Zucchini races, Worth Our Weight meals and other tasty events

<p>Zucchini Festival: Have an abundance of zucchini in your garden? Feeling creative? Why not take inspiration from summer's most prolific plant and join in the fun at Saturday's Zucchini Festival at the Healdsburg Farmers Market?</p><p>Zucchini races begin at 10 a.m. and are at the heart of the celebration. You need to register your decorated zucchini vehicle between 8:30 and 9:30a.m.; you can also register your super zuke in the giant zucchini contest.</p><p>For vehicles, the axle must be inserted into the squash — i.e., the zuke cannot be tied to a skateboard or such — and the wheels must fit within an 11-inch track. </p><p>Prizes will be awarded in the children's and adult divisions after the race concludes around 10:30 a.m. The market takes place at North and Vine streets from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays through the end of November.</p><p></p><p>Worth our weekend: There's lots going on at Evelyn Cheatham's Worth Our Weight Culinary Apprenticeship Program.</p><p>WOW's Weekend Cafe is open Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and lunch and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for brunch. </p><p>Brunch has become so popular that although reservations are not required, they are recommended.</p><p>There are several monthly events, too. Community dinners take place on the third Friday of the month. Reservations are required; for reservations and for details about time and menu, call 544-1200.</p><p>The final Friday of the month is family game night, which means board games like Scrabble, Uno, Blink and others, not venison. The evening's menu features sandwiches.</p><p>Worth Our Weight, a certified nonprofit organization, is located at 1012 Hahman Drive in Santa Rosa, near the southern end of Montgomery Village.</p><p>Remembering Hurricane Katrina: Mark your calendar for the Aug. 29 special benefit for Nonesuch, a small private nonprofit school founded in 1969 in rural western Sebastopol.</p><p>“Remembering Hurricane Katrina” marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which hit land on Aug. 28, 2005. Since then, Nonesuch students have made two trips to New Orleans to help with rebuilding homes in St. Bernard's Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward; some of the students will be on hand to share their experiences.</p><p>Terrell Brunet, who had a brief tenure as general manager of the now-closed West County Grill, is serving as executive chef for the affair; he will create a traditional Creole feast. Terrell is a native of New Orleans and had returned there in 2002 after cooking throughout the country; when Katrina hit, he lost nearly everything and now lives in Northern California.</p><p>The Zydeco Flames will provide music for the evening. Proceeds from the celebration benefit the continuing rebuilding efforts.</p><p>The event takes place at the Masonic Center (373 N. Main St., Sebastopol). Doors open at 6:30 p.m., when on-site and to-go dinners will be available for $10. There will be beverages available for purchase and if you want to stay for the dancing, the cost is a sliding-scale donation of $15 to $50 per person.</p><p>Nonesuch hopes to sell 300 dinners; to reserve yours in advance, call 696-6800.</p><p>Perry's celebrates forty years: Forty years ago, a young Perry Butler happened across a great location on Union Street in San Francisco, then primarily a residential area with a few mom-and-pop businesses scattered here and there. In August 1969, he quietly opened Perry's, which was an immediate neighborhood success and soon became a San Francisco institution, a hangout for such legendary characters as Herb Caen, Richard Brautigan and countless politicians and well-known sports stars from the Giants and the 49ers.</p><p>Thursday, Perry's turned 40, and there is still plenty of time to join in the monthlong celebration. Throughout August, all wines are half price, Michelob Draft is $2 and a New York steak dinner is $19.69. Perry's famous hamburger — Herb Caen dubbed it the best in the city — is half price on Tuesdays.</p><p>There are special celebrity and alumni bartenders through Saturday night. And on Sunday, there's a big block party with live music and entertainment, a barbecue, cocktails, beer and wine from 11a.m. to 5 p.m.</p><p>Perry's is located at 1944 Union St., between Laguna and Buchanan streets.</p><p>For reservations, call (415) 922-0843. For more information, visit perryssf.com.</p><p>Macadamias uncracked: If you attended the farmers market in Sebastopol two weeks ago, you may have noticed a small stand offering organic macadamia nuts in the shell, a very rare sight.</p><p>Here's the deal. Leana Lovejoy divides her time between Sebastopol and the island of Hawaii, where she presides over her 10-acre Lovejoy Nut Farm, located on the south Kona coast. When she is on the mainland, she attends the Sebastopol farmers market every other week; she'll be there this Sunday.</p><p>What is unique about Lovejoy's nuts is that they are sold in the shell, which is notoriously difficult to crack. </p><p>But Leana has found a reasonably priced nutcracker; it is just $12 and she sells it alongside bags of gorgeous nuts.</p><p>If you can't make it to the market, the nuts and the nutcrackers are also available online at lovejoynutfarm.com.</p><p>Your winter garden: This weekend, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (15290 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental) hosts its Fall Biodiversity Plant Sale.</p><p>The sale takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with free garden tours at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.</p><p>You'll find hundreds of varieties of heirloom crops, including lettuces and other salad greens, brassicas, chards, leeks and herbs. There are a lot of ornamentals, too, including old-fashioned flowers and edible perennials. </p><p>For more information about the center and its ongoing programs, visit oaec.org.</p><p>Michele Anna Jordan hosts “Mouthful” each Sunday at 7 p.m. on KRCB 91.1 FM. E-mail Jordan at michele@micheleannajordan.com.</p>