I am a mother. Recently discovered that I have Asperger's Syndrome. Which while amongst the complexity of other coexisting conditions such as low stamina/easily exhausted, does help provide a certain tenacious pedantry in order to keep searching for the 'perfect' version of a particular dish. Anything that will tantalise my taste buds. Love it all, though need to learn many light EASY, nutritious, TASTY, gratifying to all the senses and most importantly QUICK to prepare dishes.....in other words those that rely on the quality of the basic ingredients in an uncomplicated combination. International though simple was what I was reared in, meaning that bland/conventional food was a novelty in itself when at boarding school. Then through becoming vegetarian around 19, I got more into the science of food, also becoming somewhat of a purist (no msg or hydrolised garlic my mother fed us; in fact the only garlic is the real one) and adventurous - using fruit and vegetables previously foreign. My girl/s would take pomegranates, rambutans, pistachios, snow peas, cinnamon bark (instead of gum), sushi, rice paper rolls, houmous slathered salad wraps etc to school, thus educating their peers - long before mainstream exposure. Despite being semi veg for many years, my tendency towards anemia has even my hippy doctor prohibiting me going off meat, even with iron supplements. So I eat more meat, sugar, dairy etc etc than I want to for health (and social cameleon) reasons. Have to follow a gluten free diet and trying food combining too, which is harder than the former. Mulberry pie and a type of tiramisu with no coffee yet lots of cherries! My lasagnas, my mother's chilli chicken, mango chutney, eggplant pickle....basically anything that is based on a good recipe. Helping my daughters make ice cream, whether mango, blueberries or strawberries etc, organic, self picked. Ditto wild guava or backyard lemon sorbet. I did invent a winning tamarind, sesame oil, ginger marinade for baked tofu. Lots of trial and ERRORing....