WHERE SHALL WE EAT TONIGHT?

My partner and I went on holiday recently to the Gold Coast, and, prior to going, I had been relishing the thought of eating out each night at wonderful restaurants and not having to cook for a whole week.

What actually happened was the two of us pounding the pavement each lunchtime and dinner time searching for a restaurant or café that suited us both. Actually, P didn’t really mind what we ate as long as it pleased me. I, on the other hand, looked at the menu outside each restaurant and café to check the style of food and the cost. If it was too expensive I rejected it because I figured that if it wasn’t a special occasion it didn’t warrant a big spend. If it was an Italian restaurant with pasta dishes priced in the $30 range, I rejected it because I figured I could serve up the same dish for less than $5. (My beloved Italian mum, who is no longer with us, felt the same about Italian restaurants, so hardly ever ate at one)

One evening on our quest to find a restaurant we queued up at an Asian restaurant at Star Casino in Broadbeach. Now, I need to explain that P is a very impatient person and he wasn’t too happy about having to queue up, so we left the queue and tried another ‘Family’ restaurant within the Casino. Scanning the menu, it looked like ‘the roast of the day' was their featured dish, and I just didn’t feel like a boring old roast of the day, so I ummed and ahhed a little and looked undecided. P expressed his impatience with a loud sigh, which irked me as it was forcing me into making a quick decision (never very easy for me). So I over-reacted and threw my hands up in the air and stormed off out of the building ready to catch an Uber home. I wasn’t going to be pressured by his impatience.

Needless to say, the evening was spoiled. We did end up eating back at the Asian restaurant after queueing up again. The food was just so-so anyway, so not a good choice all round. And not a good start to the evening.

What was supposed to be a pleasant experience, dining out turned into a painful chore.

In fact, holiday eating is a main source of stress amongst many couples. When talking to my sister about it back at home, she said that when they go on holiday, they just have one meal each day at a restaurant. They have breakfast at the hotel, because that’s pretty easy to prepare with cereal or bacon and eggs etc. Then they go out somewhere for a latish lunch at a café or restaurant. Then at the end of the day’s activities, they have cheese and nibbles with wine in their room or apartment in the evening. And that’s it! Stops them overeating, overspending, and over-stressing.