Have a Little Laal Maas.

Back to work, and we had a long day discussing our experiences back in the 90’s with the British.  Matt had one of his co-workers in town , Ed, and they had a good time sharing their stories.  We went late, so we decided to do something very English and sit down for a long dinner, this time at my favorite Indian restaurant in Derby, Shalimar. 

The British love Indian food, and grabbing a curry is a tradition typically after a night of drinking.  The theory is that if you have a hangover the next morning, you can always blame the curry.  It is no wonder that chicken tikka masala is the #1 pub food in the UK.  Shalimar was the restaurant I took Jenn to on a previous trip on her first night in Derby, and I was excited to take her back there.  And we met up with Ed, an easy going, gregarious guy who never met a story he didn’t like.  He would start one story, and then go off on a tangent, saying “I’ll get back to that.”  Often enough he never did.  I had the Laal Maas, a traditional Rajasthani dish, and claimed to be the hottest dish on their menu (which doesn’t bode well for me, recall the lamb vindaloo).  The dish consists of lamb, whole red chilis, and other fresh spices.  It was delicious.  We had a nice evening, sitting around the table for over 3 hours, and thought it was time to call it evening. 

But I realized that I hadn’t had a beer all day (Cobra really doesn’t do it for me), so we decided to head over to the Brewery Tap for Derby Brewing (really close to the hotel). Sitting down and relaxing with friends is great, and I love doing it with a new ale for my beer book.  I had the Derby Crystal Tips on cask, and Jenn had the Symond’s Founders Reserve Cider.  It was a good day, wrapping up the real work effort and spending time reflecting on the previous week.  And the best part was sharing the evening with my lovely wife.  – 6000/12156

“You are much more likely to make your man a sound drunkard by pressing drink on him as an anodyne when he is dull and weary than by encouraging him to use it as a means of merriment among his friends when he is happy and expansive.” - Screwtape