The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2015 59 The Nomad Chef Seija-Kaarina Cleverley, self-published, 2014, $39.50/hardcover, 240 pages. Seija-Kaarina Cleverly has lived all over the world as a Foreign Service spouse, and in this cookbook she shares many of the recipes she has collected during her 30-year odyssey. “Over the years I served at my table four-star generals, archbishops, movie stars, ambassadors, par- liamentarians and business executives, not to mention a growing family and many friends who visited,” Cleverly says. “Above all, I learned the simplicity of great food and shared the human univer- sals inherent in culinary tradition and rituals.” A passionate cook, Cleverley has created a cookbook with a memoir inside. Alongside the recipes, she tells the fascinating stories of the people fromwhom she learned them and explains the rich culinary traditions behind them. There’s a reason they’ve been handed down from generation to generation! With colorful illustrations by Janina Eppel and beautiful photographs showing the cooking process and finished prod- ucts, readers are taken on a grand culinary tour that includes cheese pies from Greece, samosas from South Africa, baklava from Iraq, eggplant salad and red lentil curry from Sri Lanka, fish with tomato sauce from Cameroon, holiday ham and coco- nut cookies from Finland and chickpea polenta from Italy—and much more. Seija-Kaarina Cleverly and her FSO husband, Michael, have lived in Milan, London, Rome, Athens and Helsinki. Nong’s Thai Kitchen: 84 Classic Recipes That Are Quick, Healthy and Delicious Nongkran Daks and Alexandra Greeley, Tuttle Publishing, 2015, $14.95/ paperback; $9.99/Kindle, 160 pages. Master Chef Nongkran Daks has created a gorgeous, colorful and delicious collection of authenticThai recipes assembled after years of travel and teachingThai cooking. Her passion for this