I enjoy a variety of foods and also enjoy trying new foods. I am diabetic (type 2) and hypertensive, so must now pay more attention to my eating habits. I must say it is indeed a struggle because I love all kinds of food. So I want to learn to cook simple, eye-pleasing, appetizing recipes. It is also a challenge cooking for one, after cooking for a family for so long. Because of my busy lifestyle I am usually hungry when I get home and russle up something quick without putting much thought into it. I like simple recipes....too many ingredients discourage me. Soups are great to cook; I usually start with a base and throw in whatever I can find in the fridge; sometimes I do buy specific ingredients to add. My soups are never the same every time; but they're usually very good. All my 'cooking' life I've made recipes I learned as growing up in Guyana; mainly of the East Indian tradition. Over time I have devised recipes out of sheer necessity, using ingredients on hand, or 'thought up something' and have it turn out terrific. Unfortunately, I did not write down what I did, consequently those triumphs now reside in 'blue yonder'. I have now begun to record my experiments and I plan to share my successful ones with 'allrecipes'. The other day I used a tamarind soup mix to make one of my 'everything-in-the-fridge' soup. It was a disaster. Even my sister, who loves anything tart had to 'doctor it up' to make it palatable. There have been others but this is the most recent.