This week I noticed that I had a cabinet full of rice noodles that my mom had left the last time she was here.  The kind of rice noodle you use to make pho.  Since I was running out of food anyway and I needed to do something to “de-stress”  I decided to try my hand at Pho.  Pho is a type of Vietnamese soup that is usually made from chicken or beef stock.  It’s one of my favorite foods but I’ve always left the preparation of it to the experts until this week.

My first attempt was kind of pitiful.  I used canned beef broth and threw in an onion.  After a few hours of simmering I poured it over some cooked noodles and added hoisin and “rooster” sauce.  I was pretty disappointed.  After discussing with one of “my people” from California (Thanks by-the-way!) she gave a few good tips and sent over these satchels of Pho seasonings.  The satchels contain anise, tsao-kuo?, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and some salt.  This time I started with beef broth again, skipping boiling the beef bones out of laziness and time.  Grilled up a whole onion and threw that in.  I had some carrots in the fridge and thought to myself why not?  So in they went.  Cubed some beef flanks and threw that in along with the satchel of special seasonings.  Added some fish sauce, sugar, and salt.  It’s simmering as I write this and it smells wonderful.  It tastes a whole lot better as well.  Not the same as my moms but a good start.