July Fourth was the ONE day of the year that my dad, a man who never spent money frivolously, took us to the drive in to see a movie. (This was a man who had to be begged, repeatedly and loudly, to stop at Twin Kiss, the local ice cream place in the summer. Begging didn’t always work. He’d say, “Oh, we have better stuff than that at…
I know. You’re thinking, Dear God Fran, we’ve been waiting all this time for you to stop talking about your dang book and get back to talking about great food — and this is what you come up with? Granola? REALLY? Yes, really. And stop mocking me. (I also have an amazing Snickerdoodle recipe I’ll share soon so don’t freak out!) Granola, done right makes plain Greek yogurt…
A week ago, I ordered the Italian Curse Word Wine Charms from my Zazzle site so I can give one charm away to anyone who gets someone to buy my book. (Yes, it’s come to this.) All I’m asking for proof is a photo of someone holding the book. Email me at FranTunno.com and we can exchange info. For a good photo of the charms, please click on…
Scammers like…no, scammers love people like me – a new author just trying to get publicity for her book. So, they swoop in with a very flattering AI written email. This is my third email from scammers, so it’s comforting to know at least someone’s reading my bio. Last week I received an email from a scammer who was posing as Candice Fox, a successful Australian author, who…
I wanted you to read about something, other than my book: Come on Down! (which is still out there waiting to be bought…hint, hint) so this blog is about sausage making. Yes, sausage making! I apologize in advance to all my vegan and vegetarian friends for saying this, but this Italian had a great time making sausage. I try not to eat meat too often, but this was…
I’ve made you wait long enough! My book, Come on Down, A Little Story About My Italian Mom’s Big Dream is coming out as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook as of February 24, 2026! And (drum roll please) you can win an autographed copy, which could be worth up to a whole 50 cents someday! Seriously though, all you have to do is post on Facebook, Instagram, Linked…
I always thought it was funny that people made such a big deal out of Groundhog day because…well…aren’t there always six more weeks of winter when it’s the beginning of February? That was before I went to the festivities myself. I now know that: a. There are thousands of people out there who are nuts enough to brave 5 degree temps and possible frostbite just to see a…
The great thing about getting older is that you forget so much, everything is new! Recently, I made a batch of polenta because I was worried the recipe in my book might not be accurate. I was sure I’d never blogged about polenta, then checked old blogs and realized that, not only did I blog about it, I made four batches to be sure it was good. It…
Back in 1994, I was living in Glendale, California when a 6.7 earthquake struck in Northridge, California at 4:30 am. The house shook so badly I had a hard time making it the seven steps to my son’s room. I’d just gotten out of the shower and was about to leave to go to my traffic reporting job. There was no power, everyone was wandering outside their condos…
Now that I’m older I spend a fair amount of time reflecting during the holidays. This is an irritating habit old people have because we’re never sure how many holidays we have left. So, in an attempt to appear deep and philosophical we look back, then bore younger people with our reflections. This year my family gathered at Bernie and Donna’s house for Christmas dinner and later we…