Mill City at the arboretum

Boy, have we needed the various indoor farmers' markets this winter! They keep our hopes up. One of the prettiest venues is the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen, which is hosting the Mill City Farmers Market from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 15. More than 40 of its usual vendors will be on site in the Oswald Visitor Center, tempting shoppers with fresh produce, freshly milled grains and flours, preserves, wooden cooking utensils, artisan cheeses, pastured meats, beautifully crafted ceramics, wild rice, handmade baskets, eggs, jewelry and much more. Mill City chef Heather Hartman will be cooking wild rice-bison meatballs in BBQ sauce.

The arboretum also will have a variety of activities such as an exhibit of miniature fairy gardens, a spring sale of green and growing gift items, narrated bus tours, a cooking class about premium olive oils and balsamic vinegars, and a landscape class about trees and shrubs. To register for classes and find other details, visit www.arboretum.umn.edu/. Admission is $12 for adults; free for members and ages 12 and under.

Pics for words

This could be good news for bloggers. Trover, a photo-sharing site from Expedia.com and Zillow, has announced three free new photo widgets that could enable foodie bloggers to bolster their content with high-quality, location-based photos directly to their site at no cost to them. Trover was developed as a community for people to share their photos and get comments, compliments and credit. For details, visit www.trover.com/widgets.

Road Food, you betcha

Minnesota makes a classic showing in the ninth edition of "Road Food," that coast-to-coast guidebook from Jane and Michael Stern, who are weekly radio guests on Lynne Rossetto Kasper's "Splendid Table." They are champions of food that reflects a region's cultural and taste buds. What do they recommend? Here goes:

Al's Breakfast, Minneapolis; Betty's Pies, Two Harbors; Bloedow Bakery, Winona; Bread & Chocolate, St. Paul; Cafe Latte, St. Paul; Convention Grill, Edina; Hell's Kitchen, Minneapolis; Lange's Cafe, Pipestone; Lindstrom Bakery, Lindstrom; Maverick's, Roseville; Northern Waters Smokehaus, Duluth; Tavern on Grand, St. Paul, and World's Best Donuts, Grand Marais.

Don't touch that dial

Minnesota's Amy Thielen returns Saturday to the Food Network with another season of the popular "Heartland Table," in which she shines a scrumptious spotlight on Midwestern home-cooking. Here's what she has lined up this month for the show, which airs here at 9:30 a.m.

March 8: "Heart of Fire" is about gathering around the wood stove, or the hearth, with comfort food such as fried chicken and gravy, whipped potatoes, Swiss chard with honey-roasted garlic, and indoor buttercup s'mores. March 15: "Hot Horseradish" is a horseradish-spiked feast of beef stew with red wine, mushrooms and horseradish cream, roasted shrimp wraps with homemade cocktail sauce and a sprawling Bloody Mary bar. March 22: "Say Cheese" surveys Midwestern cheese with crispy cheese-curd risotto cakes served with a side of cherry tomato-arugula salad, best-ever cheese soup and stovetop mac and cheese with bacon. March 29: "On the Ice" is inspired by the Minnesota Eelpout Festival in Walker, with monkfish almandine, chestnut-wild rice pilaf, cast-iron curried carrots and vintage toffee bars.

Episodes are repeated at 4:30 p.m. on the following Mondays. For behind-the-scenes details about Thielen and the show, visit www.foodnetwork.com/shows/heartland-table.html#.

If you want to meet her in person, Thielen will be the chef-in-residence at Gather at the Walker Art Center tonight (Thursday) from 5 to 9 p.m. The restaurant will feature her menu of small plates, which will be available throughout March. STAFF REPORTS