I think, in the food blogging world, there’s this assumption that we eat elaborately stylized meals every night. That our fridges are filled with perfectly frosted cupcakes, juicy braised chicken thighs, and endless sprigs of rosemary.

Not so. At least not for me. I’ll make maybe, one or two “blog” pieces a week, but it just isn’t realistic to produce gloriously photogenic food on a daily basis when you have a full time job.

Nevermind the logistics like availability of natural lighting for photography, but the time and effort it takes to assemble all necessary ingredients, cook you dish, then decorate your food with perfectly-scattered thyme leaves can be very overwhelming when you’ve already spent your day putting out fires at work. (Not literal fires, but you know what I mean.)

So, here’s our dirty secret: we sometimes don’t cook. We eat out. We pick up fast food on the way home. We buy a frozen pizza. We meet friends for drinks and dinner rather than hosting at home.

We work very hard to achieve Martha Stewart perfect marshmallow roses on our double chocolate, s’mores stuffed birthday cakes, reflect the light just so and nail the shot, and then crash on the couch and binge watch Scandal while we eat last night’s take out. Or a piece of the previously mentioned cake. Because, you know, we had to cut out a slice to take a photo, so we may as well just finish it off.

That’s why I’m starting a new Dish of the Week segment. As a food blogger, a lot of energy goes into recipe planning, and oven rack juggling, but there’s another side to food – simply enjoying a dish that makes you really really happy.

Like this chicken tikka masala for instance. Probably the most American Indian cuisine I could have ordered, but when is chicken covered in delicious, creamy curry ever a bad idea?

Especially when you get the tikka masala from Himalayan Restaurant. I have never had chicken tikka masala this amazing in my entire life, and having lived in the UK for four years, I had my fair share of curries.

This is what I call a “conversion dish” – it can convert even the most staunch curry haters into believers. It is ground breaking good, and it comes from a itsy bitsy hole in the wall place on Franklin Avenue – the sort of place where you know you are either getting the best meal of your life, or potential food poisoning. But the Himalayan does not disappoint. Do yourselves a favor, and check it out as soon as you have a valid excuse not to cook yourself dinner.