What's cooking: Whole Foods whole

Whole Foods whole The remodeling project that hobbled Whole Foods Market Lake Calhoun for weeks now is complete and the store is hosting open-house celebrations over the next two weekends from noon to 4 p.m. This Saturday and Sunday, local food suppliers are featured with Robin Asbell giving cooking demos and signing copies of her "New Whole Grains Cookbook." At 3 p.m., learn the basics of aromatherapy with a local Wyndmere Naturals representative. Events on April 12-13 include body care from fat-flush dieting to makeup application on Saturday, and Kids' Day on Sunday. For details, go to www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/minneapolis/index.html

Locavore 101 More people want to know more about where their food comes from, or how it's grown or raised. For them, Roosevelt Community Education is offering a course, "Take Back Your Food Life," with tips for eating locally and with an eye toward their environmental footprint. Info will include planting easy and prolific foods in your garden, shopping for fresh locally grown produce and meat, preparing tasty whole food recipes, and more. On May 17 from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., the class will go on a shopping tour of places to buy whole, fresh and organic foods including a farmers' market and food co-op. The program is at Roosevelt Community Education, 4029 28th Av. S., Minneapolis, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on three Wednesdays (April 30, May 7 and May 14) plus the shopping tour. Fee is $45. Call 612-668-4828 or go to www.mplscommunityed.com to register for class number 470018.

Hot, hot cookbooks Since 1989, the folks who make Tabasco sauce have funded a program to support cookbooks published by nonprofit groups as fundraisers. The goal is to recognize the role such cookbooks play in "chronicling and preserving America's rich culinary history."

Thousands of cookbooks compete each year for the top honor, which in 2007 went to "The Bells Are Ringing: A Call to Table," by the Mission San Juan Capistrano Women's Guild in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. The Midwest regional winner was "A Signature Collection" by the New Albany Cooking with Friends in New Albany, Ohio. Cookbooks published for fundraising purposes by nonprofit organizations may enter the 19th annual Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards by Sept. 26. Winners receive contributions to their charities from $500 to $2,500. For details, go to www.tabasco.com/info_booth/contests/community_cookbook.cfm