I took an unfinished piece from a year ago and finished it today. I think it took a total of 5 hours.



Citrus wedges are weird to paint — but I guess I somehow managed to pull it off, it looks okay from far away. I also spent a lot of time trying to make the soup look more like pho and less like watered-down soy sauce.

I haven’t had actual pho in a long time because, in case you don’t know, I’m vegetarian. My mom used to take me to Vietnamese restaurants a lot when I was little, and we would have pho very often. Since I became vegetarian, the best pho I’ve had was from Saigon Shack in Manhattan. When I had their fake meat, it was pretty obvious to me where they probably got it. I’ve eaten the exact fake meat many times, but I really enjoyed the rest of the noodle soup — especially the soup base.

I want to go to West Village more. It’s one of my favorite parts of Manhattan for all the good foods and cool stuff to do there. 🙂