There are two amazing events happening on Oct. 14 and I pit anyone who has to choose between the two.

Raleigh's The Wine Feed is partnering with Dock to Door Seafood to host a wine and seafood celebration starting at 4 p.m. Oct. 14.

The Hook + Vine event will feature five tastes of North Carolina seafood made by these restaurants and caterers: Battistella's, PoshNosh Catering, Sarah Cecilia Good Food Co. and Mandolin. The chefs will be serving up tastes of shrimp and flounder, as well as more sustainable ocean species, like sheepshead and grunts. Each seafood dish will be paired with a wine from The Wine Feed's offerings.

The event will be held at The Wine Feed's location at 18 Glenwood Ave. Tickets cost $30 or $25 when two or more tickets are ordered. To purchase tickets or for more information, go to thewinefeed.com/hook-vine/.

The second event is  the 5th Annual Pittsboro Pepper Festival from 3-7 p.m. Oct. 14 at Briar Chapel Community Park

If you are a pepper fan, this is a not-to-be-missed event. Eight local farms will be providing mild and hot peppers for more than 30 chefs, caterers and other food artisans who will be serving samples. The list of restaurants includes Raleigh's 18 Seaboard, Herons at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary and La Residence in Chapel Hill. There also will be live music and children's activities.

The event is from 3-7 p.m. Tickets cost $30 until Saturday and $35 on the day of the event. To purchase tickets and for more information, go HERE.

The event benefits the Abundance Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to educate the public about sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and the local economy.
 

Two Raleigh men are raising funds on Kickstarter to launch the final phase of a project that combines an urban farmers market and greenhouse in one space. They've only got until this evening to do it.

Their project, The Farmery, has already received more than $22,000 worth of money in pledges but they won't receive any of the money pledged unless they reach their goal of $25,000 by 8:14 p.m.

The idea of The Farmery, started by Ben Greene and Tyler Nethers, is to combine the growing and buying experience and bring them both to downtown Raleigh or Durham. They've spent three years research and experimenting on a prototype that uses as little energy and space as possible to grow all sorts of vegetables and herbs.  

"It's as if the grocery store used the lights in the store to produce the food growing there," Greene said. But their project uses only natural light.

Their self-contained retail and growing unit will be made of shipping containers. It eliminates costs that present challenges to traditional farmers, such as fuel for transportation, packaging, and distribution.

One urban farmer, Maurice Small, who works with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh said the project "is a perfect solution for food deserts," areas where people have limited access to fresh and healthy food, including parts of Southeast Raleigh.

As soon as they receive the funds to finish their last phase of the prototype, the pair will bring their farm to downtown Raleigh or Durham.

Visit their Kickstarter page to see a video of The Farmery.

-- This is a guest post by staff writer Amanda James.

Friday night high school football starting times

Great American Cookie Company stores will be giving away free cookies during the month of  October.

Everyone who stops by on Monday, Oct. 1, will get a free chocolate chip cookie to publicize the chain's "Reading is Sweet" book drive.

The rest of the month, you can snag a free cookie of your choice when you donate a new or gently used book.

Just got a couple of press releases with some pretty big news:

Niall Hanley, owner of the Hibernian Irish pubs in Raleigh and Cary, is going to convert the former Rosie's Plate at 701 N. Person St. into as yet unnamed pub.

And Hanley is partnering with Carlos Salamanca, owner of Dos Taquitos, to open an authentic Mexican eatery in the former Diner location at 410 Glenwood Ave.

This news is based on press releases issued by Kimball & Company, a restaurant brokerage company. I'm waiting to hear more information from Hanley this morning. 

UPDATE: Today's Retailing column has the full story on Hanley's latest plans in downtown Raleigh plus opening another Hibernian pub in North Raleigh.

The ladies behind the popular Fiction Kitchen vegetarian and vegan brunches are hoping to open a restaurant in downtown Raleigh by year's end.

Chefs Caroline Morrison and Siobhan Southern are planning to open a restaurant by the same name at 428 S. Dawson St., next to Deep South the Bar. The restaurant will serve "locally-sourced comfort foods with a twist," such as their popular vegan barbecue and biscuits and gravy. They also will offer vegan cheese made in house out of cashews and a 100% local salad throughout the year.

Morrison and Southern, who both workat the cafeterias at SAS, have launched a kickstarter campaign to pay for new kitchen equipment at the 49-seat restaurant. Plus, Morrison says it will help them gauge community interest for their 100 percent vegetarian restaurant. They are hoping to raise $36,000 and so far have raised almost $10,000. For more information, go to goo.gl/LLOLW. You have until Oct. 13 to donate.

Morrison says they hope to open by late fall, noting that the last day of fall is Dec. 21.
Follow their progress on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheFictionKitchen.
 

You only have a couple weeks left to register to compete in one of the N.C. State Fair's cooking contests. The deadline is Oct. 5.

The dozen contests include the N.C. Peanut Tailgating Recipe Contest and the House-Autry Mills "Southern Fried Classic" Recipe Contest to others promoting eggs, pork, pecans and beef.

Rules for each contest are online at www.ncstatefair.org/2012/Competitions/SpecialCooking.htm. Contestants's recipes must be postmarked by Oct. 5 or dropped off at the fairgrounds' entry office. Any questions: call 919-821-7400, ext. 4521.
 

Joseph Szabo, the head of the Federal Railroad Administration, visited Raleigh's warehouse district this morning to announce an additional $22.3 million in federal funds that will complete the cost of a a $60 million replacement for Raleigh's outmoded, dinky Amtrak station. [2pm update: see Matt Garfield's story from today's announcement.]

It's not new money.  There is $15.1 million that was part of $545 million in federal stimulus (ARRA) money for fast-train improvements, announced in 2010.  The $15.1 million was a small part of that big package that was not designated in advance for a particular project.  And another $6.7 million (not mentioned by Szabo today) that had been marked for track improvements in that same original $545 million package.

This money is added to a $21 million federal TIGER grant -- which WAS new money -- that Raleigh won in June. Plus $466,000 announced today, to help with preliminary engineering costs. ... [MORE]

Several restaurants have some lip-smacking dinners next month You will want to reserve your seat now.

• Durham's Rue Cler restaurant is partnering with Green Button Farm to offer a "nose-to-tail" dinner at 5:30 Oct. 7. The six-course meal costs $60. For a reservation, go online to www.greenbuttonfarm.com/goods/farm-to-table-dinners/
• Raleigh's Mandolin restasurant is offering a dinner with renowned wine importer and author Charles Neal. The seven-course meal with wine pairings costs $79 per person. For a reservation, call 919-322-0365
• Chapel Hill's La Residence restaurant is offering a six-course dinner with Aveniu Brands wine pairings at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 24. The meal costs $65 per person. To make a reservation, call 919-967-2506.
   

Two events that may not be on your radar for the weekend:

• Counter Culture Coffee is hosting a free event from 7-9 p.m. Saturday featuring 2012 U.S. Barista Champion Katie Carguilo. The topic is "Fruit Bombs & Fermentation." Attendees will taste exotic and experimental Ethiopian coffees along with Carguilo's award-winning fermentation-inspired signature beverage that helped her win. The event is at 4911 S. Alston Ave., Durham. For more information, go HERE.
• Durham's Southwest Regional Library is hosting a Southern food cultures panel discussion at 3 p.m. Sunday. The panel will be moderated by N.C. barbecue expert Bob Garner and the panelists include chef Ben Barker of Durham's now closed-Magnolia Grill, chef Billy Cotter of Toast in Durham, chef Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery and Hummingbird Bakery, both in Durham, and chef Walter Royal of Raleigh's Angus Barn.