Challenge
    Blog,  Food

    New Year’s Resolution: A Cooking Challenge

    /2 Comments

    Did you make a New Year’s resolution? Did you think about a New Year’s resolution for a cooking challenge? Maybe you picked some of the standard resolutions like improving your health, weight loss, time for yourself, or self-improvement. Maybe you have a New Year’s resolution to connect more deeply with friends, family, or a significant other? A resolution involving cooking is a great way to start the New Year and meet your goals for better health, weight loss, self-improvement, and connection! And, it might even be a resolution that you can keep! Every year we start over. The calendar starts over. Our dreams get rebooted. Our desires are re-ignited. The…

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    txredhead1836

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    Brilliant Ideas For Dinner Party Success In Four Easy Steps

    08/12/2022
    Patriotic Pork Menu banner with sparkler and American flag

    Grill Out July 4th: Patriotic Pork on Your Patio

    06/30/2020
    White wines in glasses

    Wine Exploration – Casal Garcia a Great Patio Pounder

    07/29/2020
  • Rose Wine in Glasses
    Rose,  Wine

    Come and Play! Vinho Verde Rosé, Casal Garcia

    /No Comments

    Come and play with this Vinho Verde Rosé (you read it correctly) from Casal Garcia and you are going to smile like a kid! Don’t let the pink scare you, there is some good dry acidity in this fun-loving bottle!

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    RANI

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    Post-Coronavirus Gathering – Cook at home with friends

    04/04/2020
    Spiked Holiday Cocktail with Eggnog

    Easy Recipe for Spiked Holiday Cocktails with Eggnog

    12/14/2022
    Best White FIsh to Grill on a plate

    The Best Recipe for Simple Mediterranean Grilled White Fish

    05/01/2023
  • Labor Day Grilling Menu
    MENUS,  Recipes

    Grill Out for Labor Day

    /3 Comments

    Heat up your grill for Labor Day! Here is a complete menu and step-by-step guide to help make your Labor Day stress free. This year, well, this year continues to be different. With a nod to recommended size limitations and CDC guidelines for our gatherings, I am grilling out for Labor Day!

    Read More
    RANI

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    Red Wine Tasting Glasses

    Tasting notes: Grandioso, Opolo Wines, 2015

    04/09/2020
    Loads of tomatoes for how to cut tomatoes for salads

    How to Cut Tomatoes for Salads and A Summer Salad Recipe

    05/04/2023
    Why we celebrate the 4th of July

    Do You Know Why We Celebrate July 4th with Fireworks?

    06/25/2020
  • Healthy Date Night Dinner Menu From the Grill - Toast Each Other
    Food,  Plan Your Gathering

    Healthy Date Night HOT Off the Grill

    /No Comments

    Enjoy this healthy date night meal hot from the grill so you can heat up your relationship, not your kitchen. Maybe you need a break, but maybe you really need to shake it up a bit. So how about mixing it up and having a night for the two of you away from electronics, TV, kid talk, boss talk, and worry talk?

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    RANI

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    Gold and jewel-toned eggs with moss Easter Bunny Tablescape

    Easter Brunch Ideas | A Complete Menu with Wine Pairings for a Fabulous Spring Brunch Gathering

    04/07/2022
    Sliced wheat soda bread with oats

    Delightfully Easy Irish Brown Soda Bread Recipe

    02/08/2022
    Memorial Day Great Steak Cookout

    Memorial Day Great Steak Cookout Menu

    04/03/2023
  • White wines in glasses
    White,  Wine

    Wine Exploration – Casal Garcia a Great Patio Pounder

    /3 Comments

    It’s a Wine Up Wednesday and for this wine exploration, we are tasting Casal Garcia a great patio pounder! A Vinho Verde from northern Portugal! At the initial tasting of Casal Garcia Vinho Verde white wine, I found it is young, refreshing, and will most likely make you smile while you enjoy its light fruit notes and minerality. Have you ever had one of those moments, a quiet almost sneaky moment, when you are sitting in an idyllic setting, the world is right in your soul, and you just smile? In those peaceful quiet times of reflection, you smile at the beauty before you. You smile at the enjoyment of…

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    txredhead1836

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    Ooey Gooey Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies

    How to Make the Best Nut-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

    06/15/2023
    You want this Dark Chocolate Dipping Sauce Recipe up close

    How To Make This Easy Homemade Chocolate Dipping Sauce Recipe

    01/19/2023
    Beautiful loaves of bread baked without yeast

    How to bake bread without yeast!

