Life is short, the benediction says, and we don’t have much time to gladden the hearts of those who make the journey with us.

Many Asian cultures have this common greeting, used as a way to say hello.

Ann handed me a pair of kitchen shears and asked me to clip some chives, oregano, thyme, basil and rosemary for the soup.

She remembers best the smell of the store: fresh and woody, with lingering smells of produce and food.

“China slips through my fingers,” I wrote in my journal my first full morning in Shanghai.