I made a video for the first time! I hope this inspires you to make some soup for yourself. 

This soup is excellent for calming the Spirit and help with sleep. At the same time, it is excellent for the skin. #healingsoup, #beautysleep, #acupuncture, #Chineseherbs

Jujube dates: tonify the Spleen, reinforce the Qi, nourishes the Blood and quiets the Spirit

Long Gan fruit: tonify the Heart, the Spleen, the Blood, and calms the Spirit. Great combination with lily bulb

Lily Bulb: moistens the Lungs, clear heat, suppresses cough, Clears the Heart and quiets the Spirit

Lotus Seeds: tonify the Spleen, stops diarrhea, tonify the Kidney and astringes essence, nourish the Heart and quiets the Spirit.

Snow ear fungus (white fungus): heal dry coughs, clear heat in the lungs, lots of collagen for skin.

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What to do when you are gifted 2 boxes of fresh loquat? Make soup of course! #loquat, #loquatforcough, #healingsoup
Ingredients for 2 bowls of soup:
Pi Pa (loquat fruit) 枇杷 3-5
Lean pork meat 瘦肉 150g
Sugar dates 蜜枣 3
Xin Ren (Apricot seeds, prefer from the north) 北杏 20g
Fresh ginger 生姜 3 slices
Salt 盐 to taste
Olive oil or other cooking 油

Instructions:
1. soak apricot seeds for 30 minutes.
2. cut lean pork meat into small slices
3. add salt and cooking oil to marinate the pork meat for 20 minutes
4. take the pits out from the sugar date
5. take the seeds out from fresh loquat
6. bring 3 bowls of water to boil；
7. add ginger slices, pork meat, sugar date and the apricot seeds
8. return the soup to boiling and simmer for 10 minutes.
9. add the fresh loquat and simmer for another 10 minutes
10. serve when the soup still warm

More info about loquat:
The loquat is indigenous to southeastern China. It has become naturalized in Japan, India and many other areas. There are 800 varieties of Loquats, but only 8 varieties are grown in California. Of these 8 varieties, there are two main types: Chinese and Japanese. The Chinese loquats have thin leaves, pea shaped fruit, dark orange flesh, and small, numerous seeds. The Japanese loquats have broad leaves, long and oval fruit, pale yellow skin, and a few large seeds.

In Chinese medicine, both loquat leaf and fruit have medicinal use. Loquat fruit is sweet, sour, cool; enters spleen, liver and lung meridians. Loquat fruit moistens the lung, direct Qi downward, relieve thirst. Loquat fruits are used for cough and asthma due to lung-heat, polydipsia and vomiting. It can be eat directly or decoct in water, 30~60 g. Loquat fruits are contraindicated in case of spleen deficiency. So don't eat too much at a time.

Loquat leaves are gathered in late spring and early summer and dried in the sun. After drying, the soft external hairs, or down, of the leaves are brushed off, and the leaves are cut into small pieces.

In Chinese medicine, loquat leaf is considered bitter and cool, and is associated with the Lung and Stomach meridians. Its functions are to transform phlegm, clear lung heat, and harmonize the stomach. Among the conditions treated by loquat leaf are nausea, vomiting, belching, hiccups, and gastrointestinal distress. It also helps to stop bleeding. Loquat leaf can also be used as part of a poultice to treat skin conditions such as eczema and skin ulcers.

Loquats are rich in insoluble dietary fiber, pectin. Pectin holds back moisture inside the colon, and thus functions as bulk laxative. This way, it helps protect the colon mucosa by cutting exposure time of toxic substances as well as binding to cancer-causing chemicals in the colon. Pectin has also been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels by lowering its reabsorption in the colon through binding bile acids, resulting in its excretion from the body.

Loquat fruit is an excellent source of vitamin-A (provides about 1528 IU or 51% of daily recommended levels of this vitamin per 100g), and phenolic flavonoid antioxidants such as chlorogenic acid, neo-chlorogenic acid, hydroxybenzoic acid, feruloyl quinic acid, protocatechuic acid, epicatechin, coumaric acids and ferulic acid. Ripe fruits have more chlorogenic acid concentrations. Vitamin-A helps maintain the integrity of mucosa and skin.

