The Alchemist's Kitchen

"An abundance of the world's fruits, herbs and pastries, gestures of hospitality and regard ... [the author] ... who writes in the midst of things, and out of a searing awareness of loss and obliviousness to loss, desire and its absence, what it means to be spiritually awake, to behold human life in all its possibility, pathos and transience"--Page 4 of cover.