The Pho Revolution

I have finally joined the pho revolution - the phase where people decide that they are completely in love with soup containing beef and noodles originally from Vietnam. My friends tell me at work how they were addicted to it at first - or that's all they ate in college - or they know the 5 top pho places in Seattle. The first time I tried pho was at #1 Pho in Cleveland's "Chinatown". And I couldn't stand it. I am barely a meat eater and ordering one of the most popular dishes meant raw meat. I looked at it in my soup, poked at it and decided I couldn't eat it. I tried to drink the broth and in the end, decided this was not the food for me. No thanks. I barely like soup (my dislike of salt is at the root of this problem.) Pho is not for me.

Fast forward 4 years or so and I find myself in Seattle, where like lots of west coast cities I can find more pho varieties than I imagined possible (but I'll be damned if I can find a good Lebanese deli!) I wasn't interested. If we went to a pho place for a meeting, I had anything but pho. Not raw beef, gross noodle soup for me. A friend convinced me to try Pho Cycle in Capitol Hill and I tried a non-soup dish and tried some of hers. She told me the point to the raw meat was to let it cook in the steaming hot soup (oh!). Finally, early in December, at the beginning of my getting sick, I decided I would drink up some soup to avert my illness and tired pho - veggie pho and it was fantastic! I created my own special designs with the hot sauce and oyster sauce (I makes stars in my soup with each one.) I'm sure to add the lime and lots of basil and now I rather enjoy it - the veggie one that is.

Friday night, that beautiful evening, I had pho. I had it again on Sunday when it was cold and rainy and last night (starting to feel under the weather again.) Three times in one week. I've joined the pho revolution!