Fresh fruit is good in potassium and some B-complex vitamins such as folates, vitamin B-6 and niacin and contain small amounts of vitamin-C. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps to regulate heart rate and blood pressure.

Furthermore, the fruit is also an excellent source of iron, copper, calcium, manganese, and other minerals. The body uses manganese as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Copper is essential in the production of red blood cells. Iron is required for as a cofactor in cellular oxidation as well in red blood cell formation.
​
https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/loquat-fruit.html
https://foodforward.org/2017/03/the-lowdown-on-loquats/
https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/loquat.html
https://tcmwiki.com/wiki/loquat-fruit
https://www.acupuncturetoday.com/herbcentral/loquat_leaf.php

Do you cook with burdock root and konjac? Here, Masa cooks a miso soup with pork, burdock root and konjac.

Konjac is derived from the root of a starchy tuber plant, known as the amorphophallus konjac plant, which belongs to the Araceae genus family grown in China and Japan, where it has been harvested and consumed for centuries. In traditional Chinese medicine, it's thought that konjac has properties of detoxification, tumour-suppression, blood stasis alleviation and phlegm liquefaction.

Burdock contains high amounts of inulin and mucilage, which may ease certain gastrointestinal conditions. It also contains many bitter-tasting compounds thought to aid in digestion, and substances called polyacetylenes that have antimicrobial properties. In addition, burdock root may have the ability to lower blood sugar. Ancient texts classified burdock as an "alterative" or blood purifier. In Japan and elsewhere, it is eaten as a vegetable. In traditional Chinese medicine, burdock root is often used in combination with other herbs to treat sore throats, tonsillitis, colds, and even measles. Today, it is used to treat a variety of skin problems, including psoriasis, eczema, contact dermatitis and gout.
​
豬肉味噌湯定食/お野菜たっぷり豚汁定食
[ 2人份 ]
五花肉片 Sliced pork—120g
洋蔥 Onion－1/4個
紅蘿蔔 Carrot－20g
牛蒡 Burdock root－30g
白蘿蔔 Daikon—50g
蒟蒻片 Konjac—1/2片
蔥 Green onion—1支
日式高湯 Dashi—600cc
味噌 Miso—50～55g
胡麻油 Sesame oil—少許
七味粉 Nanami powder—適量
日式高湯做法：https://youtu.be/_p39MaLEpz0

🥳 Happy New Year to you all!

Let’s start with a fabulous soup recipe.

枸杞羊肉汤 GouJi and lamb soup

Ingredients:

枸杞 Gou Ji berries 15g
栗子 chestnuts 18g
羊肉 lamb meat 60g
姜 ginger 2 inch, sliced or crushed
醋 vinegar 15 ml
水 water 800 ml
Salt and pepper

Instructions: 
1. Clean lamb meat and cut into small cubes
2. Blanching (parboil) the lamb meat with 1/2 of the ginger and vinegar
3. Steam all ingredients in a ceramic container for 90 minutes
4. Add salt and pepper to taste

This soup is great for people who suffer from dizziness, low back pain, general fatigue, copious of night urination, edema. In general, these people would have pale tongue, thin white tongue coating with deep and thin pulses.

Image below is an example for how to steam soup in a rice cooker.

This is the traditional method for making brown sugar in China. At the end of the video, she makes dessert soup with a poached egg with the brown sugar. This soup can help relieve menstrual pain due to cold stagnated in the uterus before monthly period.

