“The beauty of Chinese medicine is found in its elegance, depth, and seeming simplicity. Once you have entered this world, it may look and feel natural and easy, like a dolphin’s swim or a Mongolian kid hanging upside down from a racing pony.

Or, in my case, like making the perfect batch of goat cheese: A plain mixture of fresh goat milk, a few drops of rennet, and a tiny amount of starter culture.

And yet, the end result depends on the goats’ diet and breed, reproductive stage, rumen health, temperature of the milk and air, length of fermentation, even the way you cut the curds, strain the whey, and fold in the salt. And then there is the magic: the ambient wild cultures in the kitchen and the love dedicated to this multi-day process…”