Now forming in Port Angeles, WA

Real phở, made at home — without the sugar, without the fear.

New to phở? Phở (say it: “fuh”) is the beloved noodle soup of Vietnam: a clear, deeply flavored broth poured over rice noodles, with meat or tofu and a pile of fresh herbs on top.

Peninsula Comforts is the cooking project of Mai Nguyen in Port Angeles: hands-on small-group phở pop-ups, private one-on-one lessons in your own kitchen, a Master Broth you can use all week, and make-it-yourself kits with everyday ingredients.

No experience needed — and everyone is welcome at this table. Never cooked phở — or much of anything? You are exactly who this is for. Whatever your experience, your background, or your way of eating, there is a seat and a bowl for you here. Mai is a former teacher: she walks you through every step, answers questions before you have to ask, and no question is too basic.

Take the interest survey See prices ↓

✓ No experience needed 👥 Small group: 6–10 guests 🍲 No-sugar, low-glycemic broth 🏠 At the home of a host & local venues 🎥 Classes are filmed — not comfortable? Just tell Mai

A steaming bowl of beef phở with sliced beef, rice noodles, fresh basil and herbs in clear broth

$30

Intro price — pilot season, late 2026

Per person for group classes (regular price $40). Take the survey to hear dates before they post publicly.

Teach, do not gatekeepEveryday ingredients you can buy anywhere — carrot, celery, onion, ginger. Specialty items are always optional.

Built for real lifeInstant Pot method, ~30 minutes of active prep, no babysitting a pot all day.

Food literacy, no shameLearn to read labels, swap sweeteners, and season with confidence — at your own pace, for your own reasons.

What Peninsula Comforts is building

It starts with a bowl and a class. Then it becomes a system you can repeat on a busy weeknight — and a kit that saves you three store trips.

Chopsticks lifting rice noodles from a steaming bowl of phở

Pilot · Forming now

Pop-up Phở Classes

Mai teaches in the kitchen of a host or in a rented room, Instant Pot on the counter, broth staying warm for tasting. You parboil, rinse, build the spice bag, season, and assemble your own bowl — then sit down together and eat it.

Traditional beef, chicken, vegetarian, and low-carb tracks in the same room
Kid-friendly pacing — Mai is a former RSP teacher, and she answers questions before you have to ask
Free & sliding-scale community seats planned alongside paid pop-ups
Intro price: $30 per person — see prices
Every participant goes home with a complimentary recipe card and shopping list guide, so you can remake the bowl on your own
Prefer to learn solo? Mai also teaches private one-on-one lessons in your own kitchen, built around your pace, your equipment, and your questions
Filming: classes are recorded for the cooking channels Mai runs — not comfortable on camera? Let Mai know and she will keep you out of frame

The core system

Master Broth System

In plain words: one big pot of broth you make once, then turn into different meals all week.

One rich, clear broth base — mushroom-seasoned, sweetened with vegetables (and WA apples when you have them), never sugar.

Make it once, then turn it into phở, noodle soups, and heat-and-assemble dinners all week.

Naturally low-carb, high-protein broth
Morning prep, dinner that night
Portion, freeze, and customize like a broth bar
Chicken broth: flexible — rotisserie chicken, saved bones, a whole chicken, or quarters, legs, and thighs

Coming soon

DIY Phở Kits

The dry ingredients for the broth Mai makes — spices measured and ready, with no added sugar — so you can make phở at home without hunting multiple stores.

Everything in the box is an everyday ingredient, the same things you would buy yourself, just gathered in one place.

Designed with local grocery partners in mind, from Port Angeles outward.

Join the list for kit updates →

Prices — intro rates while we launch

Prices are set to respect your budget and to honor the time and expertise Mai brings to every class. Intro rates apply for the first season, then move to regular rates. The pilot tasting focus group is free.

Group class

Pop-up Phở Class

$30 per person

Intro price · Regular price $40

Two hours, hands-on, in a small group of 6–10 — and you eat the bowl you build. Broth and ingredients are all included, and Mai is teaching step by step throughout.

