Day 0 - The Initation marinade

Yesterday I made the marinade for Vietnamese Baked Chicken, the first recipe in the book Dinner. It uses fish sauce, when on it’s own smells like cat food. But when combined with the rest of the marinade…..yummy smell! Always read the recipe to the end before beginning. Glad I did as the chicken needs to marinate for 24 hours. It feels rather cool to begin this quest. I have wanted to do something like the movie/book Julie/Julia since I saw it. But cooking one region for a year? I would be bored to tears. I thought I might try one region per month but even that seemed like it would bore me. Nagi’s books are the absolute greatest in what I’ve been looking for. She incorporates many different regional recipes and most of her recipes are geared toward 2-5 people with the occasional recipe for a larger crowd. Perfect for two people without many leftovers. Ok, so I made the marinade. Mike’s got the fire going outside so I am off to have a glass of Pinot by the fire. Deep breath.