About me
Laura Giunta Tobin

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Laura, I am an Italian living on the French Riviera.

Our home is just outside the charming medieval village of Saint Paul de Vence, famous for its art and home to many celebrities. We are right in the middle of the French Riviera, 40 minutes drive from Cannes and 40 minutes from Monaco. Nice and Antibes are only 20 minutes away and in only 1 hour I can be in Italy for my Italian food shopping (Ventimiglia Food Market).

Before we settled here in 2010, I lived in many different countries (six at last count!). I married an Irish man Robert and have two sons, now age 19 Liam and 12 Francesco.

I started this blog in 2015, as my sons were becoming more independent. I left an exciting career to start and raise my family and had been missing the thrill of "business challenges." By 2015, I was ready to learn new things and to build a new professional life.

It is a struggle for us women; having to decide between the family and a challenging career. While in the past I had many doubts, now in retrospect, I am so pleased with my choice. I took the chance to follow one of my passions: cooking for family and friends and, in the process, building precious, everlasting memories.

Unexpectedly, my husband Robert passed away in August 2018. Memories are what I have left to cherish, and amazingly, most of our happiest memories are linked to food.

• We fell in love eating a trout in a parcel and laughed at our baby Francesco smelling Stilton cheese.
• Food shopping was always a serious matter: fresh ingredients and special products.
• We spent memorable times together in the kitchen, getting our favourite meal ready, eating at the table with our sons every day.
• Our sons learned to appreciate good food even at restaurants. So Liam would rather order soup instead of French Fries, and Francesco’s favourite is octopus “legs”.
• The joy of having friends over for Barbeque, mastering many outdoor cooking techniques, from cooking the Brasilian Picanha to a Spanish Paella.

So many precious memories! A priceless gift in the face such a loss to our family.

Liam is now at university and it is only Francesco and me. Dinner time remains something special, we sit at the table together and talk about the day.

We always love to have friends over and Francesco’s friends love to come for pizza and brownies.

When Liam comes home from university, I always make his favourite: Sushi. And when our friends come to visit from abroad, we like to remember Robert by cooking his favourite meal and remembering his barbecuing skills.

Building your own memories

So this blog is for you, to help you build your own memories. Something special to make to please a friend or a family member. Something to cook together or to just enjoy on a special day.

All recipes have step by step photos/video so don’t be intimidated by difficult techniques! Your Guardian Chef is here to help you, like a Guardian Angel.

My recipes are easy to make because I am not a professional chef. So how did I learn all those recipes and cooking techniques?

From my mom, who attended Cordon Blue classes while we were growing up. Tasting all those delicious dishes, I couldn’t resist helping her in the kitchen and learning from her.

Vietnam Halong Bay 1992

I am so interested in trying new cuisine that when I travel the world, I always spend time learning and understanding local traditions. So here you have it: a wide variety of recipes all made from scratch and explained in a very simple way.

That was me. Now it is up to you. Try a new recipe or a new technique, taste something that takes you back to faraway places or to distant times.

Build your own precious memories!

I hope you will enjoy taking this Gourmet Journey with me!

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