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

