The dark days are over

This winter was dark and mild, and we were inside a lot. Adam served up a tasty Vietnamese noodle soup time and again over the months. Here is a post dedicated to the juxtaposition of Alaskan winter days and Vietnamese beef broth soup. 

Matt's ice candles are the last vestiges of the glowing sun, 
illuminating the impassive dusk that shrouds us 
all from the convalescent, radiating warmth of a far-away season.

Pho

…and then there is Pho, the belly-warming, soul-soothing broth soup, which is offered as compensation. 

Adam has adapted his recipe from Cook's Illustrated Vietnamese Beef Pho recipe, which was published this winter. We do a few things differently:

• Roll the ground beef into meat balls and keep them to serve in the final dish instead of throwing them away. 
• We add cilantro and jalapeños to the bowl. 
• We double the amount of vegetables in the bowl that we add the broth to. 

This quick, at-home broth is what I prefer to any kind of Pho I've had in restaurants. It warmed us up, and we must have served it for dinner and get-togethers for 10 meals. 

Not that we won't have it again anytime soon, but I'm ready to say thank you and good-bye to the recompensing soup and hello to the stalwart sun of spring.