Pho at Le Cheval!

I can't believe its already July! Yay! :)

Today, my sister and I took our grandmother downtown for some shopping and lunch! It's a tradition we have, so it was fun to do it again since I am back for the summer! My grandma gave us a bit of money to buy some clothes; we first went to Macy's since she said there was a sale going on, but we found nothing good. Then, we started walking towards H&M, but made a detour at Bath and Body Works for some lotion and body spray. I bought some special lotion with shea cream and then a body spray that smells like honeysuckle! It makes me happy since it smells so summery! :D

There was a huge amazing sale going on at H&M!!! I bought two dresses, a nice shirt, and a cute denim short skirt for all under $40!! I am very happy about that!

After clothes shopping, we walked down to Le Cheval, a Bay Area Vietnames restaurant that was started by my grandma's friend from Oakland! When we went in Le Cheval, my grandma knew the people working there so they came and sat with us for a little bit, telling us stories about when they first came to America from Vietnam. It was so fun and friendly!

When we sat down, they brought us complimentary carrot chowder! Everyone else got some too, so it must be a sort of appetizer. It was very good! It was creamy, but not heavy. Carrot and potato bits floated around, and green onions were a nice tasty touch. I really enjoyed this soup!

For a starter, we order Cha Giou, which are Imperial Rolls. They were full of chicken, carrots, and mushrooms I think. They were fried, but weren't heavy or oily at all! Sadly, I was hungry when they were brought out to us so I bit in one quickly and it burned my mouth a bit since it was so hot! So, they were very fresh! Dipping them in the sweet, vinegary sauce was yummy too.

Of course, I ordered the pho!! Yay! This was called Pho Tau Bay, with thick hunks of beef, noodles, onions, green onions, and the condiments on the side. This was delicious pho! The broth was tasty and not oily or heavy! Plentiful noodles too, just the way I like it! It wasn't as epic as the pho at Le Kims in Stockton though, hahaha. ;)

My sister also ordered the pho, at my reccomendation. One of my nicknames for her is Pho, since her name is Fiona. So, I was super excited about her trying pho! :D However......she didn't exactly like the broth. She liked the noodles and beef, but she said there was a certain taste to the broth she really didn't like. Oh well, I am glad she tried it, and she didn't regret it. She didn't let me take a picture though, grr.....Instead, here is a picture of me enjoying my pho!

My grandmother ordered the lunch special of steamed rice and coconut chicken curry. She liked it, but became full quickly! They give you large portions!

After we finished eating, I wanted to go get some gelato for dessert since Gelateria Naia got more gelato in. I finally got some hazelnut gelato, my favorite! So, without further ado, here is a note from Fiona making a special guest appearance describing the gelato we got! :D

Hey guys! A shout out from Fiona here! The picture above is a photo of two cones with gelato, the one on the left, which is undoubtedly mine, consists of Espresso and Dark Chocolate flavored gelato on a waffle cone. On my right is Hazelnut on top of Nutella flavored gelato on a waffle cone as well. Gelato is a perfect snack on a hot, summer day. Very delicious too! Keep reading Ophelia's blog! Over and out! -Fwi Fwi


My grandma wanted us to surprise her with a flavor, so we tried a couple and settled on Strawberry Cheesecake! It was very sweet and full of flavor! She really liked it, which made my sister and I happy. The flowers next to her are lovely, aren't they? :)