Book Signing and Cooking Demonstration

Stir Food Group and the International Spy Museum are pleased to announce an exclusive book signing opportunity with Kay Shaw Nelson, showcasing The Cloak and Dagger Cook: A CIA Memoir (Pelican Publishing, September 2009). Nelson will share recipe demonstrations from her book in the test kitchen while delighting guests with stories of her travels around the globe during her tenure with the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1950s.

Tickets are priced at $75 per person and include a copy of the author’s book along with samplings of the featured recipes, and two glasses of wine per person. Guests also receive a 10% discount on wine purchases from Zola Wine & Kitchen’s wine shop during the event. Reservations can be made by calling (202) 654-2855.

In 1948 just out of college, Kay Shaw Nelson joined the newly founded Central Intelligence Agency. There she met her future husband, discovered her passion for food, and began her life of espionage and excitement. At times under the cover of a cookbook writer, the husband and wife team sailed to exotic locales gathering recipes and sampling the local cuisine - from kebabs in Turkey and kimchi in Korea, to spargel in Germany and eels in Spain. The Cloak and Dagger Cook: A CIA Memoir is filled with dozens of unusual recipes and amazing anecdotes and is an irresistible memoir of fascinating events, extraordinary corners of the globe, and clandestine culinary pursuits.

Kay Shaw Nelson’s CIA cover turned into a lifetime passion as a highly successful cookbook author. She is a nationally recognized journalist who has published over twenty cookbooks and hundreds of articles in such national publications including The Washington Post, Women’s Day, Gourmet and Washington Women. Nelson is also a member of numerous organizations including the National Press Club, American News Women’s Club, Les Dames d’Escoffier and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. She currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland.

Zola Wine & Kitchen’s wine shop features “great find” wines from around the world with over 400 different varieties and 6,000 bottles ranging from famous vintages to lesser known boutique producers, exciting new offerings and rare cult wines. Next door in the test kitchen Stir Food Group’s Executive Chef Bryan Moscatello and his culinary team test recipes in the kitchen lab for Stir Food Group’s restaurants, Zola, Spy City Café and Potenza. Zola Wine & Kitchen also offers weekly cooking and wine classes, open to the public, and it is also a wonderful space for holding private events.