If breakfast is so important, why isn’t it more exciting? Chef Kevin Koebel of Local FATT (Food Awareness Through Teaching) and Roland Konicke of Uncle Ro’s Pizza aim to fight weekend morning boredom this Saturday, Aug. 25.

Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s production of Henry IV Part Two bristles with strong performances and dramatic tension. Directed by SSC veteran actor and director Scott Wentworth, it plays in the Festival Glen in repertory with The Man in The Iron Mask, a Wentworth-authored play receiving its world premiere this season. Watching the cast members perform wildly different roles between the two adds an extra layer of pleasure to this already excellent production.

“My interest was first piqued in Germany,” says Kathryn Lukas, “where I tasted unpasteurized kraut for the first time. I was intrigued by the barrel of kraut sitting in a cold dusty corner of a farmer’s root cellar. How could food sit out this temperature and not rot? Many years later I attended a natural chef culinary program and learned the basics of lactic acid fermentation and have been hooked ever since.”

Anyone with a jones to can, pickle or otherwise preserve the summer harvest should make a pilgrimage to Mountain Feed and Farm Supply (9550 Hwy 9, Ben Lomond; open daily), where an entire building has been dedicated to food preservation supplies. Canning kettles, pressure cookers, tongs, funnels, thermometers and a gorgeous selection of Kerr, Weck and Quattro Stagione jars will make you want to quit your job and move in. If that’s too far to travel, their booth at the Aptos Farmers Market (6500 Soquel Dr., Saturdays 8am-noon) will most likely cover your needs.

Some of us will admit to fretting over the closing of Clouds Downtown. For one thing, I thought, how will any city business get done? It was the power lunch place in town. But after our meal last week at Louie’s Cajun Kitchen and Bourbon Bar, the new venture by Cloud owners Lou and Kristi Caviglia, I don’t care. The suits at City Hall can woo Apple Store execs over peanut butter sandwiches for all I care.

District 5 County Supervisor candidate and former Secretary of State Bruce McPherson raised eyebrows from Boulder Creek to Zayante (and beyond; it was statewide news) when he dropped his affiliation with the Republican Party shortly after a tough primary against Democratic Party–backed Eric Hammer.

This festival of music, art and wine brings alive the spirit of the Cabrillo Music Festival with performances and activities in a fresh outdoor setting. There’ll be fair food, too.

For sheer entertainment value, it’s hard to beat a Shakespearean comedy. The shipwrecks, the cases of mistaken identity, the reunion of long-lost twins, the cross-dressing, the drunks: who doesn’t love these tropes? Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s current production of Twelfth Night, built on this formula, delivers the madcap goods with style and belly laughs a-plenty—along with the peculiar sense of unease that this very odd “comedy” imparts.

Two secret stashes totaling $53 million at the California Department of Parks and Recreation have come to light this week, prompting an investigation by the state’s attorney general, the Friday morning resignation of parks director Ruth Coleman and questions about whether the money might have averted the closure of 70 state parks due to budget cuts.