Road Warriors

SUN-SUN 11/21-28

I've often wondered why car magazines drape vixens on the vehicles in their pages, because it seems to me that enthusiasts would just as soon hump the car as the lady. When asked to explain their preference for, say, a Maserati Quattroporte over a Mercedes SLR, these enthusiasts exclaim over streamlined forms and untrammeled power in a way that can only be described as lustful. Expect to see many such impassioned fans at this week's San Francisco International Auto Show, more than a million square feet of autos, SUVs, trucks, motorcycles, and vans from makers both domestic (Ford, Pontiac) and foreign (Ferrari, Lamborghini). Get sweet on something mechanized starting at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 21 (and continuing through Nov. 28), at the Moscone Center, 747 Howard (at Third Street), S.F. Admission is free-$8; call 331-4406 or visit www.sfautoshow.com.
-- Joyce Slaton

Hoop Dreams

ONGOING

Though our city's parks and gyms teem with dudes who think nothing of joining in a friendly game of hoops or soccer with a bunch of amiable strangers, we of the bra-wearing gender aren't as comfortable walking up to a big group of guys and asking to get in on their match. But sporting Bay Area female Christine Schwartz is bridging that divide with her weekly "Women's Pick-Up Basketball" games. Bring your sneakers and your moves at 6:30 each Thursday night to the Moscone Recreation Center, 1800 Chestnut (at Buchanan), S.F. Admission is free; call (925) 212-2952.
-- Joyce Slaton

Shroomin'
Forest fungus party

SAT 11/20

Tell the average local that you enjoy mushroom-hunting and he generally reacts as if you'd expressed a preference for driving over the Bay Bridge blindfolded. "Isn't that dangerous?" such neophytes ask anxiously. The answer is no, not unless you're stupid -- because smart scavengers always go picking with an expert who can tell a true morel (yellow, wrinkled, luscious) from a beefsteak morel (reddish, common, poisonous). Learn what's safe and what's scary at this weekend's "Mushroom Hike at Hidden Villa," a three-hour walk with Wade Leschyn, long-standing member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco, in verdant, tree-choked woods. Bring a basket and a knife at 10 a.m. to Hidden Villa Farm & Wilderness Preserve, 26870 Moody (at Sherlock), Los Altos Hills. Admission is $10 and preregistration is required; call (650) 949-8653 or visit www.hiddenvilla.org.
-- Joyce Slaton