Mixers & Elixirs @ Houston Museum of Natural Science Friday, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. 5555 Hermann Park Drive
The Houston Museum of Natural Science will host another Mixers & Elixirs event tonight from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. Tonight's theme revolves around the final frontier -- space. Listen to live music by Bagheera while munching on scrumptious bites and treats from H-Town StrEATs, Mr. Sizzles Curbside and Miso Yummy. The museum will also provide a cash bar serving various libations throughout the evening.
Cooking up Change @ Rice University, West Servery Saturday, 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 6100 Main Sreet
Seven teams of students from four HISD schools will compete in Cooking up Change on Saturday at Rice University. The competition challenges high school students to create tasty and healthy school lunch meals costing about $1 per meal; they must also follow the national nutrition guidelines. From noon until 1 p.m. you will have the chance to taste the various creations from the seven teams; a panel of judges consisting of Dr. Terry Grier, Houston ISD superintendent; Mark Cornish, senior executive chef at Reliant Park with Aramark; Beth Thorson, director for Nutrition, Education & Outreach with Texas Department of Agriculture; and Ray Danilowicz, executive general manager of Houston ISD Food Services with Aramark, will judge the culinary students' entries. The winning team will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the Cooking up Change National Competition in June.
Houston Japan Festival @ Hermann Park Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 6201-A Hermann Park Drive
The Houston Japan Festival will take place at Hermann Park on Saturday and Sunday. It's free and open to the public, but food and drink must be purchased with tickets sold inside the festival. Feast on a multitude of traditional Japanese bites while enjoying entertainment including martial arts demonstrations, Japanese classical dances, fashion shows and so much more. There will also be an authentic tea ceremony.
West Houston Food Truck Festival @ Temple Sinai Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. 13875 Brimhurst Drive
Spend your Sunday afternoon at the West Houston Food Truck Festival enjoying snacks and treats from nine food trucks. Grab a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich from The Golden Grill, followed by a strawberry Irish cream crème brulee sweet waffle from The Waffle Bus, and cap it all off with a cool snow cone from Sweet Treats Snow Cones. Along with the food trucks, the festival will feature live music from three bands, activities for children, a balloon artist, face painters and games for everyone to play. Admission costs $8; food and beverages must be purchased separately. The festival will give a portion of the proceeds to the Houston Food Bank. A $15 ticket includes access into the festival as well as two beer or wine tickets.
Gracie Nguyen Fundraiser by Ghetto Dinner @ Big Star Bar Sunday, 2 p.m. 1005 W. 19th Street
Houston pastry chef Gracie Nguyen was badly injured in the car crash at SXSW music festival in Austin on March 13. As a means to help Nguyen with her medical expenses, many Houston chefs, bakers and restaurateurs will host a fundraiser dinner on Sunday at Big Star Bar, where all of the proceeds will go directly to Nguyen's medical care. Joshua Martinez of Goro & Gun along with Adam Dorris, formerly of Revival Market, will bring back their popular pop-up dinner series, "Ghetto Dinner Series," on Sunday to raise money for Nguyen. Rebecca Masson of Fluff Bake Bar will head up the bake sale featuring desserts from her and other bakers; there will also be a silent auction. But, that's not all: The fundraising dinner will include a dunk tank where you can try your best to dunk Pooja Lodhia of ABC 13, Katharine Shilcutt of Houstonia, Eric Sandler of CultureMap, local public relations rep Dutch Small, and our very own Kaitlin Steinberg. The fun begins at 2 p.m. If you can't make it to the event, you can make donations on the fundraising website.