Ingredients for 1 bowl:
1. One big piece of old ginger 
2. Brown sugar 3 table spoons
3. one egg
4. two bowls of water
5. Sesame oil (optional)
6. Rice wine (optional)
​
Instructions: 
1. Slice the ginger
2. Add the ginger into 2 bowls of water and bring it to boiling
3. Add a raw egg to make poached egg when the water is reduced to about a bowl
4. Add the brown sugar in
5. Drink when it is warm
optional steps if it's cold stasis in the uterus. It's more warming and moving because the stir fried ginger and rice wine.
1. sesame oil stir fry the ginger slices to golden before boiling with water
2. add rice wine to the soup after the poached egg is done
​

We could definitely go for a Ginger Lemonade right about now! Yummm!!!
Ingredients:
1 piece of 10 cm. ginger, peeled and chopped
1 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
1/3 cup maple syrup
6 cups water
2 lemons cut into slices for garnish
Instructions:
Place the ginger in a food processor or blender. Add lemon juice and process until smooth. Add water and maple syrup and mix well. Strain out ginger pulp. Serve in glasses filled with ice and enjoy!
Recipe Credit: The Buddhist Chef

酸梅湯, Suan Mei Tang, sour plum drink

烏梅是一種中草藥，具有味酸、性溫等特點，有潤肺、開胃、生津、清熱、調中下氣等功能.

Wu Mei (Mume Fructus) is the key ingredient of this sour plum drink. Wu Mei stablize and blind, enter Liver, Spleen, Lung and Large Intestine channels. It is sour and astringent and warm in nature. It generates fluids and alleviates thirst, binds up intestines and stops diarrhea, inhibits the leakage of Lung Qi and stops cough, expels roundworms and alleviates pain, stops bleeding (TCM clinic aid). In general, Wu Mei can moist Lung, increase appetite, generate fluids, clear heat, harmonize the middle.

To make Suan Mei Tang you would need:
Water 5 Liter,
Wu Mei 烏梅 Mume fructus 70 g
San Cha 山楂 Crataegi Fructus 50 g
Luo Shen Hua 洛神花 Roselle Hibiscus Sabdariffa 20 g
Sweet aged tangerine peels 甜陳皮 25 g
Gan Cao 甘草 Licorice root 15 g
Gui Hua 桂花 Osmanthus fragrans 2 g or rose bud
Black dates 黑棗 black dried dates 50 g
Chinese Bing tang 冰片糖 (Chinese brown sugar pieces) 60 g

​Instructions
1. Wash and rinse all ingredients except for the Chinese brown sugar pieces
2. Soak Wu Mei, San Cha, Luo Shen Hua, sweet aged Tangerine peels, Gan Cao in water for 30 minutes
3. Add the soaked ingredients to a clay pot or stainless steel pot
4. Add 5 liters of water
5. Bring to a boil with lid open then simmer for 30 - 60 minutes
6. Add the Gui Hua (or rose bud) and the Chinese brown sugar pieces
7. Stir well and let it sit for 20 minutes
8. Filter before consuming it hot or cold

​Hawthorn berry is known for its various cardio-protective abilities such as angina, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, irregular heart beat, and even congestive heart failure. Hawthorn berries has numerous flavonoids that are antioxidants known to effectively decrease inflammation while boosting immune function. Hawthorn berries' antioxidant flavonoids improve blood flow, guard against blood vessel damage and even help dilate blood vessels.
Jujube date is rich in Vitamin C. It's known for its anticancer abilities. It's also a great blood pressure stabilizer and a good chronic constipation reliever. In China, it's called natural antidepressant because it has the uplifting and calming affect.
This tea with hawthorn berries and jujube dates is great for removal of aging spots, sun spots.
Hawthorn berries 50 g, fresh ginger 15 g, Jujube dates 15 pieces (no pit). 
Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes. 
Add honey to taste is optional.

It's LaBa 臘八 festival (the eighth day of December in Chinese lunar calendar). It's time to have our eight treasures porridge.

There are several legends about the origin of porridge eating on Laba: some claim it is of Buddhist origin; some say the porridge, made of red beans, has the power to exorcize evil from little kids; my grandmother told me the porridge is in memory of a poor couple.

