Lamb Rogan Josh: Before

Long time no post. I have just gotten my hands on my very own digital camera, so as soon as I grok how to use it there will be pictures galore and more posts. Tonight I'm making lamb rogan josh. What's not to like about Indian food? Seriously. Naan is delicious. Tikka masala is delicious. A tandoori is capable of alchemically transmogrifying even the most uninspiring raw materials into pure red-tinted deliciousness. I was originally planning on making this dish on Christmas day. I had all of my ingredients assembled ahead of time, or so I thought. On the day, I realized that I had NO fresh ginger (an ingredient I usually have around), thus triggering an hours-long trek all over Madison looking for a grocery store that was both open and stocked with fresh ginger. No such thing. So we all ended up going to Taste of India for dinner. My understanding that Chinese restaurants were the customary destination for a Christmas meal out was incorrect; Indian restaurants, at least in Madison, are the go-to destination. The rogan josh dish was pushed up to tonight and is currently simmering away on the stove. I could eat lamb for every meal. Not only is it delicious, but there is something delightfully perverse in consuming an animal that is so cute and fuzzy while it is living and doesn't have a euphemistic name once it's transformed into meat, like "veal" or "squab". If I can figure out this newfangled photo-graph machine, I will post a picture of the finished product and you can all wish you were in my cozy turmeric-scented kitchen this evening, listening to me whinge endlessly about rude library patrons.