Icelandic Phallological Museum - Reykjavik - Iceland

I nodded off on the shuttle ride back from the Blue Lagoon - Grindavik - Iceland, when I was startled awake.

What was literally outside my window?

The Icelandic Phallological Museum.

The Icelandic Phallological Museum?!!!



Oh, I was so going there.

Especially since I got dropped off at Kex Hostel - Reykjavik - Iceland, only a block away.

I circled back to the museum and giggled at what I saw on the far right of the window. The "Member of the Month" is a giraffe's *ahem.*

There are 280 animal *ahems* and one human *ahem.* The whale *ahem* is taller than me! I know, because I took a picture standing next to it. It's natural history! Yeah! Natural history!

I would say it's the "wandering" part of "Wandering Chopsticks," except that there is a food component involving a horse's *ahem* covered in rosemary and other spices. Really! I can't make this stuff up!

At this point, I should give the big WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK caution. Also, WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR THOSE WHO ARE EASILY OFFENDED. But, if you're a pruriently curious weirdo, like most of my Facebook readers seemed to be when I queried about whether I should blog this, then go right ahead and click below.

Lastly, before I continue, I'm not prudish, but I'm choosing not to use the actual terms on the blog so that my and your ads won't become inappropriate. Please refrain from using them in comments as well. So you can continue to procrastinate at work with safe images.

Chinese Food from Xinjiang -- Beef, Horse, and Chocolate and Yogurt Raisins

Since it's 8/8/08 and the opening day of the Beijing Olympics, I thought it was only fitting to showcase the diversity of Chinese cuisine. Can I count Xinjiang as my X? Or does it fall within Chinese cuisine? I guess it counts as part of Chinese cuisine since I don't divide any of my ethnic cuisines but list them by nationality. But then if I subdivided Chinese cuisine into Cantonese, Sichuan, Shanghai, Xinjiang, etc., I'd have to do that for all cuisines. The thought of that gives me a headache.

So instead, far better that I go with my original thought and show you the diversity of Chinese cuisine. Xinjiang, or rather the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, lies in the far northwestern corner of China. This large area is sparsely populated with 45% ethnic Uyghurs, 41% ethnic Han Chinese, 7% Kazakh, and other minorities. Xinjiang is also where the Tarim mummies were found. The mummies were controversial for their European and Central Asian features such as lighter skin and reddish-brown and blond hair.

My brother recently came back from a 10-day horseback riding trip in Xinjiang, along the Kazakhstan border. (I suggested he do a series of guest-posts of his trip for the blog, but he hates to write.) He brought me some edible souvenirs. Starting clockwise from the chocolate and yogurt raisins, horse sausage, dates? (Can someone identify the bag of dried stuff?), and Xinjiang beef. He said there was camel but it was sold out.