Southeast Asia food uses many different types of spices which are quite new to me like the curry leaves which I saw at the Kreta Ayer wet market in Chinatown. With such spices used in cooking this usually imparts a strong aroma to Southeast Asian food which appeals to the senses.
I have a Ph.D. in cell biology. And that's really manual labor. I mean experimental science you do it with your hands. So it's very different. You're out there in a lab cleaning test tubes and it just wasn't that fascinating.