Pho! YUM!

One of the DEFINITE benefits of living in San Jose is the abundance of good Asian food everywhere and how reasonably priced it is! Chris and I were running late doing errands, so for dinner we decided to go for one of my favorites: PHO!

We found a place which specializes in Vietnamese chicken dishes with various chicken noodle soups or boiled chicken with special rice and etc. It's called Pho Ga An Nam. It was only a five minute drive away and averaged about $6 a per person, not too shabby. Be warned! If you are going to check it out, they take cash only and they do not have an ATM there.

What amazes me about Pho is the amount of flavor they are able to pack into the broth! Looking at this pic you would think that the soup was ok tasting, but take a sip and your tongue gets a multi-layered hit of sweet, savory and Oh-s0-goodness. It's the perfect thing to warm you up when the weather is cooling down....or if you are just having a bad day.

Chris also liked being able to watch Vietnamese TV shows while eating. The time we went it was the Vietnamese equivalent of Dancing with the Stars, only it was called Celebrity Dancing. It was pretty addicting despite the language barrier.

Ponyo

So Chris and I were wanting to see this movie since it came out in theaters a couple of months ago. However, whenever one of Miyazaki's films come out in the States I have a dilemma - I want to see the movie, but I want to see it with the original Japanese dialogue. The actors and actresses they have to dub it in English are talented, no question, but there's something special about seeing a film in the language it was intended for.

Thankfully, I didn't have to worry for too long. While we were exploring Little Tokoyo with my cousins we went into a mini-mart. There, just on TV was Ponyo even though the local theaters around it were still showing it. I guess it has been a year since it came out on DVD in Japan so not only were we able to buy the movie for a reasonable $13.99 but it's only in Japanese (with English subtitles of course!). It's a super cute movie. I enjoyed it, especially the scenes where they're eating ramen!