BEIJING

Sweet and salty

[Photo provided to China Daily]

The capital's sugar cravings were on the salty side recently, as The Hutong hosted its annual Cookie Monster Charity Bake-off. The judge's award went to Queen of the Cookie Jar, a chewy white-chocolate chip oatmeal confection drizzled with salted caramel created by Jamie Kung of Sugar & Spice. The crowd that came to sample the bakings of the 20 contestants, meanwhile, voted for A Salty Surprise, a chocolate-chip cookie that Becca Ruskin, Rachel Friedman and Sydney Hess took to new heights by adding pretzel pieces, browned butter, sea salt and chocolate-peanut butter ganache. Organized by Beijing foodie Kristen Lum and The Hutong cultural center, the bake-off raised 10,133 yuan ($1,535) for the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, a local preservation organization.

Cheers wine dinner

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Who could fail to love wines named Tussock Jumper malbec and Fashion Victim moscato? Luckily, the contents of these affordable bottles are as tasty as they are amusingand about to be nicely matched with dishes by chef Rob Cunningham at a pop-up dinner at Feast in Beijing's East hotel. The April 21 event includes four courses cooked with the wines they are paired with from Cheers, starting with a prosecco and canapes of blue-cheese tartlets with leek. Dinner with wine is 288 yuan plus 15 percent service charge.

April 21 only, East Beijing Hotel, 22 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district; 010-8426-0888.