i should take more photos

charo reprimanded me for this just last night. she's right. i've been negligent in my photo-taking.

tonight would have been a good opportunity to do so, too: i made my first ever indian dinner. curried fish filets, aloo dum, and masoor dal. i also had some store-bought naan, but it was wholly unremarkable. still, i should have taken a couple of pix, just to show you what i created.

i cooked up portions smaller than any of those recipes so i had to kind of futz with the proportions of spices, but overall everything came out really well. the fish was the runaway winner, with the potatoes a close second. (which is funny, because i thought the lentils would be my favorite.)

it took probably 1.5 hours for me to make all of it, but now that i know what i'm doing i think i can probably whittle that down a bit next time i get so adventurous.

i was rewarded for my efforts with a generous sampling of a really nice bottle of scotch. as i try more and more of these single malts, i'm developing definite preferences. highland scotches are some of my favorites, though i have also noticed a strong tendency to enjoy the speyside varieties, too.

mmm... warm scotch on a cold, drizzly portland night. add some spicy indian food, and you got yourself a pretty blissful situation.