Who wouldn't want to celebrate Earth Day with slices of pie? The fourth annual SEEDS pie social is 1-5 p.m. April 22.

The event raises money for the Durham Inner-City Gardeners, an urban-farming leadership development program for teens. You may have seen these teenagers selling their produce at the Durham Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings.

The cost is $10 for four slices of pie. Almost 30 restaurants and several home bakers have signed up to donate pie, including Acme Food & Beverage Co., Foster's Market, Guglhupf and Papa Mojo's Roadhouse. The pies will range from classic sweet desserts to pizza. New this  year, a panel of judges will declare one pie as the Best in Town and the public will vote for a People's Choice favorite.

While eating pie, attendees can bid on lessons in the skill share auction where instead of buying stuff, you can learn a skill. Among the lessons up for bid are how to fly a plane, brew beer, bake bread and cook Indian food.

The garden is located at 706 Gilbert Street, Durham. The event will happen rain or shine. For more information, go to http://www.seedsnc.org.

Here are a few upcoming wine and beer dinners across the Triangle:

• Hope Valley Bottle Shop has seven upcoming wine dinners, including an Italian wine dinner at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 20 at Nana's in Durham. It cost $55. To see the complete list of wine dinners, go HERE. Call 493-8545 for a reservation.
• Guglhupf in Durham is offering an Austrian wine dinner at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21. For details and the menu, go HERE. For a reservation, call 401-2600.

• Jibarra restaurant in Raleigh is offering a four-course dinner with five Saison-style beer pairings. The dinner is 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21. It costs $55. Go HERE for details and menu. Call 755-0556 for a reservation.
• Durham’s Vin Rouge is partnering with Wine Authorities to offer a five-course wine dinner at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22. Winemaker Joseph Landron will be the special guest. It costs $75. Go HERE for the menu. Call 416-0466 for a reservation. (If you can’t make the dinner, you can meet Landron and taste his wines from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday at Wine Authorities. For more information, go to http://wineauthorities.com.)
• Jujube restaurant in Chapel Hill is offering a four-course dinner with wine pairings  from the Paul Hobbs Winery. It will be 7 p.m. March 28. Go HERE for the menu. Call 960-0555 for a reservation. It costs $57.50. 
• ADDED: Weathervane, the restaurant at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill, is offering a five-course dinner featuring wines from Gil Family Estates at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 28. Go HERE to read the menu. It costs $70. To make a reservation, call 929-9466.

The sixth annual Empty Bowls fundraiser will be serving up bowls of soup to benefit Urban Ministries of Durham as usual. But this year, organizers have added an after party at Fullsteam Brewery  and Motorco Music Hall with a food truck roundup.

So now you have two opportunities to help the Urban Ministries of Durham's Community Cafe, which serves nearly 220,000 meals annually to those in need.

From 5:30-8 p.m. March 8, eleven restaurants will be competing for the title of "Best Soup" at The Durham Armory. You can pay $15 to enjoy some soup or $30 for soup and a handcrafted bowl made by local artisans to take home. Children age 6 and under eat for free. To buy tickets, go to  www.umdurham.org.

The participating restaurants include Guglhupf, Revolution, L'Uva, Papa Mojo's Roadhouse, Thrills from the Grill, Watts Grocery, Blu Seafood and Bar, Whole Foods, Toast, Saladelia Cafe and Mad Hatter Bakeshop and Cafe.

If you can't make the earlier event, head over to Fullsteam Brewery and Motorco Music Hall starting at 8 p.m. for the after party. Seven food trucks will be debuting a new dish and donating a percentage of their sales to Urban Ministries of Durham. The food trucks include Pie Pushers, Will & Pops, The Parlour, Chirba Chirba Dumpling, Klausie's Pizza, Only Burger and Farmhand Foods Sausage Wagon. 

The first one is tomorrow night so you will have to move quickly. Capital Club 16 in downtown Raleigh is celebrating the white asparagus season with a special wine dinner at 6:30 p.m. TOMORROW NIGHT (Thursday.)

