My New Year’s Resolutions

I think we all know that the holidays can be stressful.

Hands up how many of you silently vowed to kill at least one family member over the festive period?.

Yep, nearly everyone…

Now, hands up how many of you gave it a red-hot go.

Just me huh?

Oh,  and the creepy looking guy in the corner.  Dude, you may have issues.  Mine was an accident….

This is how it happened.

If you ‘ve been reading this for a while you probably know I am a huge fan of Vietnamese food.

Since our first visit there in 2012, the so-called beloved and I have been exploring Melbourne’s Vietnamese restaurants.  We finally settled on a favourite which we have visited  at least once a month since then. The food has always been fabulous, the prices are great, the service is good, and the ambience is of the bustling, cheap and cheerful sort which is actually quite reminiscent of Vietnam. And it was hugely popular with people lining up for tables.

And for the last few years I have been trying to get my family to try the food there.

The reasons for the refusals have ranged from the casually racist and formally ludicrous “I don’t want to eat dog” to the slightly more realistic “I don’t want to have my car stolen/be robbed at knifepoint”.  Because this restaurant is not in the most salubrious of areas.  The first time we visited it, walking through the local car park, I nearly stepped on used syringes…twice.  And I don’t think they were due to a meeting of the local diabetic society.

But there is such a thing as a Christmas miracle and on Boxing Day, maybe they were all still a little drunk, or just hungover and hence in a weakened state, I managed to convince three family members to visit this restaurant.  Yay me.  This was going to be the best meal ever.  And once they tasted it, they too would love this restaurant as much as I did.  And the world would be a better place full of  sunshine, lollipops and rainbows or grilled beef in vine leaves ,claypot rice and pho.

So we went and we had a fabulous meal.  They really liked it.  Even started to make plans for a return visit.

But you know the saying about something being too good to be true?

Thus it was with this.

A few days ago my aunt who had eaten with us called my mum.  “That restaurant she took us to?  It’s in the news.  On every channel”.

Yeaahhhh…

And not in a good, it’s won some great award way either.

In short. Three people in hospital.  Another 18 ill, all diagnosed with salmonella poisoning.  Restaurant shut down.

Best guess at date of poisoning because apparently salmonella can take a few days to develop – somewhere between 27 and 31 December.  We were there on the 28th so bang in the wheelhouse of potential death.

And you know what’s even worse than taking your family to the salmonella restaurant?

It’s the knowledge that they will never, ever, ever, let me forget it.  I’m going to be living this one down for the rest of my life!

So my New Year’s Resolution is…no, not to do a better job of it next time I try to kill my family (but thanks for the input creepy guy in the corner).  My resolution is never to recommend another restaurant to anyone ever again.  I’m done with that.

And to find a new best restaurant.

So, what are your New Year’s Resolutions?

And just in case you’re wondering, the photo’s this week were of some of the food I made over the holidays. I didn’t think we really needed pictorial representation of the subject matter.

Have a great week!