The festival includes chef demonstrations, wine tasting, live entertainment and samplings of pear-influenced recipes by Santana Row Chefs.

Wine tasting, $20 for six tastes with 20% of proceeds donated to Hospice of the Valley.

Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis will appear at noon in Santana Row Park with a Q&A and book signing. Tickets for this event will be distributed in Sur La Table at Santana Row with the purchase of Giada’s Kitchen.

Santana Row
Winchester & Stevens Creek Boulevards, San Jose

Sunday, October 19, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Free except for wine tasting and the Giada De Laurentiis event.

Just collecting a few random flyers around downtown and SJSU and passing the info on to you. This stuff ranges from comedy to theater to nightclub events to ballroom dance lessons to talent shows to… well, you’ll see. There’s got to be something here you’re interested in. I’m also splicing in some events I found here on the San Jose Downtowner e-mail newsletter, and a couple of gems I saw on Artsopolis.com. I wish I could do this more often. Alas, school.

Wednesday, Oct. 1

Comedy at the Improv: Komedy Kegger – San Jose Bar and Grill teams up with The Improv to supply top notch laughs and affordable drinks and appetizers.  Tickets are good for buy one get one drink at San Jose Bar and Grill after the show.  8 pm.  62 S. Second St.  $10, 280-7475 or www.symfonee.com/Improv/sanjose/home/index.aspx

Thursday, Oct. 2

Groove Suite — An Open Turnatble Gathering: Every first Thursday of the month. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at SFB Lounge, 420 South First St. All styles and genres welcome. Featuring a heavy monthly line-up of local and international guest DJs, live art, vendors, billiards, arcade/gaming area, food and drink specials all night. All sets are recorded live and will be available free to download at http://www.groovesuite.podomatic.com/. Resident: ThatGirl. Guest list free all night: thatgirlmelanie@yahoo.com. Email for priority open turntable sign-up.

Ma’BOO’Hay Talent Showcase: In celebration of Pilpino History Month, Akbayan presents their 8th annual talent showcase. Pilipino artists from around the Bay Area perform for a night of great music and fun, with proceeeds going to Bantay Bata 163, a charity that serves sick and abused children. Sponsored by the Akbayan Filipino-American Organization of SJSU. Tickets are $8 presale and $12 at the door. Doors open 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m. Email maboohay2008@gmail.com for tickets or more information, or visit http://akbayansjsu.wordpress.com/.

Comedy at the Improv presents Henry Cho: (Thursday-Sunday) Cho is going to star in his own sitcom based on his life as a Korean-American born and raised in Tennessee.  He has also been featured on Comedy Central and several films like “Material Girls,” “Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation” and “Say It Isn’t So.”  8 pm Thurs; 8 pm and 10 pm Fri; 7 pm and 9 pm Sat; 7 pm Sun.  62 S. Second St. $16-$18, 280-7475 or www.symfonee.com/Improv/sanjose/home/index.aspx

City Lights Theatre presents “Noises Off”: A funny story of an English acting ensemble that is touring a production of a farce called “Nothing On.”  Thursday-Saturday through October 19. 8 pm Wed-Sat; 7 pm Oct 5; 2 pm Oct 12 and Oct 19.  529 S.  Second St.  $15-$40, 295.4200 or www.cltc.org

Friday, Oct. 3

South First Fridays: Downtown art venues are free and open to the public late into the evening, every first Friday of the month. You can also ride the new rickshaw service between galleries. See highlights, read about the venues and download a map at http://www.southfirstfridays.com/

Ballroom Dance: Take lessons every Friday from now to Oct. 24. This Friday and Friday Oct. 10 both focus on the Bolero. Oct. 17 and 24 teaches Salsa, Nov. 7 is the Foxtrot and Nov. 14 and 21 are East Coast Swing. No dance experience necessary! Cost is $25 for a semester or $3 for drop-in. Beginning classes are at 7:30 p.m. and intermediate is at 8:30 p.m. Visit the Ballroon Dance Club’s website at http://studentorgs.sjsu.edu/sjsubdc.

SiliCon 2008: Through Oct. 5. The SiliCon 2008 Convention for Fans of Science, Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror features seminars covering hard science, science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Some of the topics covered include astronomy, robotics, and other scientific areas, as well as writing, painting, costuming, singing, model making, computer graphics, and film studies, along with diabetes education and outreach. SiliCon is a non-profit organization devoted to science education and raising funds and awareness for diabetes education and research. Info: http://www.siliconventions.com/2008/

Death of a Salesman: October 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11 at 7 p.m., University Theatre, SJSU. Tickets are $10 students/seniors, $20 general admission. For more info or to order tickets online, go to http://www.tvradiofilmtheatre.com/.

San Pedro Farmers’ Market: Fresh produce, food vendors and live music, takes place each Friday to Dec. 12 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. along San Pedro Street between Santa Clara and St. John streets. http://www.sjdowntown.com/eve_eve_far.html.

WAIT! There’s 7 more events behind the jump!

Saturday, Oct. 4

The Elegant Ballet Galaxy: The Liaoning Ballet of China visits the San Jose Center for the Performing Artis Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m and Sunday, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. For more info, visit http://www.sino-china.com, or to get tickets, go to www.sjtix.com.

