FISH SAUCE IS THE BEST THING EVER.

Tonight for dinner, I made Thai Chicken with Basil.  It includes something called Fish Sauce, which I had never heard of - apparently it's a staple in Thai cooking.  I was a little weary - what is this fish sauce? It's made with anchovies?  But, OH MY GOD IT'S THE BEST THING EVER.  This chicken was phenomenal.  I'm sure the other spices/ingredients (e.g. garlic, jalapeno chilies, etc.) contributed to the deliciousness.  But, seriously... I am legitimately sad when I got to my last bite.  I'm also sad that I can't make it every night this week, as I have other recipes to try if I want to stay on track.  Oh, here's a photo of THE BEST CHICKEN EVER:

Anyway, while I was making this, I got to thinking... maybe I should rate the recipes as I cook them.  Of course, my inability to correctly cook food might have a huge bearing on how delicious it is.  But I could do like, 5 stars for "delicious", 4 stars for "quite yummy", 3 stars for "tastes good", 2 stars for "not memorable", and 1 star for "never again."  Thoughts, readers?

After I made dinner, I prepared lunch for the next two days - leftover  chicken one day, and broiled salmon with orange-mustard glaze the other day.  I'm excited about the salmon, the glaze looks yummy!  (and, it's my 10th recipe made - woohoo!)

So, I'll have to let you know how that turns out after I eat it (probably on Wednesday).  Tomorrow, I'm cooking dinner for my friend (and reader!) A, so if she writes in to comment she can let you know her opinion too!

Lastly, I went running with M today around West Campus.  First of all, it was BEAUTIFUL - it's been on the hot side lately (85-90 and humid), and today it was just around 70 and not humid - perfect running weather!  We decided to push ourselves and increase our intervals to 1 min. walking / 4 min. running, and I'm so glad we did!  It was a little challenging, especially towards the end, but in general I didn't feel that worn out doing 4 minutes of running.  I definitely think that the weather made running easier, thought.  So, we went about 3.7 miles, which is an overall pace of 12:10 pace.  So, I think we were running somewhat faster - somewhere between 10:12 and 11:12 minute miles when we were running.  I think sometime soon we are going to go to the track and time ourselves running so that we get a better sense of what our running pace is.  M is out of town for the next week-ish, so I'll have to run alone the next few times, eek!

Alright, really quick, star ratings for my first 9 recipes:
1.  Honey-Glazed Chicken - 2 stars
2. Gingered Chicken and Fruit Salad - 3 stars
3.  Orange and Ginger Glazed Chicken - 2 stars
4.  Chicken and Fresh Berry Salad - 3 stars
5.  Citrus Salmon - 3 stars
6.  Cowboy BBQ Chicken Pizza - 5 stars
7.  Cheesy Chicken Skillet Dinner - 4 stars
8.  Summer Garden Stir-Fry Chicken - 4 stars
9.  Thai Chicken with Basil - 5 stars

Any other suggestions on things to add to the blog would be much appreciated! :-)