Setting up a spice cabinet for the first time? Or just ready to spring clean your old one? If you need help, Napa now has a gem of a resource with Whole Spice, located in the Oxbow Market in Napa. Owners Shuli and Ronit Madmone sell spices from around the world and pride themselves on the freshness of their products, which they grind at their Petaluma warehouse. You can buy spices in small or large amounts and if they by chance don’t have what you need in their 300-plus stock, they’ll get it. One of their newest items, for intance, is fennel pollen, which they tracked down in response to requests from several Napa chefs. The Madmones also have recipes on hand to try out their spices.

More than a dozen wine country chefs served up tasty dishes incorporating all manner of mustard at the annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival competition for Best Chef of the Year, held last Friday night at Black Stallion Winery.

I was warned the recipe I selected for last month’s cookbook club meeting was labor intensive, but did I listen?