Got Pho?

You know, pho is the best comfort food for nursing a hangover. Which I have. Because. I drank. More than I should've.

Those of you who are not familiar with the concept of pho should know a bit about it. Quite a few people find pho repulsive, which is beyond me. However, most find it delightful, and most pho restaurants in this area are open 24 hrs a day to serve the demanding public. Pho is basically a soup with rice noodles. The noodles float around in this steaming hot stew of meat. Then on the side, you get a plate of bean sprouts (yes, to most westerners, it ain't the most delicious sounding food, but please give it a good try before denouncing it awful), onions, cilantro, among other things.

Somewhere on the table should be various bottles of sauces -- most are red, but one should be black. The black one is sweet, and I generally use it on the raw uncooked onions. Believe me, I despise onions. I can't bear the idea of just eating them raw, but somehow, this magical black sauce makes it not just edible, but yummy as hell.

The various red sauces are hot sauce. As demonstrated by Taco Bell's varying levels of hot sauces (mild, hot, fire, etc) people tolerate different amounts of spiciness. I generally go with the medium one, but then I just splurge and pour the damned thing in, making the soup a dark red color. Then I put the sprouts, cilantro, onions, lime juice, whatever else's available, and enjoy.

I guess this would be the oriental (is that a PC word?) equivalent of the chicken soup. I can just see it now... They will translate the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series as "Pho for the Soul" complete with "Pho for the Mother's Soul" and "Pho for the Alcoholic's Soul" and more. Chicken soup is alright, but it lacks a bit of the phjazz that Pho has. You know, when you're hungover, you're sleepy, you're tired, you feel like hurling again, but the spicy pho soup will just kick your mood up a notch! I should have titled this entry to "Ode to Pho" but oh wells. I'm a bit lazy. After all, I am hung over.

I had a drink (or two, or three) at New York New York, where one of my friends work. We started out with a bottle of beer, and eventually moved onto lemon soju. I got a bit tipsy, and I have to apologize to my fellow Los Angeleans. I apologize for imposing my drunk-driving on all you safe drivers out there. I wasn't too tipsy... just a bit misty. But even then, I should not have driven. My blog does not condone unsafe driving behaviors.

Well, after several rendezvous with the toilet through the night, I feel a little better, but getting Pho to-go for lunch was the best. Well, that's my Saturday so far.