Three, two, one ... Not counting today, only three days until March. Let's hope it comes in like a lamb and leaves that way, too.

In celebration, I bought three potted primroses and put them in the middle of the dining room table. If I can't have spring for three more weeks, at least I can have a patch of color while we dine.

Colorful food-related events abound in the coming week or so, to usher in more of a spring feeling, and less of that brrrrrrish winter one. We'll all be glad to apply a snow boot to winter this year. Good riddance.

The third South Side Leprechaun Lap will be held from 2 to 10 p.m. March 6, featuring pints of Miller Lite for a buck-fifty and food and drink at 18 locations. Tickets: $8 at the door, $5 with donation of two canned goods for the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. Go to lindypromo.com for details.

Also on the South Side, Double Wide Grill, 24th and East Carson streets, will hold a Tofu and Seitan Wing Eating Contest in rounds to be held at 6 p.m. next Thursday, March 11 and 18. (Seitan is a wheat-based meat substitute). A $10 registration donation will go to the food bank. Finals will be March 25, where the winner will get a $100 gift card for Whole Foods. Doublewidegrill.com.

Yearning for Girl Scout cookies? Go to gswpa.org for a locator to tell you where booth sales will be held through March.

Curtis Stone, master chef, host of "Take Home Chef" on TLC and pretty easy on the eyes, will sign autographs and meet customers and -- oh, yeah, demonstrate cooking -- at Market District Settlers Ridge, Robinson, from noon to 2:30 p.m. March 6.

Also from TLC, this one for cake-decorating/movie/star-gazing nuts: "Ultimate Cake Off" at 9 p.m. Monday. It features three contestants who will create a 5-foot-tall cake that combines the themes of the 75th anniversary of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles with the facility's birthday celebration in May, called a "Cosmic Conjunction 2010: Diamond Nights• Northern Lights". You've seen the observatory in movies, most notably "Rebel Without a Cause," and TV shows. Read about the L.A. icon at griffithobs.org.

On Saturday at 3 p.m. Whole Foods, 5880 Centre Ave, Shadyside, joins the chain in "The Crack Heard Around the World" (isn't that the sound of ice falling off your roof?) as it opens a round of Parmigiano-Reggiano; truly one of the world's great cheeses, that is. Opening a wheel aged 24 months involves five different knives. Who knew? "Part of the fun of this promotion will be watching our team members who have mastered the skill of 'parm cracking' perform this task in record time," says Cathy Strange, global cheese buyer for the chain.

The Cancer Project, a national nonprofit organization, is offering a free four-session cooking course to help prevent cancer or a recurrence. First session is 6 to 8 p.m. March 8 and class continues Mondays through the month at Gilda's Club of Western Pennsylvania, 2816 Smallman St., Strip District. Call 412-338-1919 or e-mail colleen@gildasclubwesternpa.org. Emphasis is on low-fat, high-fiber foods, dairy and meat alternatives and healthy weight. The Cancer Project is an affiliate of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Free shipping through February on The American Farms Sampler of dried cherries and organic dried apples by Peeled Snacks, with 10 percent of all sales going to American Farmlands Trust, the 30-year-old nonprofit that assists farmers and ranchers in keeping their properties. A dozen single-serving packages for $22.99; farmlandtrust.org/snacks.

If you've got the best idea for a sustainable energy project, you might win the GIVE Energy Pittsburgh Prize of up to $10,000 to implement it. PurBlu Beverages, makers of GIVE Energy, is collaborating with The Sprout Fund, a nonprofit civic booster in the city, to offer the prize. Five runners-up will receive $1,000. Go to drinkgive.com/energyprize for details, or call Dustin Stiver at The Sprout Fund at 412-325-0646. Deadline: March 12.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, local print, radio and TV personalities, from Gretchen McKay of the PG to Chris Fennimore of WQED to Julie Bologna of WPXI, get cooking for Hair Peace Charities, which helps women undergoing chemotherapy buy wigs and offers other support. Besides food, there will be a tasting of Boyd & Blair vodka, silent auction and more at Blueberry Hill Center, Franklin Park. Tickets, $50; hairpeace.org or call 412-327-5177.

Antonia Dema, creator of the Food is Elementary curriculum to teach children about nutrition, with an emphasis on hands-on training in healthy food choices, will be in the city March 6 and 7 to instruct anyone interested in becoming a certified food educator in the program. Contact Rosemary Traill at 724-741-5167 or e-mail macrorose@msn.com.

The Presbyterian Church of Coraopolis will hold a pasta dinner and bake sale from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, benefiting the West Hills Food Pantry. This features the sauce of Josephine Coletti, subject of a story in the Food section in August, when she made sauce to assist earthquake victims in her native Italy: post-gazette.com/pg/09232/991894-34.stm. Cost for dinner is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5 to 10, younger children are free. Call 412-264-0470, ext. 10.

Sisters Place, a nonprofit that assists homeless single women and their children, will hold its Crushed Grapes fundraiser from 5:30 to 9 p.m. March 11 in the Upper Lobby at U.S. Steel Tower, Downtown. Tickets are $60 in advance, $70 at the door. Besides food and wine, a silent auction featuring everything from a Bahamas vacation to rare wines will be held. Go to sistersplace.org for tickets and more details; group rates available, call 412-233-3903.

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