Jerome Mouffe in concert: From Belgium, the South Bay Guitar Society presents the classical performer, composer and recording artist for a solo guitar concert.  8 pm.  Le Petit Trianon Theatre, 72 N. Fifth St,. $15-25; 292-0704 www.sbgs.org

Lyric Theatre presents “The Rose of Persia”: Saturday-Sunday through Oct. 12. An opera sure to make you laugh about a wealthy unconventional with 25 wives is the target of a scheming priest intent on disposing of him and stealing his fortune.  8 pm Thurs-Sat; 2 pm Sun.  Montgomery Theater, 271 S. Market St.  $30-$35, 986-1455 or www.lyrictheatre.org

Sunday, Oct. 5

VNHELP presents “Mua Thu Cho Em” Fundraising Concert: Award-winners from Viet Nam will perform traditional and modern music on Vietnamese instruments.  Plus, folk songs will be performed by renowned singers. 4 pm. California Theatre, 345 S. First St. $30-$100, 885-1791 or www.vnhelp.org

Friday, Oct. 10

The Workout: Indie electro dance party at The Cellar, 1st San Salvador, downtown San Jose. Cost is $5, 21+. Doors open at 9 p.m. There’s no Web site, so check out Yelp reviews for The Cellar here.

Saturday, Oct. 11

Rock Band Live with Panic at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional: 7 p.m. at the San Jose State Event Center. The Rock Band Live Tour rolls into San Jose featuring co-headliners Panic at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional. Others on the line-up include Plain White T’s and The CAB. SJSU Students can now purchase discounted tickets for only $25! One ticket per Tower Card, available only at the Box Office, limited to the first 500 students. Tickets are $39.95 General Admission. Purchase tickets here: http://www.union.sjsu.edu/ec/Event_Center_Arena/event_center_arena.html.

Monday, Oct. 13

Weezer: 7 p.m. at the San Jose State Event Center. In support of their new self-titled album, Weezer hits the road for a five week, coast-to-coast tour with a stop at the Event Center Arena. Also scheduled are Angels & Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club. Tickets are $49.50 General Admission. Purchase tickets here: http://www.union.sjsu.edu/ec/Event_Center_Arena/event_center_arena.html.

Festival attendees will be able to meet pear farmers, taste the pear-influenced creations of chefs during the Santana Row Chef Challenge, attend a pear dessert demonstration, enjoy performances by local folk, country and jazz musicians, visit the farmer’s market, along with other activities.

Learn new pear recipes, growing techniques and more from the growers themselves; also, sample different types of pears from across the country. 10:00am. – 6:00pm

The Santana Row Chef Challenge with Chefs David Bastide (Left Bank), Vittal Shetty (Amber India), Michael Dunn (Yankee Pier), Stephen J. Romeo (Straits Café) and others compete using fresh ingredients from the Santana Row Farmers’ Market, as well as any spice or meat/fish they wish, the chefs must create a pear-themed dish in only 30 minutes. The lucky spectators get to be the judges. 11:00am, 2:00pm & 4:00pm

Bay Area chef and author of award-winning dessert cookbooks Alice Medrich will demonstrate her pastry techniques when she prepares a special pear dessert. Noon

Santana Row
Winchester & Stevens Creek Boulevards, San Jose
Sunday, Oct. 7
10:00am. – 6:00pm
Free

Driving Directions

The market is quite compact, occupying just two rows of the parking lot. The sellers reflect California’s racial diversity.

There are all kinds of stuff from peanuts to fish, flowers to kettle-made popcorn. But we didn’t really find all the produce fresh — let me know if you think otherwise. I was also expecting things like fresh salsa, which wasn’t to be found. There was a musician who was having fun with a variety of flutes. We ended up with a bunch of roses and some peaches.

What I took away from this outing was that it brought back my childhood memories from India. I used to go every Sunday with my father to the vegetable market, which was a more crowded and dirtier version.

Back to this Farmers’ Market, it happens every Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The James Lick High School is located just off I-680, at the intersection of Alum Rock Avenue and N White Road. There is ample parking space. Check out more photos on Flickr.

Not to worry if this one is a wee bit far from your home. Find something nearby at the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association Web-site. For instance, there’s one at Santana Row. Go, get some fresh produce and support local farmers!

If you want to get a dose of cherry blossoms, you don’t need to look very far. Not only is San Jose sprinkled with cherry blossom trees in general but you can find plenty lining the streets of Japantown. Or if you feel like more of a garden setting, head on down to the Japanese Friendship Garden in Kelly Park or to Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. These awesome spring days are great for heading out and about.

Japantown:
Located on Taylor and Jackson between 1st and 10th streets
One of only three Japantowns in the country
Japantown Farmer’s Market: Sundays 8:30 am – 12 noon

Japanese Friendship Garden:
Located in Kelley Park, 1490 Senter Road
Open daily, 10am to sunset

Hakone Gardens:
Hakone Gardens, 21000 Big Basin Way, Saratoga
Visit the website for hours and fees