Cold Weather Calls For a Bowl of Phở

On days like today, when it is cold and rainy out, I always crave a nice, hot, bowl of phở. Phở is a Vietnamese noodle soup usually served with beef. What I really like about phở is that the noodles are made out of rice not flour. So after eating it I feel less heavier than having an entire plate of pasta or something with flour noodles. The soup in phở is a broth made of beef. The soup is simmered with beef bones, oxtails, herbs, and other vegetables. When the bowl of noodles is served, it is up to the eater's discretion to add bean sprouts, mint leaves, cilantro, and lime. In addition to the extra herbs and vegetables, people can add hot sauce and hoisin sauce, to make it spicy or sweeter. However I do find that after eating phở I get extremely drowsy. I think this happens because the restaurants I used to go to has a lot of MSG in their broth. I remember when my entire family had phở for dinner, we would all go back home and be snoozing away within minutes. Luckily, I know that there is a Vietnamese restaurant in Amherst, so if anyone is also craving some phở or would like to try it, you can check out Miss Saigon!