Food stuff to do

• I can't write this the way Groucho would have asked it, but here's your chance to answer the question and win . . . a day on the Know Your Farms tour Sunday with the Tiny Chef. Cooking teacher Susanne Dillingham will take what you buy on the tour back to your house and help you cook it. To win, you have to answer this question: "What are five vegetables grown in our region in fall and five that are grown in spring?" (Oooh! Ooooh! I know! Aw, they never call on me.) Email susanne@thetinychef.biz with your answer or to get more details.
• Do you speak sous vide? Williams-Sonoma wants to help you get your feet wet (vacuum-sealed food, cooked in water at very controlled temperatures . . . they'll tell you the rest). They're holding sous vide demos from 7-9 p.m. Oct. 18 at both the SouthPark and Birkdale stores. It's free and open to the public, but it helps if you call so they can put out enough chairs and supplies. 704-364-8886 for SouthPark, 6401 Morrison Blvd., or 704-895-8331 for Birkdale, 16740 Birkdale Commons Parkway.
• Cooking Uptown, 1707 E. 7th St., has posted its November and December cooking classes. They fill up fast (and make good gifts, but you didn't hear that from me). Go to www.cookinguptown.com to see the list, then call 704-333-7300 to register.
• Saturday is the Dilworth Chili Cookoff, in The Courtyard Shopping Center, 2400 Park Road, in front of Sunset Grille. It starts at 4 p.m., judging is about 7:30, and $5 is the entry fee. Which includes chili samples, I believe. And a bake sale. Proceeds benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and another charity that will be chosen by Fire Station No. 2 (and I believe the Deuces are capable of making some seriously hot chili.)

Feed on this: Asparagus, quail eggs, coffee and more

• New at the Matthews Community Farmers Market: Quail eggs, raised by new vendors Yurii and Irina Korotkov. This Saturday's market also includes the cookbook swap (bring a book to swap, or trade one for a canned goods donation for the Matthews Help Center food pantry.) Joe Kindred of Rooster's is doing the cooking demo at 8:30, and Mark Hibbs will do a class on dressings and vinaigrettes at 7:30 a.m.
• Early reports are that there MIGHT be asparagus Saturday at the Charlotte Regional Market. Of course, that depends on whether you get up early enough to buy it before I get to it. How much loyalty do you expect from me, people?
• If you're visiting the Smithsonian in Washington and you buy a cup of coffee, you'll get a taste of home. Charlotte-based Restaurant Associates is working with Concord-based S&D coffee to provide the organic Bird Friendly coffee now being offering at the museums on the National Mall. The coffee meets the requirements by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
• Barbecue teams, it's time to sign up for Blues, Brews & BBQ, part of the Charlotte Shout festival in September. E-mail aoelerich@charlottecentercity.org for details.
• Cooking Uptown, 1707 E. 7th St., has just posted the list of cooking classes for June. Go to www.cookinguptown.com for the schedule, costs and signup. And tell them congratulations for their Best of the Best award in the May issue of Charlotte Magazine.