First Time I Ever...

I decided it has been a little bit since I've wrote a new blog, and well since I'm writing a new blog in August I wanted to do an entirely new segment called, "First Time I Ever."  This segment will consist of me explaining my experience of eating whatever it is I ever ate for the first time ever.  I figure I'll do this every Monday, and for today, I'll let you know how my first time I ever ate pho went.  So with that, on to the show. 

Ahhh…pho, who doesn't like a big brothy delicious bowl of goodness with meats, noodles, and veggies.  I guess the first time I had pho was in Philadelphia in 99.  Still in high school, still young wild and free; and food to me was good, but never as important as it is to me now.  Growing up in a Chinese restaurant, I was so sick and tired of eating Asian food at this point, but pho was different.  It reminded me of something that I never had before, and all these flavors and spices were just amazing.  

However, I ate pho like an idiot as a child.  I hate herbs as a kid.  I hate spices, I hate the way anything that wasn't to my liking tasted.  I was such a novice eating pho.  I took this vibrant delicious noodle soup dish and just demolished the likes of it.  I added and not added things that needed to be added.  Sriracha, hoison, bean sprouts, and jalapeño.  This is all okay to add, but I ate it like an idiot and just added things without even trying the damn soup; oh, and herbs, no Thai basil for me, so stupid.  Anyway lets go back to that first spoonful.  

I still remember my very first spoonful.  Soup, rare steak, and a little onion.  That first bite was just amazing.  I muddled that clear soup with hoison sauce and sriracha, but it gave me this deep and spicy spoonful.  The meat was cooked and so tender and that bite just bit right back.  I could taste everything, spicy, salty, rich, and just a hint of sour due to that squeeze of lime.  It was this amazing amalgamation of flavor and definitely sensory overload.  Now I knew why this dish was so famous and popular, across the sea.  It was everything you want in a bite of food and was just amazing. 

I'll always remember my first time I ever ate pho, and I may eat it a little differently now, but that first time will be forever ingrained in my memory.  Just so you know, how I eat pho now goes like this.  I start with tearing all of my Thai basil and place them in my soup.  I skip the jalapeño and bean sprouts, and add a touch of black pepper and sriracha, just a touch.  I take that first slurp from my spoon of that amazing full body soup, and a little piece of that basil, and all I can taste is this rich and pepper soup from the basil and it's so so so good.  

Ah, my first memory of pho…great.

Well, until next time…watch some Doug Funnie and have a clue of my first experience for my next food.  It's a sandwich.