the right side of my face is numb from my cheekbone to my jawline, courtesy of my dentist who did some drilling this morning. consequently, i’ve got nothing much of interest for the blog today. so i’ll share two things.

1. beautiful photos of the decay of an abandoned railway station in abkhazia. the railway station – which appears to be nestled between the ocean and a small mountain range – looks like it was stunning while it was still in use; now the encroachment of nature gives it a vaguely logan’s run feel. (hat tip: bryan)

2. the omnivore’s 100, originally posted here, coming to bc4 via collecting tokens.

Here’s the deal:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (an unfortunately bony fish)
9. Borscht (best ever: in a casino on a sunday in st. petersburg, when nothing else was open)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (mmm. garbage dogs. sometimes it’s what you need.)
16. Epoisses (i’m assuming this refers to the cheese, not the place)
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream (once. never, ever again.)
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (probably my favorite politically incorrect foodstuff of all time)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or Head Cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bowl
33. Salted Lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O (jello shots, eh?)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (and it wasn’t on purpose. eew.)
43. Phaal (er… maybe?)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu (aka pufferfish)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (in elementary school i’d gross out my classmates when i brought smoked eel to school for lunch. you just peel ‘em like a banana.)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin (i wouldn’t recommend it. it’s like chewing on wet, iodine-soaked toilet paper.)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle (i still have a recipe for spaetzle tacked up on a kitchen cabinet from the last time i made it.)
57. Dirty gin martini (is there any other kind?)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (delirium tremens. yum.)
59. Poutine (i haven’t had this, but after looking it up, i want to!)
60. Carob chips (quite possibly the worst culinary fraud ever perpetrated on a child.)
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs (all those poor little frogs on crutches…)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (there’s a place in alexandria that makes good beignets; i make churros occasionally; and i had an elephant ear yesterday and a funnel cake not more than a month ago. i love me some fried pastry.)
68. Haggis (when in scotland…)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snails
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (a box of them is sitting on my desk)
84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (does domestic rabbit count?)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (nasturtiums are particularly tasty – peppery and sweet, if picked when the nectar is still wet.)
89. Horse (i won’t say never, but damn, those french are strange.)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (you can’t live on guam and avoid it for long)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose Harissa (i’m claiming yes, although it’s really a “probably.”)
94. Catfish (a smoked lunchbox addition when we ran out of eel.)
95. Mole Poblano
96. Bagel and Lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (waste of perfectly good lobster)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

this seems like a fairly narrow selection of foods, but that might be due to my ethnic background and having been dragged around the world, from pillar to post, as a child.

alejna also added these, for geographical variety:

101. poi
102. kimchi
103. vegemite
104. guaraná

and i would add

105. balut (for the sheer gross-out factor)
106. lumpia (a guam favorite)
107. kelleguin
108. anticuchos de corazón
109. knedlik
110. svíčková
111. pajsl (with beef heart, rather than lung)