Welcome to a new edition of the San Diego Participant Observer! This month's recipe is Iranian Kuku Sabzi. In addition to having a fun name to pronounce, has an absolutely unique and delicious taste! Our Book of the Month, Karnali Blues by Buddhisagar, is set in the sleepy Nepali village of Amauri Khola. The International CD of the Month is Duhovi by Faith and Branko. The music in Duhovi is all original and influenced by a range of music traditions and more contemporary& Roma-styled jazz.

On to the local events!

Friday (today), a two-day Race and the Borderlands Conference began at SDSU. Greg Douglass, Blossom and Bloom, and Ritmo Latino will perform at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. The San Diego Youth Ballet continues its performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Casa del Prado Theater today, and the final 2 performances will be on Saturday.

Saturday, the Native Resource Center at SDSU will hold their annual Pow Wow. The House of Scotland will hold their annual Tartan Day celebration at the international cottages in Balboa Park. On Broadway Pier, the West Coast Taco & Beer Festival will take place. At SDSU, the Afro Festival: Colliding Worlds of Culture will happen. There will be a K-Wave Festival at Julep on Hancock St. At the Manchester Hyatt, the classic Bogart & Bergman film Casablanca will be shown. Tiranos Del Norte En Vivo will perform at the La Sinaloense Bar & Grill. Exotic Deadly, or the MSG Play will open at Old Globe Theatre. Dancing Queen fans are sure to enjoy ABBAMania at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. At the Joan B. Kroc Theatre, TranscenDANCE will present their program, Passages To Who We Are.

Tuesday at Yiddishland, there will be a screening and discussion about the film Hidden Jews of Ethiopia. At the Hall of Nations in Balboa Park, the SD World Affairs Council with present a talk by Joël Fort entitled: Yemen, A Tragedy Under the Radar. At the SD Civic Theatre, Riverdance 25th Anniversary Tour opens performances repeat shows on the 12th and 13th. Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons - A Tale of Springtime will be screened at the Digital Gym. Saharan band Etran de L'Aïr will perform at the Casbah.

Wednesday at UCSD, there will be a discussion about Modern Asia from Development to Democracy. At the UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas, the film 8:15 Hiroshima - From Father to Daughter will be shown. Warwick's will host Laura Cathcart Robbins as she discusses and signs her new book, Stash: My Life in Hiding.

Next Thursday at the Mingei, piñata-maker, designer, and gallery owner Yesenia Prieto will talk about the complexities of being a business owner in the trade of piñatas. The 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice will be shown on the top floor (roof) of the Manchester Hyatt. Warwick's will present an online author talk with Kate Morton who will discuss her book, Homecoming. At Queen Bee's Art and Cultural Center, Mexican Ska/Rock band Los Estramboticos will perform.

Next Friday in City Heights, there will be a Cambodian New Year Celebration. At SDSU's Montezuma Hall, there will be a Pamayanan Filipino-American Culture Night. At St. Andrews Episcopal Church, there will be a celebration of Jewish music, including Klezmer classics by the Hutchins Consort. The film Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge) will be screened at MiraCosta College. The German Currents Kino series at the Digital Gym continues with a screening of the comedy Sorry Comrade. There will be repeat showings of the film on the 16th and 19th. At Balboa Theatre, the opera Ghost will begin performances. The opera will be performed that Saturday and Sunday and throughout the following weekend.

Next Saturday, the Chinese Historical Museum will host an online talk by Jon Wai-keung Lowe on Decoding Chinese Opera. The Disney film Encanto will be screened at the Manchester Hyatt. At the Iranian-American Center, there will be an Iranian Singing Workshop. The biographic film Selena will be screened at the Manchester Hyatt. At the Olivewood Gardens, there will be a Taste of the Middle East: Iraqi-inspired Dishes workshop will take place. El Puma De Sinalo will perform at La Sinaloense Bar & Grill. The 1996 film version of Romeo and Juliet will be shown atop the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

Next Sunday, the film Mama Mia, Here We Go Again will be screened at the Manchester Hyatt downtown.

Local theatrical offerings include The XIXth (The Nineteenth) at the Old Globe, Exotic Deadly, or the MSG Play also at the Old Globe, and Monsters of the American Cinema at Diversionary.

Please note that after two weeks in the main calendar section, ongoing events (such as exhibitions and plays) can be found in Ongoing and Extended Events.

And if you are an avid and adventuresome reader, visit our www.multiculturalbooks.org site to browse our compendious collection.

Your Window to the World

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Our Recipe of the Month is for Kuku Sabzi, an Iranian egg and herb dish that can be eaten as a snack or main course. Often referred to as "frittata-like," the proportion of eggs to other ingredients is lower than what is typical for a frittata. The addition of flour and baking soda makes kuku sabzi a bit more cake-like, resulting in a unique and absolutely herbaliscious!