Overload the senses

Beer can hold its own at almost any event: a barbecue, sports game, concert, maybe even a wedding. But a ballet? The Sacramento Ballet will test this compatibility with Beer and Ballet on Saturday, with two shows. With your sight experiencing sophistication and your taste buds declaring “Mmm, beer,” don’t be surprised if your senses start doing pirouettes.

Confuse those senses a bit more with a reading of Robert Burns’ poetry. If you really want to live on the edge, try reading “Address to a Haggis” in front of an audience—without practicing. If you thought “Auld Lang Syne” was hard to understand, you’re in for a treat at Burns 250: A Burns Night Poetry Reading this Sunday at The Book Collector. Scholar and poet Kevin Jones will brave the bard’s words at his 250th birthday celebration. The evening will feature food, drink and even an open-mic for those brave souls who want a go at reading a Burns’ poem.

If haggis isn’t your cup o’ boiled stomach, try the hearty cooking of the Wild West at California Gold Rush: What We Ate next Saturday, January 31, at the California State Railroad Museum. The forty-niners may have survived on a cheap diet of baked beans and beef stew, but in 2009 it’ll cost you $75 for that meal. OK, to be fair, the evening also includes presentations by Gold Rush historians, wine, beer and an acorn-and-pine-nut cake with warm huckleberries.

Mmm, a little history paired with old-fashioned Californian chow. Serve me up a tin of that.