Chris Crary headlines H&G

The upcoming Minneapolis Home & Garden Show's Kitchen Stage will feature Chris Crary from Bravo's "Top Chef: Texas." He'll demo at 2 and 6 p.m. Feb. 28. Crary, executive chef of a private dining club called 41 Ocean in Santa Monica, Calif., is the top name on a varied roster of food demonstrators, including Food Network's "Cupcake Wars" champ Kevin VanDeraa of Cupcake, Stephanie Meyer of Fresh Tart with chef Jamie Malone of Sea Change, a firefighters' chili cookoff with the Loon Cafe, baking queen Marjorie Johnson and Kieran Folliard with 2Gingers Irish whiskey. The Star Tribune's Baking Central will also be on hand, with Kim Ode warming up the crowd for Crary at 5 p.m. Feb. 28. The Home & Garden Show runs Feb. 27 through March 3 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. For details, visit www.homeandgardenshow.com.

Passover cooking class

Culinary educator Zehorit Heilicher will teach how to give traditional Ashkenazi Passover recipes a Middle Eastern twist in "Not Your Bubby's Seder: Jewish Cooking for Today" at 6:30 p.m. March 11 at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center. Dishes include herbed golden matzo ball soup, dried fruit cinnamon-rosemary brisket, flourless cinnamon-mocha chocolate tortes and more. Heilicher was born in Israel to a Yemenite immigrant family and for the past 10 years has brought her Mediterranean roots to her classes. For more info and to register, visit www.stpauljcc.org/jewish/classes.lasso.

A sweet way to share

Share Our Strength continues its effort to end childhood hunger with its second Minneapolis Cakewalk, a fundraiser that brings Twin Cities pastry chefs and mixologists together to host an evening of desserts, drinks and dancing. The evening, hosted by Michelle Gayer from Salty Tart and Tim McKee from La Belle Vie, will include all-you-can-eat desserts, specialty cocktails, a cakewalk raffle and dancing, with 100 percent of proceeds going directly to Share Our Strength. The event is 8 to 10:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at Aria at the Jeune Lune, 105 N. 1st St., Minneapolis. Tickets are $65 (VIP admission is $90) at http://ce.strength.org/events/minneapolis-cakewalk.

The inns and outs of chocolate

The 11th annual Inns of the Valley Chocolate March will be from 1-5 p.m. during three Sundays in March. A tour of inns in the St. Croix River Valley is put together by a group of innkeepers who market their inns together, from Osceola, Wis., and Taylors Falls, Minn., on the north to Hastings on the south. Each tour includes historic sites and chocolate tastings ranging from truffles to tortes to tea. A percentage of the profits benefits Second Harvest and Hastings Animal Ark. Tickets are $26. For the schedule of inns and for tickets, visit www.innsof thevalley.com/chocolate-march.htm.

Franklin Street wins, too

The Franklin Street Bakery's raspberry cupcakes topped with fresh orchids caught the fancy of Susan Langenhennig, writing for the Times-Picayune about the Taste of the NFL event prior to the Super Bowl in New Orleans. She said the sweet was among her "favorite bites of the night. It was almost too pretty to eat but that didn't stop me."

KIM ODE