Published: January, 2013
Living on Truffle Time
The third annual Napa Truffle Festival, January 18-21, will showcase the venerated black winter Périgord truffle this year. This unique event will bring together a gathering of leading truffle cultivation experts and scientists, special guests from the food and wine world, and internationally renowned Michelin Star chefs to discuss, examine, probe, prepare, demonstrate and pair truffles with wines to feast upon for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don’t miss the fun and science of truffle cultivation, preparation and degustation, including popular winery lunches—this year hosted by Beringer and Silver Oak—and cooking demos, the lively festival marketplace featuring local wines and artisanal foods, and the grand Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque prepared by Michelin Star chefs. Also, new this year is a wild mushroom forage excursion. The host venue, Westin Verasa Napa, will be offering special rates to festival goers. For more information, visit www.napatrufflefestival.com.
Exploratorium in the Streets
On January 2, the iconic Exploratorium will close its doors at the Palace of Fine Arts in preparation for a move to a new home at Pier 15 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero. Yet, intrepid explorers need not fear—those itching for an Exploratorium-style experience prior to the museum’s opening on April 17 will have multiple opportunities to play, explore and learn with ongoing activities on the streets throughout San Francisco in the coming months. Exploratorium Explainers will be popping up with cool experiments in neighborhoods, parks and key locations from January through March, bringing the Exploratorium’s signature blend of fun, science and participation to passers-by. Beginning the week of January 7, Exploratorium Explainers will be showing up in unexpected places in San Francisco. These pop-up, site-specific activities will be designed to make people notice and engage with the world around them, and to shake them out of their normal, everyday routines. Donning bright orange vests just as they do at the museum, Exploratorium Explainers will help people trace shadows, observe clouds, and other fun science activities that make people see the everyday world in a whole new way. Explainers will also visit neighborhoods, challenging San Franciscans to navigate the streets using goofy goggles (glasses that change your view of the world), or offering up a quick lesson on perception by performing magic tricks. In January, locations will vary throughout San Francisco. In February and March, they will be spending most of their time along the Embarcadero and in front of Pier 15, the Exploratorium’s future home. For more information, visit www.exploratorium.edu.
Practicing Proper Pruning Protocol
On Saturday, January 19, the Occidental Art and Ecology Center (OAEC), a nonprofit organizing an education center and organic farm in Sonoma County, will offer a three-hour workshop on fruit-tree and vine pruning. OAEC’s orchard manager will cover the basics and benefits of winter and summer pruning for small, diversified fruit tree orchards. The workshop will discuss tools and tool safety, reasons to prune your trees and basic pruning cuts. The workshop will also explore the art of pruning. We will walk around the orchards at OAEC and discuss the different types of fruit trees and how to properly prune each type of tree. Some examples include apples, European and Asian pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, cherries, grapes, quince, and kiwi. The event is from 9 a.m. to noon with a $35 fee. For information, visit www.oaec.org or call (707) 874-1557 x101. There is a rain date of January 27.
Dine About Town…Only in San Francisco Returns
The 12th annual Dine About Town San Francisco returns January 15-31. Diners may select from more than 100 Bay Area restaurants, each offering two or three-course lunch menus for $18.95 and/or three-course dinner menus for $36.95. This pricing can represent up to a 25 percent savings off regularly priced a la carte items. Dates and times of participation vary by restaurant. Reservations are encouraged and may be made online through a partnership with OpenTable.com. On January 12 at 6 p.m., celebrate the 11th year of Dine About Town at City View at Metreon on 101 4th Street. With a $50 donation to Meals on Wheels, you can sample delicious food or beverage offerings. Participating restaurants will provide tastes from their Dine About Town menus and guests will have the opportunity to sample wines, beers and spirits from the Bay Area and beyond. Tickets for the launch must be purchased in advance and space is limited. For more information or to view the extensive restaurant list, visit www.dineabouttown.com.
Oakland Restaurant Week
Come experience the Oakland culinary renaissance with Oakland Restaurant Week, January 18-27. During 10 days in January, over 40 restaurants all over Oakland will offer special prix fixe menus at $20, $30 and $40 and many restaurants will also include drink specials to supplement the meal. Participants in Jack London Square include Bocanova, Kinkaid’s Bayhouse Restaurant, Scott’s Seafood Restaurant and Yoshi’s Jazz Club and Japanese Restaurant. Reservations are strongly recommended. See the current list of all participating restaurants and make reservations at www.oaklandrestaurantweek.org.
Art & Industry Intersect
The Crucible—a nonprofit arts education facility in Oakland with a dedicated mission to Arts, Industry, and Community —is bringing back Hot Couture: A Fusion of Fashion and Fire to celebrate their 14th year anniversary. Hot Couture’s fashion show will display creations from fashion designers collaborating and producing industrial fashions in partnership with artists integrating bold design, visionary fashion and accessories. Hot Couture will consist of wearable art that will be unveiled during the two-night event, January 11 and 12. Thirteen artist and designer teams will create as many as 48 haute couture concepts, illustrating the intersection between fashion, traditional industrial materials and fabrication. Prices range from $30 to $75. For more information, visit www.thecrucible.org.
To have your event or announcement considered for the Bay Crossings Around the Bay listings, please send information or a press release to: joel@baycrossings.com.
