This is along the same lines as why would you go to Outback Steakhouse and get pasta when they’re known for their steaks.  Why would you go to McDonalds and get a salad? That’s what Souplantation, Sweet Tomatoes, or Pluto’s near UC Davis is for. And if you’ve been to Pluto’s near UC Davis, that place is bomb diggitty. You don’t see me going to Arizona and expecting to find really good Asian food. My friend that lives there said people went CRAZY when Panda Express opened there.  She said the line was soooo long it was like they’ve never had Asian food before. Too bad for them Panda Express isn’t even TRUE Asian food.

So whether we get half a chicken and rice, or a bowl of pho noodles, it doesn’t get any better in Westminster. Anyone who tells me that pho noodles sucks in OC, needs to check themself and eat out more often. They have no idea what kind of stupid just came out of their mouth. Anyways, the RYCE Crew will be hanging out around OC and end up at L8 Oyster Bar & Grill after 8 PM. If you find us, come have a drink with us or something. Till then … Let’s Pho!!

-RYCE Randy

If you can imagine beef noodle soup for breakfast, then you decidedly want to try Pho, a Vietnamese dish that has been around for nearly 100 years. I find my site is more and more leaning towards ethnic dishes that are loaded with big, bold tastes, and that make eating what it should be – an experience!

Pho (pronounced “phir” in English) is influenced by the Chinese and French cuisines, and was believed to have originally derived from a French soup, “pot au feu”,(pot on fire)which Wikipedia defines as a French beef stew.  This is usually a mixture of cuts of beef, vegetable, and spice.

Pho had its humble beginnings nearly 100 years ago, and at that time was basically boiled beef, broth and noodles.  It has since evolved into much more than that. During the war in Viet Nam, when beef became scarce, a pork version (pho lon) evolved.

The combination of both French and Chinese occupation has led to a diverse, unique cuisine that is admired by many.  When the Vietnamese fled to the US in 1975, they brought to the United States their unique cuisine and heritage.  It is how Pho was introduced to us…

As a Viet Nam vet, I am probably a bit more familiar with the SE Asian cuisine than most.  I also worked for many years with a large population of Vietnamese when doing vocational rehab.  As a results, I enjoy the cookery of the East.  It is spicy, oft-times hot, and is also very healthy.

Offered here is a basic recipe for Pho.  I have spent extra time lately with my brother after Mom’s passing.  Howard, also a Viet Nam vet, and I talked a lot about the culture there, and the great meals to be had.  He, too, loves the bold, spicy hot foods of the Orient…

We are accustomed to meals of bacon and eggs, French toast, sausages, big whacking slices of ham for breakfast.  All loaded with fat grams and way too much cholesterol.  Do your self a favor, and try Pho one of these mornings instead…

Enjoy!

Assemble These Ingredients:

3 medium unpeeled yellow onions (approx 1 pound)

4-inch piece unpeeled ginger (approx 4 ounces)

5 to 6 pounds beef soup bones (leg and knuckle bones – have butcher cut into 2-3 in sections)

1 lb flank steak. cut into bite-sized pieces.

5 star anise

6 whole cloves

3-inch cinnamon stick

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

1/4 cup Hot chili sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce

Freshly ground Black pepper

1 ounce rock sugar (duong phen) or 1 tablespoon white sugar

For The Bowl Itself:

1/2 lb sirloin or round steak

1 TBS Cilantro-chopped

2 14 ounce packages of small ( 1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh banh pho noodles

2-3 scallions, with green tops sliced into small rings.

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

2 Limes cut in wedges

1 bunch Fresh mint

1 bunch Fresh Asian or regular basil

2 Fresh chili peppers, thinly sliced (Thai dragon or bird preferred)

To Make The Broth:

Char 2 of the onions (reserve the other onion for bowl preparation) and ginger over an open flame to release essential oils and fragrances.  They do not need to be blackened – only char to soften. (This can be done under a broiler if no open flame is available).  Remove skin and blackened pieces from onions and ginger, remove stem ends from onions and discard.  Set aside.

In a large stock pot, place leg bones and enough cold water to cover.  Bring to a rolling boil, and boil approximately 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat, and rinse under cold running water.  Thoroughly clean stock pot, and return cleaned bones to pot.  Add 6 quarts of water bring to a rolling boil, and reduce to a gentle simmer. Add onions, ginger, star anise,cloves, cinnamon stick, cut up flank steak, salt, fish sauce, and rock sugar.  Simmer about 1 1/2 hours, and remove flank steak. (Steak should be done through but chewy) Cool steak in bowl of cold water to keep it from drying out and turning brown.  Refrigerate flank steak.  Continue simmering broth for approximately 3 hours, skimming scum and fat from  broth occasionally, and stirring bones from time to time.

