Day 4 - Pho-n Times

Tonight, I was craving pho. There's a dingy pho place (I've found that dingy + ethnic food restaurants correlate, in a good way) near my house that I've been wanting to try, but I couldn't find a reason to go eat there when I had perfectly good pre-paid food in my kitchen. I argued with myself for a while...and ended up convincing myself that I needed to go eat pho so I could write my blog post. So here I am, writing a blog entry and filling my belly with pho.

In case you don't know already, pho is a delicious Vietnamese soup made of broth, meat and noodles. It typically comes with vegetable and herb garnishes. Just take a look at all the delicious pho!!!

Quite frankly, I was destined to write about pho today. I started the morning by asking one of my Vietnamese students what he was planning to do for Christmas. He informed me that he was heading home. I exclaimed, "Oh that's wonderful! I bet you will be happy to see your family, eat familiar food, etc." His response? "Not really. I think pho tastes better in America. The meat is better here." Are you Pho-reals? We do Vietnamese food better than Vietnam? This was the first time I'd ever had a student tell me they didn't miss their home country's food. Well-done America, Well-done Pho.

Several months ago, I was listening to an NPR segment about the Worst Store Name Puns. A group called Atlas Obscura had asked people to submit their favorite store name puns. Some of the names mentioned were just amazing: Curl up and dye, Thai-tanic, and so on. This radio piece caused me to think about the best store puns I've encountered and, you guessed it, Pho definitely came out on top. My personal favorites include "Pho-ever", "PhoShizzle" and "What the Pho?", all located in the Seattle area. Once again, Well-done Pho.

In 2011, CNN took on the audacious task of identifying the 50 best foods in the world. As the article says, Some foods you eat to stay alive, others you eat because not to would be a crime. Here are those foods worth traveling the world to gorge on. I'm into that. #50 is buttered popcorn. Obviously that's a mistake. Popcorn should be #10, at least. #1 is Massaman Curry...also questionable. Pho grabs spot #28, which sounds just about right. This is in front of tacos, ketchup, and fish 'n' chips. Well-done Pho...

Well-done.