All four styles at one table: beef, chicken, vegetarian, low-carb
Complimentary recipe card and shopping list guide for every participant
Free & sliding-scale community seats alongside paid pop-ups

One-on-one

Private Lesson in Your Kitchen

$175 per session

Intro price · Regular price $225

Two to three hours, just you and Mai, in the kitchen where you actually cook. The lesson is built around your style, your equipment, and your dietary needs.

Your Instant Pot, your stove, your questions — nothing generic
A gentle way to start if cooking feels intimidating: learn at your own pace, in your own space
Mai can also teach you how to shop: she walks the store with you and explains what she looks for — how to read a label, spot hidden sugars, and choose ingredients you can actually use

DIY Phở Kits will be priced when they launch. Not sure yet? Take the interest survey — no payment, no commitment; it just tells Mai what to schedule first.

Choose your style — same table, your bowl

Families and friend groups do not eat the same way. Every class runs four styles (we call them tracks) side by side so nobody is an afterthought.

Pick the bowl that suits you — no explanations needed, and you are free to change your mind at the table. Tap a style below to see what is in that bowl, in plain language.

Traditional Beef Phở

Big beef bones — marrow and collagen — parboiled and rinsed, then pressure-cooked with onion, carrot, and ginger and a loose spice bag. Seasoned with mushroom seasoning, the not-so-secret ingredient Mai uses, tasted and adjusted, never measured blindly.

Instant Pot: 1.5 hrs on Soup / Manual, high pressure
Skim, dilute, and re-season to your taste
Classic herbs, bean sprouts, lime, and chili to finish

A good fit if

You are a first-timer who wants the full, classic bowl — and the technique underneath it that transfers to every other soup.

Noodle rule from Mai

Boil water, add noodles and a little oil so they do not stick, cook to al dente, rinse cold, drain. No gummy noodles.

Chicken Broth

Chicken is one of the broths — and it is the flexible one: you can use rotisserie chicken, bones you have saved from other chicken meals, a whole chicken, or chicken quarters, legs, and thighs. As long as it has bones, we can use it.

The rule: if it has bones, it makes broth
Rotisserie chicken: the fastest weeknight start
Saved bones: nothing wasted from other chicken meals

A good fit if

You would like to use what you already have — the roast from last night, a store rotisserie chicken, or quarters, legs, and thighs from the freezer — without a special shopping trip.

Tip from Mai

Save bones from other chicken meals as you go: freeze them in a bag, and when the bag is full, you have broth ready to make.

Vegetarian Broth

A mushroom broth base that feeds everyone at the table — deeply savory without meat, built on charred aromatics, vegetables, and spices. It is not beef broth minus the beef; it is its own bowl.

Mushroom-forward, full-bodied base
Tofu and seasonal vegetables to finish
Same spice-bag technique as the beef track

A good fit if

You eat vegetarian, you are feeding a mixed table, or you just want a lighter weeknight broth that still tastes like dinner.

Taste-tested locally

Developed with friends and neighbors in Port Angeles as the first audience — real feedback, real bowls.

Low-Carb & Low-Glycemic

The broth is naturally low-carb and high-protein to begin with — the noodle is where you choose.

In plain language: low-carb noodles (also called miracle or shirataki noodles) are clear, springy noodles made from the konjac root with almost no carbs; zoodles are just zucchini cut into long, noodle-like strands; and noodle-less means you skip noodles and load up on protein and herbs instead.

This is the style Mai developed from lived experience — gestational diabetes taught her that diabetes should not be a life sentence, and flavor is how you prove it.

No sugar in the broth — sweetness comes from vegetables
Your noodle: low-carb noodles, zoodles, or none at all
Label-reading and swap tips built into the class

A good fit if

You are watching carbs or blood sugar — for any reason — and still want a bowl full of flavor. Monk fruit and allulose come up as options — tolerance varies, and Mai says so honestly.

Not medical advice

Classes teach cooking and food literacy. For personal health decisions, bring what you learn to your own clinician.

