Champagne, Cream Puffs and Canapes

MASTERS OF FOOD AND WINE The county's biggest, most extravagant celebration of fine wine and cuisine, which draws some of the nation's hottest chefs and wineries to the Highlands Inn every March, runs through Sunday with tastings, demonstrations, and blow-out lunches and dinners. Highlights include tonight's "Celebration of Women" charity dinner at 6:30pm, featuring renowned female chefs including Nancy Oakes of San Francisco's Boulevard, Michelle Bernstein of Azul in Miami Beach and Suzanne Tracht of LA's Jar ($250); they're hoping the event will raise at least $10,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Friday, Eric Ripert of New York's Le Bernadin restaurant, the city's only four-star seafood eatery, holds a cooking demo at 10:30am ($175); Saturday, Chateau Margaux brings ten vintages of its superb vino for a once-in-a-lifetime tasting at 3pm (costs $350, if there's any space left); and Sunday, TV chef Jacques Pepin shows off his stuff at 10:30am ($100).

Today through Sunday. Highlands Inn/Park Hyatt Carmel, Highway One (four miles south of Carmel). Various prices. For complete schedule and ticket information visit www.mfandw.com or call 1-800-401-1009.

friday 2|21

A Rossetti By Any Other Name

ROSSETTI STRING QUARTET They've played Paris's Saint Chapelle, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and Berlin's Konzerthaus. The Los Angeles Times describes them as "A provocative ensemble; its achievement is stunning, its future brilliant." Tonight, the Rossetti String Quartet stops in Carmel, as they tour coast to coast in the U.S. A reception to meet the artists-Timothy Fain and Henry Gronnier on violin, Thomas Diener on viola and Eric Gaenslen on cello-will follow immediately after the concert. Tonight's program includes Haydn's Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3, one of the six "Sun" Quartets; Mozart's Quartet in G Major, K. 387, the first of Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn; and Schubert's String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D. 804, or "Rosamunde." Count on the Rossetti String Quartet to present it in their natural, yet personal, style.

8pm. Carmel Presbyterian Church, corner of Ocean and Junipero, Carmel. $18 adults, $5 students. 625-3637.

Glowing In The Dark

MANYA, THE STORY OF MARIE CURIE When I was a kid I had this great book called Great Women Physicians. My favorite chapter was the story of Marie Curie, the 19th-century Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered radium and radioactivity. There was an illustration of her walking around the streets of Paris with a lump of radium in her pocket, which-according to the book's author-eventually killed her. I had nightmares about that image for years. Denver actress Susan Marie Frontczak, who is bringing her one-woman show based on the life of Marie Curie to Hartnell College this week, told me that the story isn't true. But that doesn't make Curie's life any the less amazing. Frontczak's taken her show all around the country; check out her dress, sewn to look just like the one Madame Curie is most often pictured as wearing.

7pm. Main Theater at Hartnell College, 156 Homestead Ave., Salinas. Free. 755-6810.

saturday 2|22

Performing Furballs

OTTER DAYS Cute, furry, playful-awww...admit it, watching otters tussle admist the kelp beds is somehow more engaging than the equally beautiful school of silvery sardines swimming round and round a tank. Perhaps it's the way they seem to perform for us as they do flips and dives, but it's easy to anthropomorphize otters and irresistible to watch them. In celebration of the otters' popularity and in recognition of their threatened status, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is hosting a weekend-long program including presentations by otter rescue staff, children's crafts and dress-up activities, and the chance to win a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium. Thinking of checking out Mae and Rosa, the youthful pups on exhibit? Come on, you otter.

Events start at 11am Saturday and Sunday. 886 Cannery Row, Monterey. Admission price to aquarium includes activities: $17.95/adults, $15.95/students/seniors, $8.95/child, kids under three: free. 648-4937 or www.montereybayaquarium.org.

Happy Birthday, John

STEINBECK'S 101st BIRTHDAY In case you haven't noticed, John Steinbeck is sort of a big deal around here. Steinbeck to Monterey County is like Elvis to Memphis. He is everywhere. That said, you must know then that if Steinbeck were alive, he'd be 101. To note the occasion, the Steinbeck Center (see?) will be hosting two programs. At 11am author Katharine Rodger will read from Renaissance Man of Cannery Row, a book about Steinbeck's pal Ed Ricketts. At 4pm, a reading from Rain of Gold, by Steinbeck-influenced author Victor Villasenor.

Admission is $9.95 for adults, $7.95 for seniors, $6.95 for kids 13 to 17, $5.95 for kids 6 to 12 and free for those under 5. National Steinbeck Center, One Main Street, Salinas. 796-3833. www.steinbeck.org

Feline Divine

EAST OF EDEN CAT FANCIERS CAT SHOW Westminster Dog Show? Whatever. Dogs? Brutish and uncivilized. Cats are where it's at. Sleek, mysterious, furry. Yes, cats. (Not really of course, dogs are way better for a multitude of reasons, but for the purposes of this week's publication, let's just pretend cats are tops in the animal kingdom.) That said, you'll find the cream of the crop. In fact you will find "hundreds of kittens and cats" at this event and benefit for the feline health research and local animal shelters. All breeds on hand for this 29th annual competition.

