“We’re living in virus hell,” read the headline of the Washington Post story, so I know it’s not just us here in Pemberton, where every day I send my kid to school I literally feel like we’re playing Russian roulette.

This cookbook, Bettina’s Kitchen, has been a staple since I got it – you may be able to tell from the food splatters and spice splotches – and this basic broth, which is flavoured with Chinese 5 spice, as the kind of tang that makes you feel immediately as if you’re being healed, cleared out, and warmed.

We don’t always have three different greens at hand, and it’s fine just with the broccoli, although the boc choi is its own delight.

If I could make a huge batch of this and deliver it like an elf of good tidings all over town, especially to the homes where some sickness has taken up residence, I would. Instead, I offer you the instructions and the encouragement to try it yourself.