Sunday 10th Feb, 2013 is Chinese New Year, when the Year Of The Snake begins. The Snake is the most Yin sign, and it follows the most Yang (Dragon). This does not make for a peaceful, tranquil year! Snake years are full of scheming, pondering, thought and planning – and this can be both negative […]
I’m a big fan of James Wong. You can’t help but admire his enthusiasm in putting his message across – and it’s always a great message! With his latest project, ‘Homegrown Revolution’ he wants to encourage us to change our gardening and allotment habits. Out with the swede, cauliflower and spinach, and in with goji […]
A little while ago someone was asking me how acupuncture works (this is a question I get asked often!) They were asking, is there something on the needles? When I said no, they’re just plain metal, he looked surprised… if you’re not putting something into the body, then what are you doing? And it’s a […]
In my last blog post, I wrote about my recent ‘discovery’ of using lily bulbs (Bai He) in cooking (you can read it here) This is a recipe that I’ve slightly adapted from one I learned recently from herbalist Fran Turner. It’s a Qi, Yin and Blood tonic, tastes great and is very easy to […]
Using lily bulb (Bai He) in cooking is a new find for me – and I have to say, I’m slightly hooked! Lily bulb is one of those wonderful ‘herbs’ in the Chinese materia medica which is also an everyday food item in China. It is used both for its flavour, and also its medicinal […]
Now that we’re well in to Autumn, I thought it might be nice to write about a great season food – Pumpkin and Squash. When we look at a food through the lens of Chinese medicine, we’re looking at the foods ‘energetics’, or in other words, the particular qualities that it has in terms of […]