Feb. 22 and 23 at the Monterey Fairgrounds. Admission is $5 and $3 for kids and seniors.

Iago: Don't Go

WEBER IAGO TRIO A native of Sao Paolo, Brazil, Weber Iago made two important mid-career moves several years ago. First, after being steeped in classical music, and achieving success in the field (he won several national awards in the 1970s), Iago shifted his focus to jazz. Then, he moved to California. Having been a local favorite for years, Iago is making another move-heading this time to Europe. For this farewell concert, he will be joined by Bryan McConnel on bass and Chazz Mewhort on drums.

7:30pm. The Jazz and Blues Company. 236 Crossroads Blvd., Carmel. 624-6431.

Bella Notta

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA Everybody now, in your best Dean Martin: When the moon hit your eye like a big pizza pie ... Sure, Italians only play it for the tourists but it's so much fun. Don't count on hearing it tonight, though. Eat and drink up, and settle back for an evening of operatic arias and popular Italian favorites at Community Bank and Festa Italia's "A Night at the Opera." The night begins at 6pm, with wine, prawns, salami and cheese hors d'oeuvres. Music follows, featuring baritone Reg Huston, tenor Joe Myers, mezzo soprano Elise Rotchford and soprano Nancy Williams, under the direction of Maestro Jack Bayes and Carl Christensen, with the Monterey Bay Symphony. All proceeds benefit the 2003 Festa Italia Santa Rosalia Festival. >[JL]

6pm. Steinbeck Forum, Monterey Conference Center, One Portola Plaza Monterey. $40. To purchase tickets, call Ann Ferrante, 375-1407 or Tom Fama, 393-2263.

Poetic Politics

FRANCIS PAYNE ADLER AND DIANA GARCIA Pacific Grove's poet-in-residence Ryan Masters has been bringing great monthly poetry readings to Bookworks since his appointment to his lofty position last June. Tonight's reading, by two local feminist powerhouses, is particularly noteworthy. Frances Adler, director of the creative writing and Social Action program at CSUMB, is an NEA award-winner, an oft-published poet, and the author of several books and exhibitions, including four collaborative ones with photographer Kira Carrillo Corser that have been exhibited in state capital buildings nationwide. Her poems have appeared in Ms., The Progressive, and (my personal favorite) Exquisite Corpse magazines. Poet Diana Garcia, who teaches in the same CSUMB program as Adler, draws for her writings upon her childhood in a San Joaquin Valley migrant labor camp. Her work has been widely published and appears in many anthologies, including Touching the Fire: Fifteen Poets of Today's Latino Renaissance. Check 'em out.

7pm. Bookworks, 667 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. Free. 372-2242.

Killa Woman

MEDEA Jealousy. Adultery. War. A woman scorned takes her revenge on a philandering husband by murdering their children. As The World Turns? Heck, no, it's Medea, Euripedes' ancient Greek tragedy. It's a challenging play to mount, and Pac Rep is to be commended for doing it-again (they put it on once more than 15 years ago at the Outdoor Forest Theater). This is the Robinson Jeffers version, and it stars Bay Area actress Julia Brothers as Medea, a woman described by the New York Review as "one of the most anguished, outsized, titanic dramatic heroes in the ancient canon." Other Pac Rep stalwarts stand in for the secondary roles-nurses, muses, philandering husbands, that sort of thing. Broadway director Joseph Chaikin, winner of six Obie Awards, is the latest luminary brought in by Pac Rep to sweeten the pot. Tonight's gala opening, hosted by the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation, includes a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception.

6:30pm reception, 7:30pm show. $45, benefits Tor House; regular price tickets for show only are also available. Show continues through March 9. Golden Bough Playhouse, Monte Verde and Eighth, Carmel. 622-0100.

wednesday 2|26

Forgo the Pepcid

WHY ZEBRAS DON'T GET ULCERS Dr. Robert Sapolsky, highly-regarded biologist, science writer, Stanford professor, MacArthur Genius fellow, and (need more credentials?) associate with the Institute of Primate Research for the National Museums of Kenya, speaks today, and promises to answer the zebralogical puzzle. Sapolsky, who the New York Times referred to as a cross between Jane Goodall and a borscht-belt comedian, has received raves for his latest book, A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconvential Life Among the Baboons. Sounds unconventionally interesting to us.

2pm. Santa Catalina School, Performing Arts Center, 1500 Mark Thomas Drive, Monterey. Free, reservations required. 655-9310.