This Is How We PHO It

Favorite Place:  Pho 99 on Walnut & Jeffrey in Irvine, 5 minutes from home

Mike

Large #8 with tripe, tendon, rare beef, other beef

Additives: basil leaves, but no sauce to soup  (to keep the flavor pure)

Dips beef and tripe, etc. into dish with mixture of sriracha & hoisin

For sides: raw jalepenos and onion mixture (refer to recipe below)

Technique:  eats all noodles first, then orders extra side of noodles to add to bowl while soup is still hot.

Sue

Large #2 with rare beef

Additives:  extra cilantro & sprouts, one basil torn up into pieces, no sauce

Dips beef into dish with 1/2 sriracha 1/2 hoisin, but not mixed together

Sides: sprouts & onion mixture

Technique:  eats noodles & beef together while adding sprouts continuously to add crunchiness

Audrey

Small bowl of Mommy's #2

Additives: sprouts

Sides: none

Technique:  tries to eat noodles with fork but then gives up and uses her hands, places end of noodles into mouth and then slurps the rest, lifts bowl to mouth to drink the soup occasionally and then asks for more.

Onion Mixture

Ask for extra side of sliced white onions

Add juice of 1 or 2 sliced limes

Add few spoonfuls of pho broth

Squirt lots of sriracha on top and mix well with chopsticks

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Our family pho history/background:

When Mike was a bachelor, he fell in love with pho.  The broth & noodle combination really satiated his appetite for a "home-cooked" meal.  It being inexpensive also encouraged him to buy pho several times a week, and sometimes twice a day.  He's been hooked ever since.  Now, as a family, pho is one of our favorite things to eat together.

During this pregnancy, pho has not tasted as good, so we haven't had it as often as before.  In fact, Mike had gone a whole 2 months without pho for my sake.  (What a husband!)  However, last weekend, while I was away for most of the day, he had bonding time with Audrey at the beach and then they had a pho date for lunch.

Audrey is truly a girl after her daddy's heart.

Like Father



Like Daughter



For those of you who don't really like pho, I recommend persevering.  Keep at it, try new (clean) places, and I guarantee you'll fall in love.  Even Pastor James likes it now!  Come on, Sanchez_Familia, you can pho it too!

Attack of the Lizard Part 3 & Other Family Updates

It's confirmed.  Lizard Jr. has a death wish on our household and wants to avenge his father's death.

He was lurking behind the bushes by our front door when Audrey and I got back from the grocery store today.  As I let Audrey into the house, I saw him jet inside.  This lizard gained some weight since we last saw him.  Not only was he bigger, but wilder, faster, and more feisty. Glory and praise to our sovereign God who providentially had a neighbor walk by just as I screamed.  He asked if he could come inside to help, to which I responded with a desperate "yes!" and then I got him a broom.  As I watched him battle the lizard, I don't know what I looked or sounded like, but Audrey could sense my fear and asked me to hold her.  So the two of us hid out in the kitchen while my neighbor tried to sweep the creature out the front door.  It was quite a fight, though, because this guy did NOT want to leave.  After a few minutes, my neighbor (who worked up a sweat) got the lizard out and I thankfully shook his hand and expressed my deepest gratitude.

Whew!  What would I have done if my neighbor had not walked by?  I am SO thankful to the Lord for two things today:  helpful neighbors & brooms.

I wonder when Lizard Jr. will make his next siege on our house.  What if next time he has kids and brings them too?  I must not be anxious.  The Lord has delivered me 3 times already.  I must trust in Him.

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My doctor told me today that Baby's head is down now (which explains some of my achiness) and that he's a pretty good-sized one.  He's due to arrive next month, so I guess God is putting his finishing touches on him before he joins the family.  We're really excited to meet him!  I'm a little anxious about sharing a room with him in the beginning, especially since Mike has to go to work.  But hopefully, Mike's selective hearing (which all father's have) will kick in and he'll get enough rest for his work day.

Mike's mom came to visit from Maryland and spent the past 2 weeks with us.  She left this morning and thankfully I was wearing my sunglasses when I dropped her off, because I got teary when we said our good-byes.  Before marriage, I never thought that I would cry when saying bye to my mother-in-law, but God has blessed me with such a godly, loving, selfless, considerate mother-in-law, that it's always hard to part with each other especially after a long time together.  Thinking about Mother's Day coming up, I'm so thankful for my own mom and for Mike's mom, who are both such blessings to our family.

Here are some pictures of our time together:

Grandma Lee's favorite activity - feeding Audrey.



Newport Beach



Sporting the new shades that Gomo got her.



Sunday at church with beef jerky



Redondo Beach Crabhouse a.k.a. Korea



Next month, we get to see my mom who will come from Hawaii to spend time with TWO grandkids.  Yay!