phở

February 7, 2012
pho

There's a place we always go. I can never remember its name (Phở Saigon? I had to look that up) and it isn't fancy in the slightest. There are computer-printed signs all over saying, "PAY AT REGISTER" and we always joke at the end of the meal asking, "Where do we pay, again?"

I almost always order the same thing. #22, regular, with small egg noodles. I wipe my chopsticks and soup spoon with a napkin, like my mother taught me. Then I pile in the bean sprouts, adding bits of red pepper sauce in four dabs in the bowl. I give you all of my squid. You get the larger bowl, add more spice, a squeeze of lime, and by mid-meal your face is flushed and rosy.

And then we sit and talk. We used to forget to ask for water with our tea, but not anymore. Once, we stayed so long the waiters thought we couldn't read the signs around the restaurant and brought the bill to us.

This is where we go when we don't know where to go. After afternoons together. Just the two of us.

9 comments:

  1. dont you just love those places that you can rely on when you can think of something more creative or different to go to? i miss having a place like that (definitely dont have one in norway yet!) :)great photo.

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  2. those kind of hole-in-the-wall places are the best.

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  3. Yum! great photo :]

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  4. pho is seriously the best. i feel so great after eating it too.

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  5. I have been craving some good pho lately. It's all about those sprouts and red pepper sauce!

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  6. we had pho last night! i don't really know the name of the place we go to either, isn't that silly! it is also not fancy in the slightest but it is cheap and SUPER yummy!
    pho for life!
    xo,
    cb

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  7. this is beautiful :) and those words have made my mouth water!

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  8. i just got teary eyed when i saw this. i haven't had pho since my last visit home which was last year around this time. we go to a similar place that isn't fancy at all, you probably wouldn't know it's there unless you knew about it. but it's our place and to us it's perfect. i order a #21 and add the pepper sauce as well and it's pure heaven. i miss pho, i miss it a whole lot, and if it were possible i would have sent to me asap. i used to love eating it on a cold day, in the afternoons, after class, when it was stress of a day. Mmmm...i can taste it now.

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