When done, strain broth through double-folded cheesecloth in a colander to remove any impurities and pieces of tendon.  Discard bones.  To make preparation of Pho much easier, refrigerate broth overnight.  When cold, any excess fat can be easily removed from the cold broth.  The idea here is to have a very clear, fat-free broth.

To Prepare The Bowls:

Slice the sirloin or round steak against the grain in very thin slices.
(Freezing for a half-hour makes this easier)

Thinly slice cooked flank steak

Heat broth to boiling over medium heat.

Blanch noodles in 3-4 quarts of boiling water, and use a strainer to remove each bowl portion.  Blanching should only take about 10-20 seconds, until the noodles have lost their stiffness, and are easily managed.
If using fresh noodles, simply untangle and rinse in cold water.
Blanch bean sprouts in same water until wilted but crunchy.

Fill each bowl approximately 1/4 full with noodles, place cooked flank steak and slices of raw sirloin or round steak on top of noodles.  Garnish this with sliced scallions, thinly sliced onions, and chopped cilantro.

Ladle seasoned broth into bowl.  The idea here is to have the boiling broth cook the thinly sliced raw steak.  Season with freshly ground black pepper.

A garnish plate is served with the completed Pho.  It is customary for the diner to pull the leaves from the stalk of the basil and mint to season their meal.  Take thinly sliced peppers, swirl them into the soup for added flavor.  Add the slice of pepper if you like it very spicy.  Lime wedges are used to add a tartness to the soup.  Bean sprouts are also used as a garnish.

This variation of Pho is typically served in South Viet Nam.  In the North, Pho is a much simpler dish, minus a lot of the ingredients found in this recipe.  In the North, Pho is served without the herbs and bean sprouts.  Green chilies and lime only are used as condiments.  In the South, Pho can be served with a dozen different ingredients.

Pho has become very popular in the United States.  There are at last count over 500 Pho restaurants scattered across the US.  Pho is often served with spring rolls and egg rolls.

See my site http://www.allthebestrecipes.com for this and many more exciting recipes from around the world…

Alden Smith is an award winning author who is the webmaster of http://www.allthebestrecipes.com Visit his website for a free 660 page cookbook of Secret Famous Recipes.  Free articles, recipes, and cooking tips are available on his site.

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I have realized that I have a very fond place in my heart for most curry dishes. It seems that they are more popular then ever these days, and I love to make and eat them often. I have tried several that are on the www but have found that I have not enjoyed them very well so I have created my own. I hope that you will find this to be a simple recipe and that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients you will need: Chicken about 3-4 breast, Onions 1 small sliced like fajita cut, Red Bell Pepper 1/2 julienned sliced, 1/2 Can of Straw Mushrooms, 1/4 Cup of Matchstick Carrots, 1/4 Cup of Snow Peas. **For the Sauce: 1 Can of Coconut Milk, 2 Tablespoons of Sugar, 1 28 oz Can of Tomatoes Diced, 1 Yellow Can of Curry Paste, 3 Tablespoons of canola oil, 1 Toe of Fresh Garlic and Ginger, 1/4 Cup of Fresh Cilantro, Pinch of Salt and 2-3 Tablespoons of Corn Starch in about the same amount of water to make a slurry.

First you will get your sauce ready so you can let it simmer down after all of the ingredients are added.  You will take a large sauce pan and add your oil and garlic and ginger over a low heat until you start to smell the aroma of them. Then add your Coconut milk and your tomatoes and curry and stir. Then add your sugar, salt and heat it up to about a simmer. When the sauce is warm add your slurry to thicken and then add your fresh cilantro and turn the heat on low and just let it hang out until your other ingredients are ready.

Chicken- You will want to cook your chicken. You can sauté it or bake it with a little salt pepper and paprika if you prefer. If you are going to sauté it you will need a little bit of oil in the pan preferably canola oil. It is a mono-saturated fat and it has a higher smoke point than olive. Get it to a golden brown in the pan and let hang out in the pan covered or in the oven on its lowest setting until done. To bake it you will add salt pepper and paprika and bake on 350 for about 15 minutes or until done. You do not want to overcook it because it will be dry.

Vegetables- You will want to get all of them washed and cut and ready to add the the sauce. I would sauté them in the pan that the chicken was cooked in to get the flavor from the chicken. When the vegetables are warm you will add them to the chicken. First i would add the onions and get them translucent and then I would add the carrots and bell peppers. I would add the mushrooms and the snow peas at the very last and give them a toss or two, and call them done.

