Week of crazy results scrambles Avocado West Soccer

Last season, while winning a second consecutive Avocado West girls’ soccer championship on its way to a CIF Open Division title, Carlsbad went 9-0-1 and surrendered a grand total of two goals in 10 league contests.

Falcons junior Nick Herrmann spent 70 days in the hospital and it was feared he might lose his leg

It was only three days into the Avocado West League girls’ soccer schedule but the two teams that took the field at La Costa Canyon Thursday night, both with designs of finishing on the upper half of the league table, were each 0-1 and already in somewhat desperate need of a victory.

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.

Several adult sports programs at the new Pacific Highlands Ranch Recreation Center will begin in March.

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.

The San Diego International Film Festival will host its sixth annual Awards Viewing Party (Oscars) on Feb. 9 in the penthouse floor of 41 West in Bankers Hill, starting with the red carpet arrival at 4:30 p.m.

Eilene Zimmerman had been divorced from her husband, Peter, for several years when she began to notice something wasn’t right.

Benefit event presented by Rancho Coastal Humane Society and San Diego Botanic Garden

In the midst of its 40th anniversary year, San Diego Jewish Academy recently announced that Zvi Weiss will become Head of School, effective July 1, 2020.

Five years ago, North Coast Repertory Theatre announced the creation of San Diego’s Champion for the Arts Award, a community-wide effort to honor individuals who have made a difference in the Arts.

This year’s “Let’s Talk About It” annual event, presented by the Jewish Women’s Foundation, will focus on dispelling myths and understanding the facts surrounding women’s reproductive health.

Casey Cep weaves together three intriguing stories in her new book – a string of mysterious deaths linked to a southern preacher who may have dabbled in voodoo, a liberal attorney with political ambitions in deeply conservative Alabama, and the attempted comeback of a beloved author.

“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.

Del Mar Highlands Town Center bookstore Diesel will host author Nikki Katz for a talk and book-signing Jan. 16

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.

The Del Mar Carmel Valley Sharks, a nonprofit, volunteer organization, has been developing youth soccer players of all ages and skill levels in North County since 1970.

Now that it’s the New Year and the rapid succession of fall-to-winter holidays has passed, it’s time to get more organized and properly store holiday decorations away. Most people enjoy breaking out decorations to add a little festivity during the holidays. But sometimes that trip to the garage can leave you scratching your head — like where did you store the holiday decorations or that special set of holiday place settings? Or who put the big tabletop turkey in with the Halloween costumes? There are simple ways to get more organized, and Solana Beach Storage and Morena Storage have some strategies for getting organized in the New Year — and storing things properly to help take some stress out of 2020 holidays to come.

Visions of Mary Poppins and Bert, the chimney sweep, come to mind when you think about Steven Carter. He is a real-life, present-day chimney sweep of the highest order. In fact, he’s called a Master Sweep in the old English tradition, and he’s swept more than 40,000 chimneys during his career. Chim Chim Cheree indeed. Carter is founder of Chimney Sweeps, Inc. He started the company in 1985, and is based in Lakeside, although the company services chimneys across San Diego County. He has more than 30,000 customers. His philosophy is simple: “Your chimney is part of your house. If the chimney goes, so goes the house. We take care of your chimney thus we take care of your home.”

The holidays come in rapid succession this time of the year, and most of people enjoy breaking out the decorations and adding a little festivity to the season.

When the League of Amazing Programmers opened 13 years ago, you could say it was a bit before its time.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time for recognizing the magnitude of mental health issues in our present-day society.

How does a guy from the deep South end up opening a café in San Diego?

For more than 10 years, Chhokar Law Group has been customizing estate planning for its clients.

Clients can also keep track of their project through an app

Estate Management Group deals with ‘financial fears’