SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 39
Senior Swimmer Adds 3 More
Gold Medals to His Pool Haul
Jim Berk could have taken the
easy route to the 2022 National
Senior Games.
The 2021 National Senior
Games were canceled because
of the COVID-19 pandemic, so
organizers are allowing anyone
who competed in the 2019
National Senior Games to com-
pete in 2022 without having to
qualify at the state level.
“I didn’t want to get to the
nationals that way,” Berk said.
“I wanted to compete to get
there.”
So the 66-year-old West
Bloomfield resident competed
in the Michigan Senior Olympics
last month at Oakland University
and won three gold medals in
swimming in the men’s 65-69
age group, qualifying for the
nationals in each event.
Normally held every two
years, the National Senior
Games will be in Fort
Lauderdale in 2022, and get
back on a regular schedule in
Pittsburgh in 2023.
Berk won Michigan Senior
Olympics gold medals last
month in the 50-, 100- and
200-yard breaststroke. The
sportscaster turned personal
trainer and exercise teacher’s
winning times were :38.09,
1:26.41 and 3:12.39.
His times in the 50 and 200
breaststroke were faster than
his times in the same events
at the 2019 Michigan Senior
Olympics, the last time the
Michigan Senior Olympics were
held.
Berk won a silver medal in
the 50 breaststroke in :38.33
and a gold medal in the 200
breaststroke in 3:13.12 in 2019.
His silver medal-winning time
in the 100 breaststroke was
1:25.22.
Earlier in 2019, he finished
fourth in the 200 breaststroke
in the 2019 National Senior
Olympics in Albuquerque.
Berk has swam in 25 events
in eight years at the Michigan
Senior Olympics. He’s won a
medal in each event: 19 gold,
five silver and one bronze.
He’s swam in the National
Senior Games three times
(2015, 2017 and 2019). His best
finish was a silver medal in the
100 breaststroke in 2015 in
Minneapolis.
At 5-foot-4, Berk is shorter
than most competitive swim-
mers, so he’s at a disadvan-
tage for many strokes. Not the
breaststroke.
Another advantage is his
dogged determination to do
well in breaststroke.
“I didn’t start swimming
the breaststroke until midway
through my senior year on the
swim team at Lincoln (Neb.) East
High School,” Berk said.
“I was a freestyle swimmer,
but I was mediocre at it, so I
tried breaststroke and I won my
first race. I went on to qualify
for the state meet, but I couldn’t
compete in it because I was
sick.
“That has motivated me
through the years. I didn’t get to
see what I could do in breast-
stroke at the state meet, and I
still want to see my potential.”
Swimmer Jim Berk shows off
the three Michigan Senior
Olympics gold medals he won
last month.
JIM BERK
A
few years ago, I pre-
sented an exciting
popup dinner event
with some friends who run
Sarap, a Filipino popup. I’
d
recently learned about the
Jewish community in the
Philippines, mostly refugees
from Eastern
Europe during
the 1930s. We
set out to create
a menu that
would represent
local flavors
and ingredients
while keeping a
sense of Jewishness and Old-
Country feel to our dishes.
As a soup course, we took
the common use of coconut
milk in Filipino cuisine and
added it in place of the classic
sour cream to an otherwise
normal borscht recipe; the
result was brilliantly magen-
ta, rich and flavorful with
a beautiful sweetness from
both the roasted beets and the
coconut milk. At our tasting
night, both the Filipino friend
and the friend with the Polish
grandmother agreed that the
soup tasted exactly like home,
in ways they couldn’t quite
quantify.
COCONUT AND
BEET BORSCHT
Ingredients
2 red beets
1 Tbs. + 2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 cup Spanish onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 cups coconut milk (1 14.5-oz.
can, with a small amount of
added water, will work)
Salt + pepper to taste
Herbs, infused oils and other
appropriate garnishes
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
Drizzle a little vegetable oil on
each beet, then wrap them
snugly in aluminum foil. Roast
them for 45 minutes to an
hour, or until soft through and
through (use a skewer or a
knife to determine doneness.)
2. Allow the beets to cool,
with the foil slightly opened,
until you can handle them
comfortably. Using paper tow-
els, or a sacrificial cloth towel,
wipe the skin of the beets off
with a firm but not crushing
amount of pressure. If the
skins do not slip off easily, pare
them off with a knife. Cut the
peeled beets into chunks and
set aside.
3. Heat the 2 Tbs. of oil in a
saute pan over high heat, and
saute the onions and garlic
until the onions have softened,
become shiny and are very
fragrant.
4. Combine the roasted
beets, onions and garlic, and
coconut milk in a blender.
Puree at high speed until com-
pletely smooth. Season well
with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve hot or cold, at your
preference, with a beautiful set
of garnishes, like herb-infused
oils, pureed golden beets,
microgreens or just a little
chopped parsley.
Filipino
Borscht
FOOD
FROM THE HOME KITCHEN OF CHEF AARON
Chef Aaron
Egan
AARON EGAN