This recipe was adapted from Bon Appetite, and I used this awesome spinach from the Collingswood Farmer’s Market that wilted but didn’t shrivel when it touched the heat. I also added a green pepper from my parent’s garden. Why not? There’s no sense in wasting vine-fresh vegetables.

My broth was a little thin, because I skipped the yogurt garnish. Next time, I would definitely add it!

Heat the oil in a pot. Sauté the vegetables (not the spinach and cilantro) for about 10 minutes until browned.  Stir in the spices and bay leaf.  Add the water (I used strained water to avoid any chemically aftertaste) and the lentils.  Bring to a boil and simmer on medium low heat for 20 to 25 minutes until the lentils are tender. Add spinach and cilantro; cook until the spinach wilts. Then, season with salt and pepper. Garnish each bowl with a spoonful of plain, nonfat yogurt.

Mile Repeats

Last night, I got a little lazy and sat on the couch for too long. (But I was so comfortable and relaxed!) So I didn’t leave until 7:45 p.m. and lost a lot of daylight time. I had aimed to finish four mile repeats and only managed to have three completed before it started to get dark.

Mile repeats are a type of speed work that build endurance and strength. Runners World says the mile is a perfect unit of measurement for long distance runners because it’s long enough to build endurance and short enough to be run fast. (You can read more about mile repeats here: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-238-263-265-13298-0,00.html)

Splits (as recorded on my cell phone stop watch):

7:10

7:30

7:37

Altogether, (with recovery), I finished about four miles for the day.

For three months, Dan Michelson-Horowitz (pictured left) volunteered at a school for 19 to 22 year old Burmese refugees that fled to northwestern Thailand to escape a repressive dictatorship. Here, he shares his observations of 150,000 refugees struggle to survive in the U.N. sanctioned camps along the Burmese border.

It is difficult to separate the culture of Karenni people from their situation as refugees. Their diet is far more dependent on the types of food available to them as refugees than on the Karenni culture as it exists in Burma. Food rations in the refugee camps are supplied by international aid, and refugees are not allowed to grow crops. In my school, even with outside funding, our daily food budget was about $.60 per student.

The most important ingredient is rice. Lots of it. Rice is cheap, and it is the backbone of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, the word for “meal” in Karenni language is the same as “rice,” meaning that you haven’t had a meal if it didn’t include rice. Also, a common greeting among Karenni friends is “Let’s eat rice,” even if neither actually intends to eat rice. The rice is taken with the hands to eat the other dishes, and a communal bowl of thin vegetable soup is shared by several people.

The second ingredient in Karenni food is vegetables, pretty much whatever is in season or can be gleaned from nearby fields. It was not uncommon to eat vegetables picked the same day, with or without the permission of the farmer who owned the fields. Among my favorites were pumpkin (and pumpkin leaf), long bean, tomatoes, tamarind, onions, and many others with no English name. Every dish also included plenty of pounded chilies, and my students complained that food wasn’t delicious unless it was spicy enough to make them cry. These vegetables would be cut or mashed, then stir-fried in a large wok.

Most families eat very little meat. Some raise their own chickens, pigs, and possibly cows that can be slaughtered for large celebrations. In addition, my students would often take spears or nets to nearby creeks to catch fish that would then be fried, whole, to be served with dinner.

During my last week in the village, my students prepared a feast, with about $100, for our closing ceremony. They bought larger fish from the market, tons of rice noodles, plenty of pork and potatoes, and even Western treats such as soda and chips. Cooking is done communally, with no electricity, over wood stoves. The pictures here are of students and teachers cooking for our celebration. While this is far more food than we would usually eat, I hope it provides a window into the life and cuisine of Burmese refugees. At the beginning of this post, I included one of me, in traditional Karenni clothes, pounding chilies in a large pestle.

To learn more about Daniel’s experience, email AJWSVolunteer@gmail.com.