From the Home Kitchen of Chef Aaron

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 compete 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 swimmers, so he’s at a disadvantage 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 breaststroke at the state meet, and I still want to see my potential.”

JIM BERK

Swimmer Jim Berk shows off the three Michigan Senior Olympics gold medals he won last month.

FOOD

FROM THE HOME KITCHEN OF CHEF AARON

Filipino Borscht

Afew years ago, I presented 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

Chef Aaron Egan local flavors and ingredients while keeping a sense of Jewishness and OldCountry 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 magenta, 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 towels, 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 completely 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.