Most of my cooking skills were learned whilst living in Kenya. The diversity of people and cultures was uniquely reflected in foods. Fruits and vegetables were had from the fresh markets, which along with providing us the necessities for life, were full of living colour. I marveled at how spices and grains were milled on a daily basis. Being vegetarian, but NOT of Asian origin, we have a passion for Indian Vegetarian food. In as far as there are a multitude of different Indian communities within Indian, and Africa for that matter, there are also a variety of Indian cuisines. I am still in the learning process as there is so much to learn and experience. HHHmmm ... can't think of any. Learning to cook in the first place ! My friend who was a master chef taught me how to use spices to achieve not only flavour dynamics, but also what aided in digestion and promoted various health / bodily functions. Having achieved the status of being a "brilliant cook" and "master baker" amongst my friends, I once baked a carrot cake for one friend's birthday party. At first everyone marveled at how delicious it was ... my other friend and I started picking around at the center of it and realised that the batter was so heavy it had not baked in the middle. It was awful. This friend fortunately had a great sense of humour and asked round the table if everyone was enjoying their "batter". The outer edge of the cake was baked and tasted great. Her comments broke the ice - as the guests had already heavily committed to what a wonderful cake it was. Thus, everyone was able to freely make fun of the diasaster and not have to choke down a wad of batter ! ;-)