I’ve been so busy trying to make ends meet while my fiancée has been out of work (and often sick) over the past 18 months that I’m having a hard time keeping off the weight I worked so hard to lose a couple of years ago. It’s difficult to find time to exercise when every waking moment of every day is spent working, and it sure doesn’t help when I live through an experience like last month in which everyone I know — motivated by kindness and affection! — inflicted no end of incredibly caloric food on me. (That Boston cream pie was only just the tip of the lipid iceberg.)

So here I am taking a break from work, which so far I’ve pretty much just spent working, and already I can see it’s going to be a difficult battle even on vacation. Yesterday for lunch our hosts picked up Chic-Fil-A sandwiches, and then for dinner decided we hadn’t eaten enough fried chicken for the day and, knowing how much I love Japanese curry, went and made chicken katsu curry. Completely from scratch.

It’s a shame there’s already a site called This Is Why You’re Fat. Look at that! It’s like a portrait of un-health. It is also a portrait of deliciousness.

I don’t know that I’ve ever had completely homemade Japanese curry before, but I need to make it a regular occurrence. This meal was delicious. Our host was determined to make the curry entirely without relying on roux, and the results were worth the effort. I could taste the usual spices that comprise curry, whatever those may be, but there was more subtle depth to the flavor as well — hints of apple and honey that added fullness but not an overwhelming sweetness. The only shortcoming is that the chef forgot to add enough flour so it wasn’t as thick usual, but the flavor was perfect.

I was also impressed by the katsu. Instead of going with the usual breast meat, she instead bought a bunch of chicken thighs and deboned them before frying, which let her cook them to crispy, golden-brown perfection without fear of the meat drying out (as is so often the case with white meat). This, too, was ridiculously delicious.

I guess at this point I should apologize to my vegetarian readers for my distressing habit of shooting loving close-ups of meat. I am a slave to the camera. If it makes you feel better, my diet for today will consist of a saltine and a leaf of iceberg lettuce consumed while jogging until my feet are worn to bloody stumps.