The Gourmet Cookbook edited by Ruth Reichl that came out in 2004. Very versatile, with a range of difficulty levels. Some people find the yellow ink used in recipe titles hard to read. https://www.amazon.com/Gourmet-Cookbook-More-than-recipes/dp/0618374086/ref=asc_df_0618374086
Keo's Thai Cuisine, by a chef in Honolulu, helped us get good at that type of cooking. Our Thai lime tree descends from a smuggled fruit that the author's boyfriend gave to my in-laws at the Quaker meeting they attended. https://www.amazon.com/Keos-Thai-Cuisine-Keo-Sananikone/dp/1580080812
The equivalent for Indian food was Madhur Jaffrey's Spice Kitchen. https://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-Spice-Kitchen-Introducing/dp/0517596989