Beef Xiao Chao Pao-Mo Soup

In my earliest years in Xi’an, back when I wasn’t big on food and all that, my grandfather would make me lamb pao-mo soup every day for lunch. I hated it. I would sit there not eating until the soup congealed and the bread got mushy, and pray that I could sneak away unnoticed for an extra fifteen minutes of playtime.

Once I moved to the States, though, the soup became a signifier of home—it was my version of chicken noodle soup. Today in Xi’an