**Rice/Starch- If you want to make some rice for this dish and you want to keep it more on the healthy side I recommend a brown rice if you prefer. The dish is fine without the rice but if you are trying to make sure you get your grains in for the day I say go for it.

When ready to serve if you are using rice and it to a serving dish and pour the sauce around the rice. Add your vegetables an top and the chicken to top of the veggies and serve. If you are not using rice add the vegetables to the sauce and stir. You will them add all of the sauce with veggies to a serving dish and the chicken will go on top of the sauce. Enjoy!

Chef Shelley Pogue, a Cum Laude, Le Cordon Blue graduate and Executive Research and Development Chef, for Vertical Sales and Marketing, San Ramon, CA.

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Judy:  I would love to understand who your target market is, what you want them to do, feel, know about your brand and how you want to build communities to support it.

>>

Randy:  “Sure! I would love to 1understand who your target market is, 2what you want them to do, 3feel, 4know about your brand and 5how you want to build communities to support it.”

1) Our target market is only you
2) We want you to buy ALL of our shirts
3) We want you to feel gosh dang sexy in it. So sexy that you’ll end up taking our RYCE shirts off and streaking around San Francisco
4) Our brand is called RYCE: Revolutionary Young Cultural Effect. What it means is that it’s a Revolutionary Young Cultural Effect
5) We want you to buy ALL of our shirts. Then we can use the money to buy strippers, have sex with them, and make tons of babies. Then those babies will be our community to support the shirts and thus free advertising

Rock solid marketing plan, so you still wanna jump on board and help us? hahaha, j/k. How’s Norcal?

>>

Judy:  Wow! You are a genius…I totally think your plan would work. I think that if you make a pitch now, you’ll have backers lining up! J/k…Randy you just made me laugh my pants off.

>>

Randy:  see, you’re already starting to streak

>>

- RYCE Randy

RYCE love people and their support, as we succeed, our friends and families in-grain us with their faith and belief.  They help us with each passing by planting seeds.  In time, these seeds become our crop.  This crop will sprout magically,  and we will be ready to farm and harvest the land.  With our success, our friends and families support will pay off.  In the end, they will enjoy a nice bowl of RYCE with us.

Yes, Randy and I are patience creatures.  As our crop grows, we have to nurture it, give it love, and show all the support it needs to thrive.  That’s why you will see us farming the field when we hit the streets.  Our marketing level is rudimentary and our product is basic.  Now, how we get to the next level?  Well, we have to re-developed our process.  Then, our RYCE brand product will begin to grow quicker, bigger, and stronger.  And, it will be more tasteful too.

This is how RYCE will feed you, and how we plan to grow our business to the next level.

According to estimates from the National Institute of Mental Health, between 5 and 10% of girls and women and a million boys and men suffer from eating disorders. Although eating disorders are more prevalent among young women, older women and many men are affected.

Although these eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa, binge eating rates very high on this list. It is believed that as many as 15% of young women have unhealthy attitudes and behaviors towards food.

It must be noted that an eating disorder is an illness. Eating disorders are caused by a variety of emotional factors and influences. They have a profound effect on the sufferer and their family. Eating disorders are almost always a sign of low self esteem.

Dieting is all about losing weight in a healthy manner. Eating disorders, on the other hand, are about seeking approval and acceptance from others through negative attention. Many with an eating disorder feel that their life will not be good until they lose a lot of weight. They spend hours agonizing over the way they look, and find fault with their appearance even though there is nothing wrong with the way they look.

People who diet wish to lose weight in a healthy way. They know that they’re overweight, and do something positive about it. Eating disorders are driven by image. People with eating disorders are trying to control their life and their emotions through the use of food or the lack of food. This can never be a healthy lifestyle.

A compulsive over eater is aware that they’re eating patterns are not normal. Generally, compulsive overeating starts in early childhood when we began to develop our eating patterns. These people have never learned how to deal with stressful situations properly, and instead use food as a way of coping. Typically, a high proportion of compulsive over eaters are male.

Today, government statistics show that 33% of children are obese. We as a nation do not take compulsive overeating seriously enough. Instead of treating compulsive overeating for what it actually is, we instead focus on diet centers and health spas. This does not give the participant the help they really need. Compulsive overeating is a very serious problem which can lead to death. Given the proper treatment, which should include therapy and medical counseling, this condition can be overcome.

Although there are different types of eating disorders, compulsive overeating is probably the most common one. If you would like more information on common eating disorders, visit our website today.

Alden Smith is a freelance writer that spent many years working with people having weight loss issues while participating in vocational rehab. He believes that the best weight loss advice should be made readily available to anyone having weight loss issues.

Visit his site at http://www.squidoo.com/strip_that_fat_now for more information on weight loss.

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