Build your bowl, your way

The broth itself is naturally low-carb and high-protein — no sugar, ever. From there, the bowl is yours: pick a noodle, pick a protein, load up on the fixings. New words, quickly: zoodles = zucchini cut like noodles. Low-carb noodles = springy konjac (miracle) noodles with almost no carbs.

Noodles: your choice

Traditional rice noodles Low-carb noodles Zoodles Noodle-less

Protein: pick your favorites

Thinly sliced beef Chicken Mushrooms Tofu

Fixings: all the phở classics

Fresh veggies & herbs Sauces Lime Onions & more

Specials, subject to availability: tendon, meatballs & brisket — when Mai has them, they are on the bar. What is tendon? A beef cut that cooks down soft and jelly-like in broth — tender, mild, and a classic phở favorite. Totally optional: try one bite if you are curious, skip it if you are not — either way is completely fine.

Host or join

Host 6–10 guests at home, or join a public pilot at a local venue in Port Angeles.

Build the broth

Parboil, rinse, spice bag, pressure cook. Mai demystifies the Instant Pot — fear included.

Season & assemble

Taste, adjust, skim, and build your bowl your way at the broth bar.

Take it home

Leftovers, the method in your head, a complimentary recipe card and shopping list guide, and the confidence to do it on a Tuesday.

Overhead view of a bowl of phở with sliced beef and meatballs, with a plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts and lime beside it

Why no sugar? Because broth never needed it.

Mai learned bone broth watching her mother make it — long before it was a trend. Her modern version keeps the soul and drops the sugar, so the sweetness you taste is onion, carrot, ginger, and time.

Hidden sugars show up in sauces, soups, and most everything else. Learning to see them, and to cook without relying on them, is part of how this food supports disease prevention.

Naturally low-carb and high-protein — the broth does the work, not the sugar
Rich and clear, not sweet — seasoned, tasted, and adjusted
Jujubes (red dates) grown by her mother are a lovely option, never a requirement
Mai has guided two people out of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes with hands-on cooking support — grocery trips, swaps, and real food

I am the phở lady from Port Angeles

Born in Saigon, raised in the San Gabriel Valley, seasoned in Orange County, next level in Port Angeles.

Mai moved to the Olympic Peninsula for a better quality of life — and found limited access to the Asian foods she grew up with. So she started teaching them. Peninsula Comforts is the business side of @cookingwithmaitai: pop-ups, kits, and broth, run by Mai.

Mai started this work to channel her love for Vietnamese food and to create a modern way to honor traditional Vietnamese cuisine, updated for disease prevention and made with low-glycemic ingredients that will not spike blood sugar. Vietnamese people are prone to diabetes because hidden sugars are in sauces, soups, and most everything else, and Mai wants people to have food that is full of flavor without those hidden sugars.

That awareness is personal for Mai. Her own history of gestational diabetes made her hyper aware of diabetes, and diabetes is part of her family history as well. She also knows diabetes is linked to Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases. Mai loves to eat good food, and she is not willing to sacrifice her health for it.

Every so often, Mai still indulges in the full-carb, sugared traditional version — and when she does, she is mindful about softening the sugar spike that follows, with a walk afterward or by pairing the bowl with more protein and vegetables.

Mai is a flexible home cook. She does not hold rigidly to arbitrary rules, and she does not believe anyone should be guilted into cooking in one set way or told a dish is not authentic if it is made differently. She refuses that mentality because it excludes people who do not have access to certain ingredients or who cannot afford them. Her motto is simple: use what you got.

Mai is also teaching her children to love and enjoy Vietnamese food, because that food is their heritage as well. It is a familial connection to their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and extended family they may not know yet.

Her bigger goal sits behind every bowl: do not let the culture end with her. Teach the children, open doors for other AAPI women on the Peninsula, and make Port Angeles a place where Vietnamese food — and the people behind it — are visible.

