I love cookbooks and cooking. When my husband and I decided to get on an Asian kick, we chose this book because it eases you into Thai cooking. With no outrageous ingredients, octopus or black squid ink, this cookbook offers the lover of this type of cuisine an easy and very delicious alternative to some of the more authentic recipes offered in other cookbooks. By authentic I mean the strange ingredients. The Chiang Mai Curry Noodles is excellent and depeding on which curry you try, panaeng or red curry, can be hot and spicy, delicious. The Paht Thai Noodles were made in our household two nights in a row they were so good. The chicken coconut soup is a very refreshing dish and the Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini and Jasmine Rice was something even my three year old enjoyed.
In the beginning there is a small investment to be made in ingredients the average American does not have in their pantry. There is a fish sauce,(which is used in practically every asian recipe and in this book), soy sauce, and sri rachaa which is an Asian hot sauce and various curries and a couple other spices. But, once this book hits your life they will be as common and familiar to you as ketchup or mustard. Excellent pictures for those, like myself, who love pictures. If you are considering this book, go ahead without further reservation.