Junior Lexi Wright scored a pair of first half goals to power No. 4 Carlsbad which opened defense of its back-to-back Avocado West League titles with a 2-0 victory over No. 2 host Torrey Pines Tuesday night, Jan. 14.

Saagar Dhanjani doesn’t have much time to waste.

Call it the “big two” and the “chase pack” when the Avocado West League girls’ soccer schedule kicks off Tuesday (Jan. 14) night.

No home for the weak—that’s been an apropos nickname for the Avocado West boys’ soccer league over the past several years.

Playing without four topline players, the No. 1-ranked Torrey Pines boys’ soccer team dominated from virtually start-to-finish in a 4-1 Wednesday night (Jan. 8) home victory over No. 8 St.

Boys basketball: Torrey Pines closed out the Holiday Classic with a 66-62 victory over Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland on Dec. 30.

“The Great Leap,” a basketball-centric play, is coming to Old Town San Diego’s Cygnet Theatre Jan. 22, 2020. Written by multi-award-winner Lauren Yee, it was one of the 10 most-produced plays in the United States in 2019, along with her “Cambodian Rock Band,” recently staged at La Jolla Playhouse. “The Great Leap,” which premiered in Denver in 2018, is about an American basketball team going to China for an exhibition game. There’s more than a game at stake; there are long-buried personal histories, a clash of dreams and ambitions, and the main setting is Beijing in 1989, when student protesters were about to be massacred in Tienanmen Square. With all this going on, there’s still plenty of humor — one of the playwright’s conspicuous gifts.

A new book by a British-born, San Diego-based author examines leadership failures in a variety of arenas, including business, politics, the defense industry, nonprofits and education, and offers a blueprint for leaders in all walks of life to become more effective and successful.

We do have some powerful self-protective weapons at our disposal — food selection and handling being the most effective. Ancient cultures relied on that for their health; even before old Hippocrates advised using food as medicine. So, while you arm yourself with tools provided by personal trainers, meditation gurus and other healers, I’ll provide the edible components of your healthy lifestyle to keep you vibrant for years to come.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla will celebrate the fifth anniversary of housing this rescued Loggerhead sea turtle with a ‘Turtle-versary,’ including crafts, sea-turtle science and family-friendly activities 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Jan. 11-12, 2020.

Jackson Design and Remodeling’s award-winning team of designers and architects have compiled their annual list of the top design trends for the new year. Continuing an evolving movement toward expressing individuality in home design, 2020 trends range from the humble to the bold. Organic handmade elements, “lived in” minimalism and “Japandi” design connect with an emphasis on simplicity and wellness. On the other end of the (decidedly retro) spectrum are bold geometrics, 3-D walls, and nostalgia for colors and materials from the 1970s and 1980s.

At the supermarket produce aisle, I befriended a shopper choosing assorted leafy greens and venting about how she must pay the piper for an indulgent holiday food orgy. She grumbled about the light, airiness of salads, and how “rabbit food” was hardly a satisfying meal. Looking outside the bowl, you can easily find an exciting bounty of roots, fruits, seeds, grains, gourds, greens, succulent seafood and other lean proteins to beef up an otherwise anemic salad, giving it a nutritional and gratifying oomph.

Strolling the aisles of my favorite supermarket looking back at the gustatory highlights of the year, I then gaze at my culinary crystal ball perched in the child’s seat of my shopping cart to predict what’s ahead for 2020. This has been a year of imposter foods — cauliflower impersonated everything from mashed potatoes and rice to pizza crust, breads and gravies. Plant-based proteins and molecules (like pea and heme iron) made mock meats taste, smell, chew and even “bleed” like the real McCoy. Shredded Jackfruit doubled for crab cakes, while spiral sliced zucchini and other squashes disguised themselves as noodles, aka “zoodles.”

’Tis the season when Christmas and the eight-day Chanukah hoopla merge. Chanukah, which begins on Dec. 22 this year, used to be a minor celebration in the Jewish line-up of holidays. Thanks to Christmas-envy among Jewish children (and adults) who are awe-struck by the bedecked trees and sparkling neighborhoods lit-up like a fairytale wonderland, Chanukah has been elevated to the holiday A-list. As for the food part, we’re fortunate to partake in the delights of both traditions that can be enjoyed during a joint celebration.

Rancho Santa Fe native and performance artist Anna Garner’s video self-portrait is now on display at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., breaking through to her authentic self by becoming a part of the action.

When the Playwrights Project unveiled its 35th annual iteration of its Plays by Young Writers Festival, a familiar North County name popped up: Izzy Ster, a 16-year-old Carmel Valley resident and junior at Canyon Crest Academy.