Hello San Diego!

Welcome to the latest edition of the San Diego Participant Observer Newsletter! Our recipe for the month is Japanese Agedashi Tofu.Very easy to make, absolutely yummy, and can be eaten as a snack, hors d'oeuvre, appetizer or main course!

In Simon Winchester's book, The Professor and the Madman, the world learned about the incredible contributions made to the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary by a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, the American doctor, William Minor. Our book of the month, Pip Williams' The Dictionary of Lost Words: A Novel, shines a bright light on the hidden contributions of women in writing the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language.

This month's International Music CD of the Month is Beja Power! by Noori & His Dorpa Band, a "soundtrack of Sudan's revolution and the first ever international release of the Beja sound!"

On to the events! Except for Superbowl Sunday, our calendar is overflowing with important, enlightening, moving, beautiful, and downright fun events. We really do live in a special place.

Friday (today), the classic German film M will be shown at MiraCosta College. In anticipation of St. Valentine's day, Lisa Fishman will sing Jewish Songs of Love at Yiddishland. Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, Lupillo Rivera, will perform at the Blue Agave Nightclub. The play The High Table opened at the Diversionary Theatre yesterday, and performances will continue until early next month.

Saturday and Sunday, the Worldbeat Center will host Black Com!x Day celebrating the works of Black comic book artists.

Saturday, there will be a ranger-led Kumeyaay Ethnobotany Hike at Chollas Lake. The City Heights Multi-Cultural Festival of Love will take place with multi-cultural performances, arts, crafts, raffles, and more. At Malcolm X Library, there will be a Black LGBTQ+ Human Book Experience event featuring poetry and book readings. The art opening: On the Blue Line at the Athenaeum Art Center will feature the works of Armando de la Torre. At the Digital Gym you can watch a 16mm version of the classic Kung Fu movie Return to the Shaolin Mystery. The Sri Purandara Dasa Aradhana event at Hanuman Temple will feature classical Indian music. Under a Baseball Sky will open at the Old Globe, a play about the roots of Mexican-American engagement with baseball. At Mission Hills Library, Adrienne Nims and Mark Danisovszky will give a concert featuring The Music of Paris. At San Luis Rey Mission, there will be a Native American Flute Concert. At the Hall of Nations in Balboa Park, the House of Hungary will host a dinner-dance Masquerade Ball. The Japanese Taiko group Kodo will perform at Balboa Theatre. At the Civic Theatre, in a series of 4 performances (on separate days), the Puccini Duo will bring two great Puccini one-act operas to life. There will be repeat performances Tuesday, Friday, and the following Sunday. Voices Unveiled at the Iranian American Center will be a three-part original musical composition inspired by Iranian traditional music, folk (South of Iran), with fusion elements. At St. James Episcopal Church, there will be a Musical Celebration of Black History Month with arias, spirituals, and gospel hits performed by the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Choir of San Diego and soprano Janai Brugger. Generational Black Pioneers at the Sunshine Brooks Theatre in Oceanside will be an interactive multi-media exploration celebrating Black entrepreneurs.

No doubt due to the Superbowl, the only cross-cultural events happening on Sunday are ongoing events.

Monday at UCSD there will be a roundtable to discuss Where is North Korea Going? At the Balboa Theatre, OURstory: The Black History Musical Experience will be performed.

Tuesday, the Mother-Daughter Book Club will discuss the novel The Last Cuentista. At the Central Library, Joseph Alexander will discuss his personal experience of Surviving the Holocaust.

Next Wednesday, the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival launches with screenings and special events happening until February 26th. At UCSD there will be a talk entitled Is This the Asian Century? At USD the talk Visions of Sappho will shine a light on the lyric poet Sappho of Lesbos. At the Coronado Library Mikio Naruse’s film Lightning will be shown. As part of their series of screenings of contemporary Mexican films, the Digital Gym will show Sin Señas Particulares (Identifying Features).

Next Thursday, the Chinese Historical Museum will present an online talk about the Resilient Women of California's Chinatowns. At UCSD there will be a talk on the Wuhan Lockdown. Next Thursday through Sunday, Theatre School @ North Coast Rep will present a mash-up of the Works of William Shakespeare, all 37 plays in 97 minutes! The San Diego Italian Film Festival will present Favolacce (Bad Tales) at the Digital Gym. Warwick's will host Ronald Niezen as she discusses and signs his new book, The Memory Seeker.

Next Friday and Saturday, the annual San Diego Mardi Gras will take place downtown. San Diego Ballet will perform Romeo et Juliet at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center.

Next Friday, the Hutchens Consort will hold a Fiddle Fest with Irish fiddle master Winifred Horan at St. Andrews Church. Mexican rock band El Tri performs at the Observatory. At the Artist's Outpost, you can learn how to make festive Mardi Gras Masks.

Next Saturday at the Hall of Nations at the International Cottages, the San Diego World Affairs Council will host a panel discussion on The Humanitarian Response to the War in Ukraine. At the Central Library, the Culinary Historians of San Diego will present the talk Fiesta! The History of San Diego’s Mexican Restaurants. On the outdoor stage at the International Cottages, Island Mist will perform. At the House of Hungary (also at the International Cottages), Petofi Poems will be performed set to music by vocalist Noémi Sárog and guitarist Róbert Sinha. Iranian-American comedian Max Amini will perform at Mic Drop Comedy in Kearny Mesa.

Next Sunday, you can join the House of USA for an African American Heritage Celebration featuring food, entertainment and more. WorldBeat Cultural Center their annual Tribute to the Reggae Legends/ Bob Day will go down. Celtic band Highland Way will perform at the Grand Ritz Theater in Escondido.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci at the Old Globe, The Ferryman at New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad, El Huracán at the Old Town Theatre, The High Table at Diversionary, and Under a Baseball Sky at the Old Globe.

Please take notice 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 and buy something that you can curl up on the couch with!

Your Window to the World

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Japanese Agedashi Tofu

The Participant Observer Recipe of the Month is for Japanese Agedashi Tofu, an easy-to-make, nutritious snack which can also be enjoyed as a side-dish or even a main course. It is light and delicious!