The custom of porridge eating has been well-known throughout history, from the royal court to common people. The most “authentic” porridge is made in Northern China, especially Beiping (北平). Laba porridge is mostly made of rice and sticky rice, but can also include sugar, red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, longans, hazelnuts, raisins, red beans, peanuts, water caltrops, roseleaf and other “treasures” (hence its other name, “eight treasure porridge”).

Almost every region in China has its own local recipe for Laba porridge. Eating hot porridge is great in cold winter, and the grain and nuts are considered healthy winter fare.

Here is a wonderful video on how to make it: 

A soup to regulate menstrual period, ease menstrual pain, and tonify Qi and Blood.

​Ingredients: 
10 Jujube dates 大棗with no pits, cut into small pieces
Small bunch of dried Longan fruit (long yan rou, 龍眼肉)
10 g of Yi Mu Cao 益母草
3 slices of ginger生姜
10 g of raw cane sugar (or black or red sugar)
Instructions: 
1. Wash jujube dates, Longan fruits, Yi mu cao. Then leave in cold water for 30 minutes
2. Add all ingredients in a clay pot with water and black sugar. 
3. Bring to boil and the simmer for 30 minutes. 
4. Enjoy it while it’s warm.
黑糖，紅糖： raw sugar before refined white sugar. Usually Mainland China called it red sugar紅糖, Taiwanese called it black sugar 黑糖. Brown sugar unrefined or partially refined soft sugar with the 4.5%-6.5% presence of molasses. 
Special kind of black sugar from Okinawa is called Kurozato. It contains molasses, potassium, iron, calcium, and other minerals. Similar to sea salt or rock salt, black sugar is relatively alkaline ingredient. Since Taiwan was at one point colony of Japan, the name black sugar 黑糖 is preferred.
Yi mu cao 益母草: acrid, bitter, slightly cold, enters HT, LV, UB, (KD, PC, CHONG, YIN WEI, REN). It invigorates the blood, dispels stasis, regulates menstruation, and reduces masses. It also promotes urination, and reduces swelling and edema. Lastly it clears heat and resolves toxicity internally and topically like in sores, abscesses.
Jujube dates: tonify Spleen and Stomach, augments Qi, nourishes Blood, and calms the spirit.
Longan fruit: tonify and augments the Heart and Spleen, nourishes the Blood and calms the spirit.

1. Jujube dates, goji berries are rinsed. If Jujube dates have pits, cut it in half to take the pits out.
2. shiitake mushrooms usually comes in dried form. They need to be soaked in water and washed to get the little dirt out from the gills. Then cut them into half or quarters.
3. carrots, ginger, and garlic peeled and cut
4. All ingredients are just a handful. Traditional Chinese home cooking has no measurements. Your handful is just right for you.
5. For a pot of soup for 4, half of whole chicken is enough. This chicken with bones, wings etc. Not just the chicken breast.
6. Put them all together, add water, bring to boil then simmer about 60 - 90 minutes. Add salt to taste.
7. If you would like to enhance the flavour of the chicken add some sea kelp as well.

This dessert is one of my favourites. It's called Jiang Zhuang Nai (姜撞奶). It's fusing of milk with fresh ginger juice. Two important parts are 1) get the milk temperature right otherwise it would not firm up like silky tofu, 2) fresh ginger juice is required.
Use full fat milk is best because the fat helps to set this dessert like siiky tofu. After warming up the milk, add some crystal rock sugar for sweetness. Depends on how spicy you like, you can add more or less fresh ginger juice. It can be eaten warm or room temperature.
In Chinese medicine, milk is sweet and cold (taste sweet with cold property 味甘性寒) and has tonify, balance function. Ginger is spicy warm (辛温) can expel cold, warm stomach, relieve nausea and direct stomach Qi downward.
The story of this dessert goes like this: long ago, an elderly woman was coughing really bad. She heard that ginger juice can help relieve coughing. But she couldn't drink pure ginger juice because it's so spicy. One time by accident, she knocked some warm milk into the fresh ginger juice. To her delight, the milk firmed up became like silky tofu. That's how this dessert came about.

