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[title]Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival
Sunday 10
One treat comes from China, while the other traces its lineage to Brooklyn soda fountains, but both items are favored foodstuffs of Lower East Side residents both past and present. At this festival, now in its 12th year, you can grab one of the fried snacks and a fizzy, chocolaty drink to wash it down ($5 for both) and settle in for an afternoon of ethnic offerings. Check out performances from the Joy of Klezmer ensemble, Cantor Eric Freeman (singing Jewish liturgical music) and Qi Shu Fang’s Peking Opera, as well as demos on Jewish paper-cutting and Chinese calligraphy, and lessons in both Mandarin and Yiddish. You can also tour the restored Eldridge Street Synagogue or attend a traditional tea ceremony with Chinatown martial artist Sifu Ken Lo. • Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge St between Canal and Division Sts (212-219-0888, eldridgestreet.org). Noon–4pm; free.
Museum Mile Festival
Tuesday 12
Enjoy a cultural smorgasbord as nine museums take over Fifth Avenue with free art and entertainment offerings. A ceremony outside the National Academy Museum and School kicks off the 34th annual event, while musicians—such as pianist David Kaplan, stationed at 86th Street, and jazz bandleader Hayes Greenfield, at 90th Street—will serenade revelers along the route. Make your way to blockbuster exhibits like the Jewish Museum’s “Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940,” or “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (but expect a wait—the bigger exhibits are typically mobbed). Head north to El Museo del Barrio for a peek at “Caribbean: Crossroads of the World”, which opens today, and learn about offerings at institutions including the 92nd Street Y and the Asia Society. • Fifth Ave between 82nd and 105th Sts (museummilefestival.org). 6–9pm; free.