Dear Reader,

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to visit my website. 

It’s hard not to love good food when you grow up in the wine country of Northern California. My quaint hometown of Mendocino has been on the forefront of natural, organic and gourmet culinary practices for decades. 

My mother was an incredible cook and consummate entertainer. She had a special touch with food that made everything taste better and look beautiful when served. Unfortunately, my family was devastated in 2007 when Mom was diagnosed with stage-4 breast cancer. To honor her and her passion for cooking, I started documenting all of her wonderful recipes. In fact, this blog was originally created to accomplish that goal and be a forum to share them with the world. 

Although I love to cook, I never considered a career in the food world. I am certainly not a trained chef. For more than 20 years, I ran a successful real estate business marketing large subdivisions for developers. It was fun and rewarding... until 2008. That’s when my little sliver of the world was rocked by the economic downturn. In my attempts to turn lemons into lemonade, I turned to blogging as a creative outlet. Cooking, writing, photographing and ultimately sharing delicious recipes slowly transitioned from a hobby into a new career as my readership and network in the food industry grew. In addition to this website, I created Gourmet Media Group, a marketing company where I could put my creative marketing skills to work for the food world. Freelance writing opportunities also followed, and you can now find my articles on several national websites.

Today, I’m a happily married mom living in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. My husband and I still love to entertain friends at our little rural mountain home. Because of my background and Mom’s influence, I’ve never been one to casually throw burgers on the grill. My mission is to cook memorable meals for my family, and reward all those that make their way up one of Colorado’s windy mountain roads. 

Sadly, we lost my wonderful mom last year. We still have our family home in Mendocino and spend a lot of time there. For me... the coast will always be home. 

This website contains dishes inspired by our lives in California and Colorado. Not all the recipes are my own. You’ll find many recipes here that have been graciously shared by other bloggers, chefs and restaurants. Laura’s Best Recipes is a growing collection of favorites. I hope it will become one of your favorite Internet destinations.

If you have questions regarding the content of this site, advertising or general questions, I welcome you to contact me directly by the contact form or you may email me at laura@gourmetmediagroup.com. 

Cheers!

— Laura Levy