​Looking to improve your immunity? Try adding these ingredients to your soups or other cooking.

Zinc deficiency is associated with lowered immunity. Here are some zinc rich foods: chickpeas, mushrooms, wheat germ, spinach, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, cashews, pine nuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, cocoa, cooked oyster, crab, lobster, beef, lamb, pork, and chicken.

Vitamin C paired with zinc has synergetic effect on combating cold and flu symptoms. Add dark leafy vegetables to your soups such as Kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, papaya, chili pepper, green or red bell pepper. A reminder for kale and other cruciferous vegetables. It is a goitrogenic vegetable. When eaten raw in small quantities, this vegetable can inhibit the uptake of iodine by the thyroid gland. If it's eaten in excess, these chemicals can inhibit the incorporation of iodine into thyroid hormone. More reason to cook them in soups.

Garlic: These bulbs contain allicin. A 2014 study found that people who eat garlic every day are nearly two-thirds less likely to catch a cold than non– garlic eaters.

Hot broths: Steaming stock makes your nose run, which helps flush out congestion. Broth-based soups also keep you hydrated.

Crushed red peppers: Capsaicin, which adds heat, can clear sinuses for non-allergic rhinitis.

Vitamin D rich food: A deficiency in vitamin D3 has been linked to an increased risk of infection. The highest sources are fish. 3 oz of cooked salmon provides, 447 IU, and swordfish, 566 IU. Be aware that vitamin D in mushrooms is in the form of vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) which is different from vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). They are not absorbed the same way in human body. Mushrooms are rich in vitamin B2, B3, B5, copper, selenium, potassium and phosphorus, which are great for the immune system.

Here is an example of immune boosting soup. Very simple and easy to make. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 pound presliced vitamin D-enhanced mushrooms (such as Monterey Mushrooms)
• 10 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 8 cups unsalted chicken stock (such as Swanson)
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 (15-oz.) can unsalted chickpeas, drained
• 2 pounds skinless, bone-in chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 12 ounces curly kale, stems removed, leaves torn

Instructions:
Step 11. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium. Add onion, celery, and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook, stirring often, 3 minutes.
3. Stir in stock, thyme, bay leaves, and chickpeas; bring to a simmer.
4. Add chicken, salt, and red pepper; cover and simmer until chicken is done, about 25 minutes.
Step 25. Remove chicken from Dutch oven; cool slightly.
6. Shred meat with 2 forks; discard bones.
7. Stir chicken and kale into soup; cover and simmer until kale is just tender, about 5 minutes.
8. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves.

original source www.cookinglight.com/recipes/immunity-soup

Hot summer days are here. Time for mung bean soup. Here is another variation of the mung bean dessert soup.
Mung bean with Lily Bulb Congee
Mung Bean is the best food to remove summer heat while lily bulb can soothe the nerve as well as clear away heat. The combination of the two foods will help us to remove extra heat in our body and bring us a clear mind.
Further more, lily bulb moisten the lung which is prevention to autumn cough.
This congee tastes smooth with a texture of mashed potato. You can put in fridge and serve as dessert.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup mung bean
2 lily bulb, fresh or 1/2 cup dried lily bulb
1/4 cup white rice(option)
Instruction:
1. Wash and clean mung bean, white rice, and lily bulb. Peel lily bulb layer and layer.
2. Add about 10 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil; add mung bean, lily bulb and white rice.
3. Bring to a boil again. Turn to low heat. Continue to cook for about 40 to 50 minutes.
4. Turn off heat, serve after cool.
Tips.
1. Adding some white rice can make this congee smoother and more flavor, but not necessary.
2. It’s better to be served in room temperature. However, you can add some sugar or honey and put in a fridge. Then serve as a dessert.
3. If you cannot find fresh lily bulb you may buy dried one. Please note, there are two kinds of lily bulb from taste, bitter flavor and sweet flavor. The bitter one has the function of clearing away heat. So you should choose lily bulb with bitter flavor in summer.