    06/02/2020
  • Sparkling Wines to Enjoy
    Sparkling,  Wine

    Tasting notes: Rosé Sekt, Schloss Biebrich, 2019

    /No Comments

    It’s Wine Up Wednesday! I present to you this Rosé Sekt by Schloss Biebrich in Germany which is a no brainer when you want that fun sparkle and pop.  Who doesn’t want more bubbles?  They are fun and festive and add elegance to any Gathering.  This makes you feel like you are drinking in fun high heels despite wearing flip flops on the porch. It elevates any Gathering you have or attend. Just a quick wine nerd note, as there are many names for sparkling wine. Champagne is only reserved for those sparkling wines from the region of Champagne, France. Snobs. All other sparkling wines in France are commonly referred…

    Read More
    txredhead1836

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    White wines in glasses

    Wine Exploration – Casal Garcia a Great Patio Pounder

    07/29/2020
    Prepared Dinner Party Questions Keep Conversation Lively

    The Best Dinner Party Questions for Fun Conversation Starters

    10/26/2023
    Easy Steps to Host your Double Date Dinner

    5 Easy Steps: Host Your Fabulous Budget-Friendly Double Date Dinner

    02/03/2021
  • Three homemade baguettes baked without bread flour cut in half
    Cooking Techniques,  Food

    How to Bake Bread Without Bread Flour

    /2 Comments

    Three baguettes baked without bread flour

    Read More
    RANI

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    best salsa for keto diets in bowl with chips

    Homemade Recipe for the Best Salsa for Keto Diets

    06/12/2023
    You want this Dark Chocolate Dipping Sauce Recipe up close

    How To Make This Easy Homemade Chocolate Dipping Sauce Recipe

    01/19/2023
    Best Grill Tools featured image with spatula and fork on grill grates

    The Best Grill Tools You Must-Have for Your Next BBQ

    07/06/2023
  • Patriotic Pork Menu banner with sparkler and American flag
    MENUS

    Grill Out July 4th: Patriotic Pork on Your Patio

    /4 Comments

    The fourth of July is coming! The fourth of July is coming! I don’t know about you but on a hot summer 4th of July, I am going to have a gathering on the patio and grill! With this July 4th grilling in mind, I have prepared a Patriotic Pork Menu for you to enjoy on your patio. It is enough for 6-8 to be satisfied and need an afternoon nap.

    Read More
    txredhead1836

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    Mexican layered Tostito Dip Recipe

    The Best Easy Mexican Layered Dip Recipe with Tostitos Chips

    07/17/2023
    Baked Risotto with Butternut Squash an excellent Arborio Rice recipe

    Excellent Arborio Rice Recipe for Baked Risotto with Butternut Squash

    01/24/2022
    Gold and jewel-toned eggs with moss Easter Bunny Tablescape

    Easter Brunch Ideas | A Complete Menu with Wine Pairings for a Fabulous Spring Brunch Gathering

    04/07/2022
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The Hostess of Lone Star Gatherings

Howdy!  I’m your host, Rani.  As a WSET certified wine lover and cooking enthusiast, I love to entertain at home. With 25 years of experience cooking, entertaining, and pairing wine, let me guide you through stress-free gatherings with amazing food, wine, and cocktails! Grab a drink and join the party!

Contact

Have a question or suggestion?  I would enjoy hearing from you!

Send an email to [email protected]

 

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