I ate a sheeps brain!

Sorry forgot to mention this in my last post. It happened in Tehran and is apparently a special treat. Kind of like McDonalds in the UK. I was "treated" to it by my hosts in Tehran after climbing up the mountain overlooking the city. I have pictures from the mountain and of the sheep head! You can decide which is the better picture.

So I ate its brain, tongue, cheeks and eyes.... ok, I gave the eyes I miss! I don't like my food to stare at me as I eat it. Mike, I have revenge for you trying to force me to eat fish. I am going to make you eat sheep brains and keep on saying "whats wrong? Why dont you like it? Everyone likes sheep brains!
Whats wrong with you?" and see how you like it! I watched them cook it, they kinda boil the whole head and then scoop out the eyes and brain, pull the tongue out and peel the cheeks off. They serve it on a plate as is. If I had any misconceptions about what a boiled brain looks like they are all well and truly gone!

Its hard to describe the taste of brain so I will save that till last, the texture is something really quite special. I think I went for a piece of the left lobe and my spoon went through it like a knife through butter. The outside was kinda brown, like lightly cooked mince, the inside was still very pink and brain like. I tried a small bit at first obviously and it seemed ok, it wasn't really big enough to require chewing. The second bit was a bigger and... well it was like chewing on soggy bread. I was very nearly sick. It tasted like.. you know the smell of sheep in a farmyard? Well it tasted like that, only stronger. I wonder if my brain tastes like I smell? Hope I never find out!

Tongue was the nicest part, I am sure there's a joke there somewhere. The cheek tasted a bit like the brain only slimier and brought me even closer to being sick. I think I can honestly say that was the weirdest thing I have ever eaten and something I will never forget. Oh and the reason for describing it in such detail? If I had to eat it you can at least think about it and when I turn up at the Sully Inn with a bunch of sheep heads in a bag you'll know what to expect!

Might as well update you on my position while I am here. I am in Shiraz now in the South of the country after a two day ride from Tehran on boring motorways to catchup with the others. Got a puncture just outside Esfahan which took two hours to fix with the "help" of some locals. It would have been easier to do it by myself but people insist on helping and the wheel went on twice without all the correct parts in place. 7000 miles and one puncture isn't bad though but I am now without a spare innertube so another puncture will be a disaster. Cant get one until I reach Pakistan in 2 weeks. Insh'Allah. I stopped in Esfahan for one night and missed all the sights there because I thought I needed to catch up. We are staying in Shiraz for 2 more nights before making our way to Yazd via Persopolis. Going to get back on some mountain roads and give the bike a good workout, try to get the edges off my rear wheel. I am down to about 2mm of chicken strips. The weather here is incredibly hot. Think we had a 40 the other day. I got completely dehydrated and spent the day with an awesome headache. Thought I had been drinking enough water but you don't realise your sweating because it drys instantly.

And now the internet connection has gone down so I cant post this. YAY!