Elder tree branches 接骨木 is great for rheumatic arthritis, and difficult urination in Chinese medicine.

Elderflower is used for swollen sinuses (sinusitis), colds, influenza (flu), swine flu, bronchitis, diabetes, and constipation. It is also used to increase urine production as a diuretic, to increase sweating as a diaphoretic, and to stop bleeding.

Ingredients

1. 6 fluffy cups of elderflowers, remove the thickest stems. (The thick stems of American varieties are considered toxic)
2. 1/2 gallon of filtered or fresh water. This is fairly flexible.
3. 1/2 cup of sugar, or local raw honey or evaporated cane juice.
4. 1/4 cup of Whey. You can get this by just draining some off of your yogurt.
5. one lemon

Instruction:

• Rinse flowers in a large bowl
• Boil some water, and pour it over your flowers, enough to cover them completely. 
•  Cover the flowers and water with a dishtowel and leave to steep for 24 hours or up to 48 hours.
• Strain out the flowers and save the elderflower tea.
• Add the juice of one lemon into your tea, and add sweetener of your choice. The sugars here will be digested to make the fizz, so you want it a bit sweeter than your end product. 
•  Pour all of this liquid into a glass container or demijohn, and add a couple tablespoons of whey. Cover loosely, and put it in your cupboard.
• Wait. Taste. Wait. When it’s a barely sweeter than you want your final product, pour the soda into swing-top (grolsch-style) bottles and let it sit for another day or two, to develop some good fizz. Leave some room at the top or it could explode otherwise. Don't shake.

Store bought almond milk or rice milk is full of guard gum or carrageenan. Try making these milk at home. 

Almond milk
​Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw almonds
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of honey
1 pinch of salt
6 cups of water

PREPARATION
1. In a medium bowl, soak 1 cup of raw almonds in 2 cups of water overnight.
2. Drain the bowl of water and place the almonds in a blender.
3. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla, 3 tablespoons honey, 1 pinch of salt, and 4 cups of water to the blender.
4. Blend the mixture on high for 90 seconds. 
5. Use a cheesecloth to strain the liquid into a pouring container.
6. (Optional) refrigerate 1-2 hours or serve immediately.
7. Enjoy!


Pistachio milk
Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons honey
1 pinch salt 
4 cups water
PREPARATION
1. Place 1 cup of cracked pistachios into a blender.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 3 tablespoons of honey, 1 pinch of salt, and 4 cups water to the blender.
3. Blend the mixture on high for 90 seconds. 
4. Use a cheesecloth to strain the liquid into a pouring container.
5. (Optional) refrigerate 1-2 hours or serve immediately.
6. Enjoy!

Chocolate hazelnut milk
Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw hazelnuts
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt
6 cups of water
PREPARATION
1. In a medium bowl, soak 1 cup of raw hazelnuts in 2 cups of water overnight.
2. Drain the bowl of water and place the almonds in a blender.
3. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 pinch of salt, and 4 cups of water to the blender.
4. Blend the mixture on high for 90 seconds. 
5. Use a cheesecloth to strain the liquid into a pouring container.
6. (Optional) refrigerate 1-2 hours or serve immediately.
7. Enjoy!

Chocolate pecan milk
Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw pecans
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of honey
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups of water
PREPARATION
1. In a medium bowl, soak 1 cup of raw pecans in 2 cups of water overnight
2. Drain the bowl of water and place the almonds in a blender.
3. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon honey, salt, 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, and 4 cups of water to the blender.
4. Blend the mixture on high for 90 seconds. 
5. Use a cheesecloth to strain the liquid into a pouring container.
6. (Optional) refrigerate 1-2 hours or serve immediately.
7. Enjoy!

In my Healing Soup blog you can look forward to yummy recipes, and information on our Healing Soup meetups. At our Healing Soup meetups you can join me in person, enjoy some great soups and ask me any questions you have about soup, acupuncture, and Eastern and Western medicine.    So come back and visit often, come out and meet me, and have some good tasty soups!