I asked Amy to write out menus to put at each place setting as I have rather challenged handwriting. I almost died when she suggested taking it to another level. She used iron-ons to print the menu on muslin which then doubled as our napkins. She giggles each time she recounts my jaw drop and delighted face. Better than any Christmas!

Making gravlax at home couldn’t be easier and it’s fun to play with different herbs and spices. I wrapped one wild salmon fillet up with salt, brown sugar, paprika and dill and the other with salt, white sugar, fennel seeds and fennel fronds. Always a crowd pleaser.

The LA Fungi stall at the Calabasas Saturday farmer’s market was well worth the drive. I really wanted to buy everything but I limited myself to a trio of mushrooms. Morels are just coming into season and such a spring luxury. The Frenchman at the stand suggested I fill the hollows of the mushrooms with a salmon mousse. I already had salmon curing at home so I opted for a soft sheep’s milk cheese with fresh chervil and set the morels on a salad of shaved white asparagus. I then sauteed the hen of the woods mushrooms with blackberries and thyme and served on grilled brioche, brushed with truffle oil. Rounding out the plate, a shot glass of shitake mushroom soup.Sampling Oregon blues at the Artisinal Cheese Gallery on Ventura was heaven. I’m a bit of a sample glutton. I selected Echo Mountain blue and paired it with smoked trout and hazelnuts on a bed of wilted arugula and spinach in a warm hazelnut sherry vinaigrette.

I braised the duck legs in pinot noir while Greg smoked the breasts on my new smoker. The cherry-port compote pulled it all together. And swiss chard has become to me what corn was last summer: the thing I want to eat at every meal!