Food calendar: Make sure you have these on the list

Coming up:

How's this for the perfect name for a chef? Patrick Maisonhaute. Maisonhaute is executive chef at The Eseeola Lodge at the Linville Golf Resort, the featured restaurant for Wednesday's annual Taste of the New South, the fundraiser for the Levine Museum of the New South. Tickets are $85 for Levine members and $100 for nonmembers. Call the Levine, 704-333-1887, for details.

It's not too late to get a ticket for Taste of the Nation, 7-10 p.m. April 14 at The Atrium in uptown Charlotte. Tickets are $60 ($85 for a VIP ticket that gets you to the restaurant tables an hour earlier). For that, you'll get food samples from more than 20 local restaurants, from 131 Main to The Liberty. You also get wine and beer, a mixologist's table, live and silent auctions and live music. It all raises money for the childhood-hunger organization Share Our Strength. Tickets and details: charlottetasteofthenation.com.

Breakfast: It's not just for cupcakes anymore. Polka Dot Bake Shop, 1730 E. Woodlawn, has added muffins to the lineup and is now open for breakfast. If you need a muffin fix, the shop now opens at 7:30 a.m. Muffins are $2.50 each; flavors include sweet potato cream cheese, lemon poppyseed, blueberry streusel and bran.

Gardening, cooking and composting: Mmmmm

Add these to your spring calendar:

Hoe, hoe, hoe. David and Mary Beth Blackley of Renfrow's Hardware want to teach you how to plant an all-year garden. The class is $20 (not including all that stuff you'll be tempted to buy from Renfrow's), and it's 6:30-8:30 p.m. March 4 at Renfrow's, 188 N. Trade St. in Matthews. To sign up, e-mail refrowshardware@windstream.net or call 704-847-4088.

Learn to cook a family-style Sunday supper at Mimosa Grill, 327 S. Tryon St.. Lineup includes Lowcountry Chicken Chili, almond-crusted flounder, grilled beef tri tip and strawberry cake. 10 a.m.-noon March 6; $35. Call 704-343-0700.

It's not too soon to sign up for the May 1 composting class (leaf-based and worm-based) at Friendship Trays, 2401 Distribution St. It's 9:30 a.m.-noon May 1 and costs $30, including worms. (Mmmmmm. Wormy.) Bring your own gloves and newspaper. (Newspaper? What's that?) Deadline to register is April 23. E-mail mifflinpjenkins@yahoo.com or call 704-446-6252.