The BEST Soup EVER, rain or shine!

So this past weekend, I got to go down to Visalia with my husband and cousins from the bay area. With gas prices being so expensive ($4.25/gallon), we all decided to carpool together to go down there. Well, the trip was great! I got to see my nieces again AND a rare opportunity occurred. All three of my nephews were there! So I gathered them all together, nieces AND nephews and took pictures of them. Let me tell you, it was HARD. and what was harder was getting my three GROWN nephews to take a decent picture was harder than getting all SIX little girls to stay together and smile and take a picture.Anyway, that's not what this blog is about, it is about THE BEST SOUP EVER from my most favorite-ist place! We were on our way home from the Central Valley and I got super hungry, so after much debate in the car about what to eat, I suggested pho and my very smart cousin Nancy sided with me and eventually everyone in the car agreed. So where did we go? The ONLY place to go for pho in Fresno that is worth it!

Pho 99 in good ol' Fresno, CA! My old stomping grounds! I love this place. There's no other like it! Really, there isn't. I've had pho from all over California and I have to say, I've haven't tasted anything as close to this beautiful bowl of pho:

I always get mine with the wide noodles. I don't know why but in the bay area and on the peninsula, when you ask for the big/wide noodle, they call it the ho fun noodles and they are barely half the width of these noodles, but that's the best they get. Since moving from Fresno, it's been difficult to adjust and not just food wise. So everytime I'm able to go back home and visit with family and enjoy a good bowl of pho, I'm super happy. So after putting in my usual fixings, you know: soy sauce, oyster sauce, sriracha sauce, peanuts, basil, fish sauce, lime juice, etc from the condiment tray already on the table and the dish of basil, bean sprouts, and peanuts. I'm not a bean sprout fan, so I always leave them out.

 Pile all that on and this is what you get:

 Mix it around and feel free to slurp and enjoy all the goodness of this:

 I'm telling you, this pho is sooo good! Pho in general is pretty good. It's base off of a beef stock/broth. The broth itself takes all day to make and you always leave it on the stove with a slight boil. The idea is to keep the broth hot enough that you can spoon it over thin slices of beef and let the broth cook it through. I think that is the absolute best way to eat the meat, its more tender. All restaurants have different options, such as beef, chicken, seafood combination, beef meatballs, and Chinese BBQ pork. I usually just get the beef with a side of meatballs. I LOVE these beef meatballs. They are different from American or Italian or even Mexican meatballs. These are made differently and it's hard to make it at home, it's just worth it to purchase it from an Asian store instead.

Now, I've seen "inspired" versions of pho recipes from chefs and even the famous cooks such as Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray, and although their recipes remakes may excel in other areas, I have to strongly disagree with them and say that their recipes don't even meet the standards for pho. For example, in Ray's recipe, she uses chicken stock boiled with ginger and I think lemongrass, and she shreds pull pork and uses spaghetti noodles. I just think that is WAY too wrong. First, the flavor that the broth gives is KEY! A couple of standards if you want to make the pho from scratch is to have cut up onions, preferably beef bones to give some flavor, but if not then beef bouillon, and DEFINITELY star anise. The star anise gives the pho it's flavor and that oh so yummy broth that is not a pho broth without that taste. Oh, and don't fall for the "fancy" pho prices from other restaurants. Pho is a street food sold from vendors in the outside markets. Think of the people who sell hot dogs and pretzels and pizzas on the streets of NYC, this is like that but in soup form (yes, there are tables and chairs for them to sit at to enjoy their pho quickly) in Vietnam and other Asian countries.

Anyway, enough talk, here are some pictures of the people I was in company with slurping away

My husband slurping his pho away.

My cousin slurping his bowl away. He likes it a lot spicier than I do, but that's okay. Oh, and he doesn't know I took this picture. (hehehe)

And of course, my husband's visit to Pho 99 or any pho place for that matter would not be complete without an order of egg rolls.

 Yumm....it was a super fantabulous treat for all of us before leaving back home to the bay. I know this is all simple things, but I happen to find joy in the most simplest things. I love pho and it has been a soup that I've eaten all my life. I can't make it at home, and I actually find it cheaper to go out for it unless I was throwing a party and wanted to serve it. The funny thing is that pho is starting to gain popularity but it's still just a simple soup that my mom  made when company came over. Oh and it's pretty cheap too! About $5-$6 per bowl and if you're not a big eater, ALWAYS GO FOR THE MEDIUM SIZE BOWL! One thing I've learned is that the quantity in the small and medium is always the same it's just served in a different size bowl, and if you're just tagging along and are not that hungry but want to order something, go for the kid size. The kid size is about the size of a cereal bowl.

I love trips back home and being able to reminisce about food from the good ol' days. Next week when I go back home, my goal is to show THE BEST POTSTICKERS EVER! and PIZZA POCKETS! No, not HOT POCKETS, there is a MAJOR difference. Stay tuned! :D