Campus Club explores the pleasure of food and music

The Campus Club in the University of Minnesota's Coffman Union is hosting a Muse Salon on April 14 with an intriguing premise: to explore why some people find certain music and food pleasurable or beautiful and some don't. The "Alchemies of Pleasure" will be moderated by Jonathan Gewirtz, a professor of psychology, with Ora Itkin as artistic director and featuring various musicians. Chef Beth Jones' dishes will include a savory pithivier (a pie made of puffed pastry) with washed rind cheese, dried fruit compote and roasted grapes; microgreens with lemongrass green tea and verjus, and beef tenderloin medallion with roasted shiitake, raw oyster and Rockefeller butter sauce. The event is open to the public and begins at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $55 for adults, $30 for students. To sign up, visit tinyurl.com/hbe6syx. For more info, call Ann Holt at 612-624-6626.

Design a market bag

Talk about visibility for your art. Local high school students are invited to enter the popular reusable bag design contest sponsored by Country Financial and the Minneapolis Farmers Market. The winning design will be printed on reusable canvas bags to be distributed throughout the farmers market season. This year's theme is "Our Farms, Your Tables." Students are encouraged to use images of Minneapolis and market products and include the phrase "2016 Minneapolis Farmers Market." The first-place winner also gets a $1,000 scholarship from Country Financial, and two runners-up will each receive a $500 scholarship. Entry deadline is 4 p.m. April 25. Mail entries to Country Financial, Farmers Market Bag Design Competition, 2 Pine Tree Drive, Arden Hills, MN 55112. Winners will be announced May 28. Visit CountryFarmersMarkets.com for official contest rules and instructions.

There's money in grilled cheese sandwiches

April is National Grilled Cheese Month, which is reason enough for the Grilled Cheese Academy's annual Recipe Showdown, with a top prize of $15,000. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, the contest seeks creative, delicious, attractive and — above all — grilled ways with Wisconsin cheese. Deadline is May 15. For full contest details, visit GrilledCheeseAcademy.com. In addition to the grand prize winner, more than $28,500 in cash and bonus prizes will be awarded throughout the competition.

There's money in eggs

Eggland's Best is looking for original recipes that combine eggs with favorite ingredients from the states in which entrants reside. Four recipe categories are breakfast/brunch, appetizer, main course and dessert. The highest-scoring recipe in each state will be deemed "best in state," then be organized into one of five regions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, West. Online voting will help in selecting five "best in region" recipes, and the final top recipe for which the winner gets $10,000 and a year supply of Eggland's Best eggs. Entry deadline is April 29. For details, visit egglandsbest.com/americasbestrecipe.

Supervalu pledges cage-free eggs

One of the nation's largest grocers, Supervalu, announced in March that 100 percent of eggs sold in its stores will be cage-free by 2025 or sooner. The policy affects all Supervalu affiliates, including Cub Foods, Save-A-Lot, Shop 'n Save, Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy and Rainbow Foods. The move has been applauded by the international animal protection organization Mercy for Animals, which worked with the grocery chain to develop the policy. Supervalu's cage-free egg commitment joins pledges by other companies including Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway, Food Lion, Giant, Stop & Shop, Costco, Target, CVS, Sprouts, Trader Joe's and BJ's Wholesale Club.

KIM ODE