It costs $65. Call 747-9345 for a reservation.

Here is the menu:

• White asparagus "Reiberdatschi" - Bavarian-style white asparagus and potato pancake with goat cheese and chervil
• Lump crab cake bites with slivered pickled asparagus and Gruner tartar sauce paired with Tegernseerhof Gruner Veltliner
• First course: "Spargelcremesuppe," traditional cream of white asparagus soup with nutmeg, spring chives and morel mushroom saute paired with Steininger Loisium Gruner Veltliner
• Second course: Marinated white asparagus salad  basted quail egg, planed reggiano, grape tomatoes, frisee and tarragon vinaigrette paired with Anton Bauer Rosenberg Gruner Veltliner
• Third Course: "Spargelessen auf Lazarus-Stube art," simmered white asparagus, NC country Ham, dill new potatoes and blood orange hollandaise (Or the veggie option: simmered white asparagus, spring vegetable florentine, dill new potatoes and blood orange hollandaise) paired with Steininger Grand Gruner Veltliner
• Dessert Course: White asparagus and rhubarb crisp with oatmeal crust and white asparagus lemon cream paired with Anton Bauer Frizzante Gruner Veltliner

Then Guglhupf in Durham is offering a five-course dinner featuring sparkling wines at 7 p.m. May 25. It costs $55. For a reservation, call 401-2600. (If they send the menu, I'll post it as soon as I can.)

From Bull's Eye correspondent Elizabeth Shestak:

Solstice Farmer's Market: The Durham Farmer's Market will have special hours mid-week since it will be closed Saturday, December 25 for Christmas, as well as New Year's Day. This Wednesday the market will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. - just in time to get ready for a cozy week of holiday cooking, baking and eating.

Guglhupf Stollen: The traditional Dresden-style Christmas Stollen, which has been featured on the Food Network's Food Finds, is back again at our favorite German cafe. The sugary, sweet leavened bread made with citrus peel, raisins, almonds and spices will be available in the store and via mail order every day through Christmas. But if you want to enjoy this for Christmas itself then don't wait too long - fresh stollen should be allowed to age for several days to develop its flavor. Visit www.guglhupf for details.
 

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Guglhupf is hosting its second annual German Christmas Market. Sweet and savory temptations will include:

* bratwursts on the grill
* braised sauerkraut served on a brezel buns
* berliners filled with raspberry jam
* warm apple fritters
* handmade Lebkuchen
* house-baked Stollen
* spice-infused Glühwein, mulled apple cider or hot toddies
* German and local beer

Festivities will also include an exhibition of nationally recognized outsider artists, and a Book Harvest to collect gently used books for needy children and young adults. You’re invited to bring a book (or several) for a worthy cause.
 

Guglhupf Cafe is offering an Austrian wine dinner at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 10.

The four-course meal will be paired with wines from KW Selection. Guest speaker Klaus Wittauer will be on hand. Wines also will be available for sale.

The meal costs $45 per person plus tax and tip. Call 401-2600 for a reservation.

My laptop died last week so I'm late in posting this link to Greg Cox's review of Guglhupf. 

(Now, I must start saving for a new laptop. Ugh.)

This note from Craig Heffley at Wine Authorities:

"I'm sure you've probably heard by now, but in case you hadn't, Guglhupf is now open for dinner featuring chef Dave Alworth, formerly chef de cuisine at Watt's Grocery and former chef of 411 West Italian Café.  Dave's menu emphasizes the use of local, seasonal and artisanal ingredients with a European twist.  It's not ethnic food, but is definitely influenced by German, Austrian and Alsatian cuisine.  Seth and I had the honor of creating the wine list for this fantastic step in the history of the legendary Durham bakery and we're very proud to be associated with owner Claudia Cooper's vision."

Check out the menus & wine list here: http://www.guglhupf.com/cafe/