Recipe - Fast Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup)

It has been a while since we've posted a recipe here. Honestly, I haven't created any new dishes as of late. Lots of kid activities have been happening on the home front. So I go into survival mode of cooking things I know how to whip up at times like this. This is the most popular recipe I've shared on my personal blog. It's also one of my family's favorites.
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Originally posted on MAY 04, 2010

Fast Pho Recipe

I am a huge (mega HUGE) fan of Pho.  

It is an uber tasty Vietnamese noodle soup dish.  My friend Jackie introduced me to Pho about 10 years ago on one of our lunch excursions. The tiny bistro was in the Seattle International District - we only worked a couple blocks away from there. I remember that the bistro from the outside smelled of coriander and other wonderful smells. I'm a total dork and I remember every detail of places I've eaten that I ate something wonderful at...anywho-

Traditionally the broth for Pho takes hours to make. Beef or Chicken bones are simmered with whole onions and other spices to achieve that rich flavorful soup base.

I wanted to create a faster version of this soup for me and this is what I came up with.

~Pho Bo~ (Beef)

Things you'll need:

Fresh ginger root - 1 inch chunk peeled

1 32oz carton of beef broth (Chicken or Veggie broth could also be used instead)
4 cups of water
1 large yellow onion finely sliced
3-4 tablespoons of Chinese Five Spice Blend
1 bay leaf
1 small bundle of fresh cilantro tied together
3 tablespoons of Fish Sauce (I use Filipino Fish Sauce but Thai Fish Sauce is readily available in regular grocery stores.)
1 lb of beef finely sliced (chicken can be used instead for Pho Ga)
Lime juice
Salt & pepper to taste
1 package of Rice noodles (Bahn Pho)

Toppings:
Fresh cilantro (chopped)
Sliced radishes
Lime wedges
Mung bean sprouts
Sriracha Sauce aka "Rooster Sauce"
Red onion finely sliced (I actually used chopped green onions because I like them better)


What to do:

In a large pot warm up your sliced onions. Just get them "sweating".

Then add your water, broth, ginger root, bay leaf, cilantro bundle and fish sauce. Cover & simmer for at least 15 minutes on medium heat.

Fresh ginger root.  You'll need to peel it for this recipe.

Simmering ^_^

Two different styles of fish sauce- Filipino style on the left. Thai style on the right.

After about 15 minutes add your Chinese Five Spice blend to the broth and a healthy squeeze of lime juice. Give it a good mixing and do a taste test. If its on the bland side add a bit of salt and pepper to it or add a bit more Five Spice if you like the taste. (I do!) Turn your heat down to medium low and cover and simmer again for about 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile- you can prep your toppings:

I always soak my bean sprouts in very cold water. (Mung Bean Sprouts are the best!) Soaking them in the cold water makes them crunchy. My kids like to snack on them plain :)

Slice your radishes and onions. Wedge your lime (but its okay to use presqueezed lime juice too)

Back to the soup:

This recipe was originally posted on May 24th, 2010 - please disregard the date on the packaging above.

My Asian grocery store has thinly sliced meats readily available so I totally cheat on this step. Maybe you can too? Lots of grocery stores offer thinly sliced meats for stir fry. 

Add your meat to your broth and cover yet again for about 5 minutes.

Prepare your noodles by washing them in cold water. 

Add your washed noodles to the soup 5 minutes after you add your meat.

Give things a good stir and cover one last time and cook till the noodles are soft. (About 5-10 minutes - I didn't time this step very well- sorry!) 

Your toppings!

Don't forget the hot sauce- c'mon be brave.

After the noodles and meat are cooked its time to eat! Be careful not serve your family or yourself that bay leaf and bundle of cilantro.

~Pho Ga (Chicken)~

Enjoy!

xo-Thea

Only The Good Notes

I'm assuming you've all seen the incredibly sweet scene of The Holiday I pasted above.
"I used only the good notes."
What's a girl got to do to get a guy to say that to her? I just love that scene.
Music can simply melt you into pieces. Good and bad pieces of course.
Some songs can take you to a place you once lived, a time with good friends that happened decades ago and even bad times that you wish you could forget.

Yes, I am that girl that fell hard for a guy who played music and was in band. I thought I'd get that info out of the way. So those of you who have had bad experiences with musicians you can just quit reading now.

Music is not only a wonderfully expressive art but it is a language as well.  There are about a million studies and reports for the benefits of kids playing music.  They learn a skill not everyone has, they learn to read music and how to keep a beat/rhythm. Most importantly they learn how to express themselves in a new way.

My youngest child (blonde ponytail) playing the violin at a concert recently.

I did "make" all four of my children take orchestra. I know some of you are totally cringing at the idea of screeching strings filling the air in your homes, but honestly it hasn't been so bad.
A lot of schools now cut the music and arts programs due to funding. I think that is really sad because as with life in general you should have hard work to do yet balanced out with fun stuff like music & art.  The one huge noticeable benefit that my kids seemed to have received from all the music lessons they've had, is that they are all excellent in math. Each one of them has different levels of talent with music but they all know the language of music. My youngest who has only been playing for a few months took it upon herself to research the theme song to Zelda and taught herself how to play it.  She didn't ask for help, she just researched it out of curiosity.  That really made me smile and feel proud. Curiosity like that is really admirable.

Varieties of music fill the rooms of my house daily. My teenagers, one in particular likes to make music and gets serious about classifications of genres and styles. It's really like a bad sitcom around here somedays, but they have learned to appreciate sounds and music. Sure some of it is the crap you'd hear if you turned on the radio but they are teenagers. We all assault our parent's ears with horrible music from our teenage years, it's a rite of passage.