That is why Mai started this mission: to teach others and to empower them, to honor traditional Vietnamese cuisine in a modern way that supports disease prevention, and to help her children stay connected to their heritage and their family. Peninsula Comforts is one part of the work Mai is doing to bring Vietnamese culture to the Olympic Peninsula and to uplift other AAPI cultures as she connects with people in the community.

A spoon lifting a piece of beef from a bowl of phở topped with fresh herbs, seen from above

Questions people ask first

Short answers. For anything else, email is fastest.

Phở (say it: “fuh”) is Vietnamese noodle soup: hot, clear broth over flat rice noodles, topped with sliced meat or tofu, onions, and fresh herbs like basil and cilantro. You squeeze in lime, add sprouts and chili to taste, and eat it with chopsticks and a spoon. If you like chicken noodle soup, you will feel right at home — just with warmer spices like star anise and cinnamon in the broth.

Yes — no experience needed. These classes are built for beginners. Mai teaches step by step, in plain language, and explains every ingredient and tool as you go. You will not be left behind, and you will not be the only beginner in the room.

Pilot season is forming now for late 2026 — a practice run first, then public pilots in Port Angeles (including a library pilot — no cooking on site, Instant Pot for holding and serving broth for tasting). Join the notify list below and you will hear dates first.

Especially for you. A lot of people fear the Instant Pot, and addressing that fear is core to how Mai teaches. You will use it together, step by step, with no question treated as too basic.

No gatekeeping — and no need to feel intimidated. If you did not grow up with Asian ingredients, they can feel unfamiliar at first, and that is completely normal. Mai introduces each one in plain language: what it is, what it does, and what everyday swap works if you cannot find it. The basic broth works with carrot, celery, onion, and ginger you can buy anywhere. Jujubes, WA apples, and specialty spices are options Mai will explain — never requirements to get a good bowl. And every participant takes home a complimentary recipe card and shopping list guide, so your first solo shop feels easy, not overwhelming.

Absolutely — you are welcome exactly as you are. Whatever the reason — an allergy, a health need, your faith or culture, or simply your preference — just let Mai know ahead of time, in the survey, by email, or in a quiet word before class. She will plan around it, no fuss and no judgment, and you never have to explain or justify your choices to anyone at the table.

That is the model — small groups of 6–10 at the home of a host. Email peninsulacomforts.pa@gmail.com with your town, group size, and which track or tracks you are thinking of, and Mai will reply about hosting.

Group pop-up classes are $30 per person at the intro rate (regular price $40 once the first season wraps) — two hours, hands-on, and you eat what you make. A private one-on-one lesson in your own kitchen is $175 per session at the intro rate (regular $225). The pilot tasting focus group is free, and free & sliding-scale community seats are part of the plan.

Very likely, yes — Mai films and photographs classes and tastings for Peninsula Comforts and her cooking channels (@cookingwithmaitai), and guests may be asked to sign a short media waiver. If you are not comfortable being filmed or photographed, that is completely fine: just let Mai know — in the survey, by email at peninsulacomforts.pa@gmail.com, or in person before the class starts — and she will keep you out of frame. You never have to explain why.

Not yet. The domain was registered November 4, 2026 and this page is the first home for it. Kits and online ordering come later — the notify list is how you will know.

Be first to know when a class opens

The fastest way in is the interest survey — about two minutes on Google Forms, no payment and no commitment; it tells Mai which class to schedule first.

Prefer email? The form below opens a pre-written email to Peninsula Comforts instead. Mai reads everything herself.

Questions, needs, or anything you are unsure about — allergies, foods you do not eat, accessibility, anything at all — just ask. Nothing is too small, and nothing will be judged.

📋 Take the interest survey

🎥 Filming & media waiver — please read

Mai will be filming and photographing Peninsula Comforts classes and tastings for her cooking channels, and guests may be asked to sign a short media waiver. If you are not comfortable being filmed or photographed, please let Mai know — in the survey, by email, or in person before the class starts — and she will keep you out of frame, no questions asked.

Interest survey peninsulacomforts.pa@gmail.com Facebook — Mai Port Angeles @cookingwithmaitai · @mailivingoutloud