NYC falls into step before the holiday season with much-anticipated annual events and some new additions.

Midtown West

The Pier Antiques Show
This collector’s paradise weekend features 500 exhibitors from all over the country and could be your best chance to score some memorable one-of-a-kind finds for your home or your closet (Fashion Alley is many a vintage fashionista’s favorite). A recent addition: Book Alley, a treasure trove of art and collectible books, postcards and ephemera.
November 17-18, 10AM - 6PM
Pier 94, 12th Avenue at 55th Street
Admission: $15

Fort Greene

Pre-Thanksgiving Refresher Cooking Class
Extra guest-list additions making you feel overwhelmed by the upcoming holiday spread? Chef Kyle McClelland of Fort Greene’s Prospect restaurant will lead a class that will offer tips on how to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, highlighting all the classic festive trimmings and some non-traditional takes. Tasting to follow, with beverage pairings.
Monday, November 19, 7-8:30 PM
Prospect, 773 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY
$60

Central Park West

Our Global Kitchen
Take a journey around the world and through time. Stroll through an ancient market, cook a virtual meal, peek inside the dining rooms of illustrious individuals—and consider some of the most challenging issues of our time. This new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History reminds us how much we, as a society, are what–and how–we eat.
November 17, 2012 - August 11, 2013; see site for museum hours
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street
Tickets: $25; children $14.50; seniors/students $19

Chelsea, Greenwich Village

DOC NYC: New York’s Documentary Film Festival
Documentary storytelling is flourishing, and DOC NYC celebrates this cultural phenomenon and the new directions it has been taking in reportage, memoir, history, humor and more. This year’s festival fare includes the much-discussed Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, the US premiere of Artifact, about the modern music industry, and many, many more.
November 8-15, see site for films and events.
IFC Center, Sixth Avenue at West Third Street
School of Visual Arts Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street

Simone Dinnerstein, Piano
Classical music and avant-garde cabaret merge when pianist Simone Dinnerstein, thereminist Pamelia Kurstin, and actor Alvin Epstein join forces for the first time to journey from Bach, Mozart, and Chopin to Poulenc’s The Story of Babar the Elephant, weaving together disparate elements in an unusual evening of poetry, music, improvisation, and narration.
Monday, November 19, 6:30 PM
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street
$30 / $25 advance

Union Square

Upstairs at the Square with Fred Armisen and Eleanor Friedberger
Armisen’s Portlandia sidekick Carrie Brownstein wasn’t able to attend this meet-and-greet in honor of the new Portlandia book, but indie rock hipstress Eleanor Friedberger will be on hand to mingle.
Thursday, November 15, 7PM
Barnes and Noble Union Square ,33 East 17th Street
Free

City-Wide

The 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival
Offering the largest selection of science-based films to date, the Imagine Science Film Festival was founded by scientists and aims to transform the way science is portrayed in mainstream media, while emphasizing the importance of storytelling, narrative structure and visual communication. Full-day programs will be devoted to avant-garde science bits, docs, discussion and kid-friendly films.
November 8-16; see festival site for schedule and venues throughout the city
$100 all access pass; individual tickets available