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EVENTS

Think you're a good storyteller? The New York Moth StorySLAM is just the platform with which to prove it. Each night, 10 stories--each limited to five minutes--are told, then a panel of judges decide the winner. This event has been a perennial insider's favorite of New Yorkers for nearly 10 years (doors open 7 p.m. stories begin 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, $8, Nuyorican).

Get a Scrabble lesson from pro wordsmith Joe Edley (7 p.m. Thursday, 92nd Street Y, $29).

Check out the last days of the controversial exhibit by Anselm Kiefer (till Saturday, Gagosian Gallery).

See cross-media exhibit "Balancing Act" at Hendershot (195 Chrystie Street) before its close, on Dec. 24.

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FOOD

Cure that hankering for Indian food at Junoon, the recently opened eatery owned by Rajesh Bhardwaj, with chefs Walter D'Rozario and Vikas Khanna--Khanna appeared on infamous hothead Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The menu features the five elements of cooking from the country's many regions--Handi (pot cooking,) Sigri (open fire pit,) Pathar (stone,) Tawa (Griddle) and Tandoor (clay oven)  (27 West 24th Street, 212-490-2100).

Sample authentic Italian foods like pandoro, cantucci and torrone at the 92nd Street Y (7 p.m., Wednesday, $40).

Check out the new French restaurant La Petite Maison, and after dinner, stay on for the nightlife (13-14 West 54th Street).

Forget the diet and head to Murray's Cheese Shop--it has every cheese under the sun (254 Bleecker).

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MUSIC

Hear the next generation of emerging artists from the Academy, a collaboration between Carnegie Hall, Juilliard and the Weill Music Institute. Led by musical great Sir Simon Rattle, Ensemble ACJW features other notable artists such as Christian Tetzlaff and Barbara Hannigan (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Zankel Hall, $38-$50).

Traditional Greek tunes abound at Greek Night at Ammos Estiatorio (10 p.m.-2 a.m., Friday).

Artists in Concert feature Jeewon Park, Colin Jacobsen, Nicholas Cords and Edward Arron (7 p.m. Saturday, the Met, $40).

The free musical Aesop and Company whisks you into a world of kings and damsels in distress (New 42nd St. Studios).

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THEATER

Catch the return of the 1980s innovative dance, theater and song hybrid Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte. It's a one-man-band type of show--conceived, directed and performed by John Kelly. The recently reopened production focuses on the life and times of Viennese artist Egon Schiele (through Sunday, La MaMa E.T.C., $30).

See the offbeat theater rom-com You've Got Hate Mail, the latest by Bill Van Zandt (Thursday at the Triad).

Take in a performance by offbeat Swiss dance theater troupe MUMMENSCHANZ (7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday).

Catch the last weekend of the puppet performance of Beauty and the Beast (Saturday and Sunday, Puppetworks, $8).

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ART

It's the It exhibit of the season--the Museum of Modern Art's "Abstract Expressionist New York." In addition to showing the expected array of Jackson Pollocks, this innovative, gutsy exhibit showcases works by Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, among others. Whether you love the movement that swept the city in the 1940s-1950s, or hate it, this is the exhibit all your friends will be talking about (through April).

While you're at MoMA, make sure to check out "Weimar Cinema 1919-1933: Daydreams and Nightmares."

The F.I.T.'s new exhibit, "His and Hers," explores gender in fashion (through May).

See a funky new show: "Shadow Fux: Rita Ackermann and Harmony Korine" (Swiss Institute Contemporary Art).