Pho, In short, is Vietnamese noodle soup. If you've never had Pho, you're honestly missing out (in my opinion) on the best soup you've ever had. The restaurants are mostly seen throughout major cities, but I've seen them the most in my home of Seattle, and also Vancouver Canada actually has 24 hour Pho! 

To prevent confusion and language butchering, Pho is pronounced (phuh) NOT (phoh) which actually works well for some of the more modern, non-traditional pho places who will name the restaurant "What the Pho" or "Pho-King" was a place I saw in Paris. What makes this soup so different and great is you can make it however tangy, spicy, and sweet you want, and you can have your choice of meats (usually chicken, rare beef, tendon, meatball) or if you don't eat meat you may order vegetable or tofu pho. Each restaurant has it's own way of doing things, but the general routine will be obviously ordering, and then the server should bring out a plate with bean sprouts, lime, onion, jalapeños, basil, and sometimes an extra house sauce. 

Once you are brought your pho it will have the meat you ordered, noodles, cilantro, green onion or scallions, pepper, and the rest will vary depending on the place. Always taste the broth first! then you can add plum sauce, which will make it sweeter, and sriracha (Rooster Sauce) which is hot mustard that will make it spicy. My personal favorite sauce ever. 

After you've gotten the broth just the way you like it, you are invited to add anything on the plate previously brought out to make the perfect combination. When you first try eating it, you will may feel a little disabled or silly. Especially if you are rather unexperienced with using chopsticks, it will be something to work on. The best method of eating is to just dip the spoon in the soup, get a little broth in there, take your chopsticks with the other hand and add noodles, or meat, or whatever you want in your bite. Once again, pho is all about making perfect combinations. You make the soup the way you want it, and the bite exactly the way you want it. 

I've had some interesting experiences with this meal. Most importantly, and the reason i chose my title, is pho honestly leaves me a little "high" after I eat it. Not only am i usually stuffed and feeling very satisfied but I can just feel a little rush of euphoria that comes over my body. It doesn't last long, but it's still amazing. Some may think I'm insane for saying that, but i promise i've had other pho lovers tell me the same thing. 

On a more personal level, pho has literally brought people together for me ever since the day i tried it. My X-boyfriend brought me on to it, and we ended up eating it all the time (almost every day), and even having pho-rituals and inside jokes about each of us not being able to "pho-cheat" on each other with other people. (sounds pretty child-like I know) 

Another guy I was dating a few months ago is a chef at a seafood restaurant, and he had never really had pho before until i took him to my favorite pho place in Seattle (pho-cyclo cafe). He was absolutely HOOKED. We ended up eating it almost every time we hung out, whether it be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He was kind of a complicated, and shy guy so while we were getting to know each other i would just have to say, (or he would say) "hey do you want to get some pho tomorrow?" and then it was kind of understood that we would end up hanging out that night at his place and getting it the following day because it was "easier" that way. 

besides the dating life i have multiple friends who i will see every few months when home in Seattle who will just catch up with me by going to get pho. I've introduced it to essentially all my friends, and have never had a bad review from anyone. People will normally thank me for blowing their minds (not to brag or anything!) 

I recently learned how to make pho in my own kitchen (which is REALLY revolutionary for me) and its actually REALLY easy. the recipe i used probably isn't the most authentic, but if you're interested its at  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cooking-live/pho-bo-hanoi-beef-noodle-soup-recipe/index.html

I invited all my high school friends who are pho-lovers over, my boyfriend who had never had it, and his friend who had never had it, and they all enjoyed it immensely and had a gay old time. I felt so happy because it was a very un-american meal. Everyone was sitting at the table for hours laughing and drinking, rather than eating and immediately bouncing up to do the next thing. 

basically..in conclusion EAT PHO..BE HAPPY!