Best Bets for the Break: A quick guide to online entertainment and virtual experiences

This is a continuing series of online activities to undertake on your computer or tablet during your quarantine quandary.

Lectures & learning

• The Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute presents “Insights: How Your Diet Really Affects Your Body” at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, online. SBP scientists will teach the links among diet, chronic diseases, longevity and aging. A Q&A session will follow. Free. bit.ly/sbpdiet

Bon Vivant cooking school offers online cooking classes with chef Tori Sellon.

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• Bon Vivant cooking school offers online cooking classes with chef Tori Sellon. Upcoming classes include “Chicken Katsu Curry” at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, and “Butternut Squash Lasagna” at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22. $25. bit.ly/bonvivantsched

• UC San Diego presents a weeklong series of virtual events focusing on service, dialogue and training Jan. 18-23 as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Service. Events include a community-building circle Monday, Jan. 18, interactive dialogue on changemaking Wednesday, Jan. 20, a Black-owned-business panel Thursday, Jan. 21, and a LGBTQIA+ community organization panel Friday, Jan. 22. For more information and to register for events, visit mlkday.ucsd.edu.

• The La Jolla Community Center presents Dr. Mona Hacker answering top questions about the COVID-19 vaccines at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, as part of the center’s Distinguished Speaker Series online. Hacker, a board-certified family practice physician in San Diego, will address questions about the different vaccines available, side effects and the clinical trial process. Free. ljcommunitycenter.org/dss

• Scripps Research presents “Accelerating Innovative Medicines in Times of Change,” the next in its Front Row Lecture series, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, online. Scripps Research President and Chief Executive Peter Schultz will speak. Free. frontrow.scripps.edu

New York’s Museum of Arts and Design presents a dialogue with André Leon Talley and Darren Walker, pictured, on Tuesday, Jan. 19, online.

(Courtesy)

• New York’s Museum of Arts and Design presents a dialogue with fashion journalist André Leon Talley at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, via Zoom. Talley will discuss his new memoir, “The Chiffon Trenches,” along with race and power with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker. $15. bit.ly/talleymad

• The La Jolla Community Center continues its “Wednesday Connect” series with “Health Made Easy: Tips for Buying, Preparing and Ordering Nourishing Food” at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, online (postponed from Jan. 6). Nutrition experts Tiffany Holt and Flannery Nielsen will teach to how to build simple meals from ready-to-eat ingredients and to navigate meal delivery services. Free. ljcommunitycenter.org/wednesday-connect

• San Diego County Credit Union and the San Diego County Library system present “Financial Wellness Wednesdays” online through March. The webinars, held at various times on a variety of topics, are designed to improve financial health. Jan. 20 topics will include “College Financing 101” at noon and “Building a Better Budget” at 3 p.m. Free. View the full list and register at sdccu.com/fww.

• Warwick’s bookstore presents author Melanie Benjamin at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, online. Benjamin will discuss her new book, “The Children’s Blizzard,” in conversation with author Elizabeth Letts. $28; includes a book copy with autographed bookplate. warwicks.com/event/benjamin-2021

• The Congregation Beth Israel Men’s Club presents artist, author and lecturer Guri Stark in an online speaker forum at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20. Stark will discuss Marc Chagall’s paintings and how Chagall’s art fits in with other art movements. Free. Registration required. bit.ly/cbistark

Art & culture

• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library continues its “Rembrandt & Vermeer: The Golden Age of Dutch Art” lecture series at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, online. Linda Blair will examine in greater depth the paintings the Dutch loved to see on their walls: landscapes, still-lifes and scenes of the everyday. On Jan. 21, Blair will discuss Johannes Vermeer and his use of space and meditative, solitary women. Lectures are $14 each for Athenaeum members and $19 for non-members. ljathenaeum.org/art-history-lectures

• San Diego nonprofit Unscripted Learning presents a virtual Zoom reading of “Falling,” streaming Jan. 14-17. The play by Deanna Jent, directed by La Jolla Playhouse’s Jacole Kitchen, explores the dynamic and complicated reality of a family with an autistic young man. $25. bit.ly/fallingplay

• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library presents Logan Lone Piano Concerts at noon Friday, Jan. 15, online, featuring Joshua White recorded at the Athenaeum Art Center. The concert will be released on the Athenaeum’s YouTube channel, bit.ly/ljathyoutube.

• The UC San Diego visual arts department presents Dewey Crumpler’s “Culture, Power and Art” lecture at noon Friday, Jan. 15, online. Crumpler is an associate professor of painting at the San Francisco Art Institute whose work examines issues of globalization and cultural co-modification through digital imagery, video and traditional painting techniques. Free. bit.ly/crumplerucsd

• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library presents a five-week art history lecture series on Albrecht Dürer beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19. Art historian Victoria Martino will cover many topics related to the prolific German artist. The first lecture will discuss Dürer’s early life and education from 1471 to 1490. Future sessions are Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 9 and Feb. 16. Individual lectures are $14 for Athenaeum members and $19 for non-members. The series is $65/$90. ljathenaeum.org/art-history-lectures

• Bach Collegium San Diego continues its 2020-21 virtual season with “Ad Libitum” at noon Wednesday, Jan. 20, online. The concert, part of the organization’s “Bach at Home” series, features Bach’s chaconne for solo violin as the springboard into other historical styles. Free (donations are accepted). bachcollegiumsd.org

• The Old Globe presents the eighth annual Powers New Voices Festival online Jan. 21-24. The four days of readings of new plays will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, with “Celebrating Community Voices,” short works created by San Diego residents through the Globe’s arts engagement programs Community Voices and coLAB. Free; reservations required. theoldglobe.org/powers-new-voices-festival-2021

What have you found for entertainment and other activity from a (social) distance? Email your leads to efrausto@lajollalight.com. ◆