I won't lie to you and tell you music lessons even the school classes aren't expensive. They are. I about shit myself when I saw how much a violin was. You can buy instruments used, lease them and some schools offer financial aid or other loaning programs for them. Choir is beneficial as well because you learn to read music there too. With the popularity of Glee many schools have brought those back too.  
I do get asked often about my kid's music classes because its now viewed as something "fancy", maybe it is but my kids have really benefited from it and it does show in other areas of their studies. I feel like the expense has been worth it. We also have passed down instruments so that was really cost effective for us.
Mom to mom here promise me that if your kid comes home with a flyer for a music program at school promise me you'll take it seriously. It's not about raising little rock stars but allowing your child to learn a new language and explore life through sound.
C'mon you know on somedays you walk around with a theme song of the day in your head! At the very least you have sweet car solo singing sessions. It feels good right? Music is awesome.

xo-Thea

A Year Later

While many of us Americans were grumbling about our spring ahead in time yesterday, it was a day of remembrance in Japan.

One year ago an 9.0 earthquake shook Japan. A massive tsunami followed. It was absolutely devastating. Many of us watched the surreal horror live via newscasts. Many lives, homes, farmlands and more were lost.  200 children lost both of their parents and 1,200 lost one parent to the earthquake/tsunami.

I have personal & professional ties to Japan and I grew up in an area where there is a potential for a  tsunami if a big earthquake hit. This all hits home for me.

In the aftermath discussions of this horrific event one question that was repeated over and over was "Are you prepared for an event like this?" My honest answer was no.
I didn't really have emergency supplies or plans for my family if a big emergency were to occur.
I'm really not a doom and gloom type of person, I do like to be prepared for anything though. (You should see my mega purse!) With my kids getting older and driving themselves about, I realized I should have a plan.

All families should.
Here's Ready.gov's  Build a kit link. It has a list of supplies, food and water you should have on hand.

For those who have driving teenagers they should have a little kit for their cars in case of any accidents or emergencies. Make sure they know how to use any tools that you may include in that kit.

Washington State's Emergency Management Division has a list of emergency publication topics that are downloadable online.

I picked up this book: Just in Case: How to be Self-Sufficient when the Unexpected Happens By Kathy Harrison

It has some great information & tips.
Having a plan for the just in cases could be a big benefit to you and yours. Add it to your to do list if you haven't already.

Thea

Do What Now?

The other day I was talking about the concept of this blog to someone. Its about the post cutesy years, believe it or not, babies and toddlerhood ARE the cutesy years. Tweens and teens are the controlled chaos years.
These are the years when you really need support.

For instance - The case of the dumb girl with boobs.

A teenage girl that is friends with one of my children "accidentally" texted a boobie picture of herself to a boy. The boy threatened to blow it up and make posters.

#1 Oh hell no!
#2 Teenage girls of the world NEVER EVER EVER EVER DO THIS - It's actually considered child pornography.
#3 NEVER!

I'm not aware of this girl's family life and although this girl did something completely stupid it is the parents' responsibility to tell your kid not to do stuff like this in the first place.  Sure there's a possibility after you purge that information it will go into one ear and out the other and they'll do whatever they want anyways. Saying it is important though - comparable to making your kid put the Brussels sprouts on their plate even though they hate them. It's the routine of exhibiting your authority as a parent but not in an asshole way.
"Do it because I said so!" We all hate that right?  "Please be more vague, Mom."
You're raising people not pets. Remember we get pissed when people compare their cats & purse puppies to our children? Yeah.
Incidentally, the "Do it because I said so!" tends to be the most effective when you have your special girly time of the month. You've come this far together in life, kids know when mom is raging and they tend to not fight you much during your special time.  Rage mom is no bueno in anyone's book. Teenagers tend to want stuff all the time and over the years they master the when to ask mom for shit time. Feel free to throw down the "Do it because I said so!" then.

As an adult you even respect your parent in some form and it's easier to respect a parent when they are consistent and honest. When you respect your parent you tend to respect yourself, because you want your parent to respect you. Its a vicious cycle!

I do have to admit if this girl was my daughter I would probably get a little ghetto on her at first. Loud yelling, index finger waving wildly in the air... but I am overcoming my own background and learning to be a reasonable parent who can communicate things in English not in satanic tongues. It is incredibly hard at times but your children are the best thing you can invest yourself into so you gotta give it a go. If someone would've "handled" me like that during my teenage years I might have avoided a few bad choices.

To dumb boobs girl, like I've told my own children, don't share anything that you don't want someone to use against you in the future. That shit can sneak up on you out of nowhere. Its not the 1990s when we were able to get away with more stuff.  The technology you love so much ruins your privacy. Respect yourself enough to only share stuff like that with someone who deserves to see it.  Deciding who, needs to have a good amount of thought invested into it. Some moms will say don't share those at all until you are married but I know better. I know what teenagers do, I was one before...

Keep your shirts on-
xox-Thea

In 1997

Although this is a personal gripe, I think I know a few ladies out there that will commiserate with me.

In December of 1997 I received a $50.00 child support check (my court order was $747.00 a month). 

That was the only child support check I have ever received. 

I've thought about getting that date tattooed to commemorate that one time occasion to remind myself how capable I am. 

I've been looking at tuition fees for my daughter's college classes, no matter how capable I have been over the years I have to admit that money would've been helpful. Its hard not to dwell on that when I stare at all these upcoming costs. 

:/ -Thea