By Jennica Peterson  December 7th, 2009 6:00 am  |  Comments (6)

If you have a passion for the ocean, work alongside marine biologists with Tethys to research dolphins in Greece.

On WPIX-TV, Afar co-founder Joe Diaz reveals five trips that might inspire you to change careers. If you love the ocean, join the Tethys Research Institute’s program in Greece (details below) to discover what it’s like to be a marine biologist. Check back on Afar’s blog every day this week for more career-changing trip ideas.

Trip: Tethys Research Institute program in Greece
Overview: The non-profit organization Tethys Research Institute has been studying whales and dolphins for more than 20 years. You’ll work with them in the Grecian Gulf of Corinth identify threats to the area’s short-beaked common dolphins and offer scientific support to conservation efforts.
Skills you’ll learn: How to gather data about dolphin behavior and ecology during daily boat trips; how to track individual animals by photographing their dorsal fins; how to raise awareness in the community and work with local fishermen to protect the dolphins.
Other highlights: Relax in a taverna in the village of Galaxidi, where the program is based. Visit the nearby ruins of Delphi.
Price: from $908 for a six-day trip

Photo courtesy of Tethys Research Institute

Four other career-changing trips:

• Learn to cook in Morocco
• Live the life of an organic vintner in New Zealand
• Help healthcare workers in Guatemala
  
• Teach English and surf in Bali

By April Kilcrease  October 8th, 2009 5:09 pm  |  Comments (2)

Soft, creamy, sweet, there’s something so comforting about rice pudding. According to Afar writer Jeff Koehler, the milky dessert “is one of the few universal rice dishes around the entire Mediterranean.” In his latest cookbook, Rice Pasta Couscous, Koehler offers three regional variations on the delicious dish.

The oven-baked rice pudding with mastic (sakızlı fırın sütlaç) is inspired by his first trip to Istanbul in 1994. “The weather was cold and wet,” he writes. “Much of my time was spent in cafes and muhallebici, ‘dairy bars’ specializing in milky puddings. Creamy, baked rice pudding was a discovery for me, especially when flavored with mastic. Crushed tears of mastic give a piney flavor to the pudding and a chewier consistency.”

His creamy vanilla-scented rice pudding (rizogalo) is adapted from a Greek family recipe that has been “passed from mother to daughter for generations.”

He also includes a spiced rice-flour pudding (moghli) from Lebanon, where “families prepare this caraway-and-anise-laden rice-flour pudding for guests after the birth of a baby.”

Rice pudding (arroz con leche) is a favorite in Koehler’s Barcelona home. As he shares in his article “Absorbing Rice,” “when the weather cools, my girls start asking for…arroz con leche. These are the days when…the flat fills with the aroma of rice simmering in milk with sugar, cinnamon, and citrus peels. To me that smell announces autumn.” To make the traditional treat, follow the arroz con leche recipe at the bottom of his story.

What foods say autumn to you?