The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

60 NOVEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL globally popular cuisine is evident as she explains what makes Thai food so captivating. Each recipe is easy to follow and accompanied by beautiful photographs of ingredients and finished dishes. She also gives an overview of Thai ingredients and necessary cooking utensils, basic methods and techniques used inThai cooking, as well as con- sumption etiquette. In addition to all of the classicThai favorites, Daks includes the famous PadThai recipe, with which she beat celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s “PadThai Throwdown” challenge in 2008. Nongkran Daks is executive chef and owner of theThai Basil restaurant in Chantilly, Virginia. She has taught Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cooking in Bangkok, Beijing, Hawaii and Washing- ton, D.C., and is the author of several cookbooks. Her husband, Larry Daks, is a former Foreign Service officer. Alexandra Greeley is a food writer, cookbook author and food critic. She has been an editor for Vegetarian Times magazine, and a food writer and editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She is a member of the prestigious Les Dames d’Escoffier and a co-founder of the D.C. chapter of Slow Food USA. n