There are books you read once, books you return to occasionally, and then there are reference books that become part of your household.

For me, Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford is one of those books.

In fact, I think everyone interested in their health, food, cooking, or simply understanding their own body should have a copy at home.

Summer asks something different of us. The days are longer. The sun is stronger. We spend more time outside, move more, sweat more, eat differently, and, if we are paying attention, begin to crave lighter things, fresher and more cooling. This is one of the places where the wisdom of Chinese medicine becomes wonderfully practical.

Tend Your Alter & Enjoy This Ritual Activity; Not the kind of magic that requires you to believe in anything in particular. The quieter kind. The kind that happens when you deliberately set something apart from the ordinary and return to it again and again.