Japanese Sweets at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

This weekend, celebrate the warmer weather with a Japanese pastry or three. Chef Motohiro Inaba of beloved tearoom Toraya will be providing a demonstration on the preparation of the festive Japanese sweets known as wagashi. You can see the artist at work on Saturday, April 26 from 12-1 p.m at the BBG's Alfred T. White Memorial Amphitheater. Japanese food and beverages will be available at the cherry esplanade from 11-5:30, and pastries will be sold on the rotunda from 1-5 p.m. (Afterword: The bento boxes were truly horrid, but Toraya lived up to its name with ginger-perfumed "moon cakes" stuffed with moist, sweet red bean jam.)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden: 1000 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, (718) 623-7200. Or, if you'd rather go straight to the source, the Toraya tearoom is located at 17 E. 71st St., (212) 861-1700.