A final post about the mugging

Because WCCO made a big deal out of calling me a "victim," I decided to submit this post to the Star Tribune's Your Voices section. That was two weeks ago and despite a follow up email, they never acknowledged receiving my submission.

Here is what I sent them:

I was mugged, but I am not a victim!

Just before midnight on Friday night, August 20, I was mugged while walking from my restaurant to my parked car. It was a horrifying experience in which I was struck repeatedly on my head and back from behind. I suffered many bruises and spent nine hours in a dentist's chair having my teeth repaired.

I have blogged about my experience (All You Need Is Love and I Was Ambushed!), but because a local television station exploited my mugging, I feel obliged to speak to the greater community about what really happened.

I own and manage True Thai Restaurant, a successful business. Restaurant owners carry cash on them because many of our vendors do not accept checks or credit cards. Thieves know this, and I knew that they knew. But it is only a few feet from the back door of my restaurant to my car, and I thought I was safe. I was not.

That was my mistake. If I was victimized, it was by my own indifference to my safety. If you carry large sums of cash, whether it is in Minneapolis or Bangkok, you need to take precautions. Because I did not, countless neighbors in the Seward Neighborhood are now walking their dogs past my restaurant at closing time, and customers volunteer to walk me to my car each night.

I am lucky to have so many friends and supporters. When the TV station news crew ambushed me on Saturday, September 4, I thought they wanted to do a story about the neighborhood and their support for me. No, they just wanted to show my face on the news with the word "victim" under it. No one knew how much money had been taken, but the police report categorized the theft as over $1,000 (it was $1,100, an unusually large amount for me to be carrying) and to my horror the TV station shared that number.

Now I do feel like a victim. This TV station just told tens of thousands of people that I carry large sums of cash on me late at night (in fact it is usually much less than that). They also acted like the crime had just happened when in fact their coverage ran over two weeks after the crime occurred.

Some people would say, "Anna, you need to protect yourself!" I work out but I only weigh 93 pounds so I think martial arts will not work for me. A customer gave me some pepper spray, but I am scared to carry it with me. I was attacked from behind and had no opportunity to grab anything from my purse to protect me. A gun would not have helped.

My best protection is to make sure we keep the back alley well lighted and that True Thai continues to work with Seward Redesign and other business and residential neighbors to make Seward a safer neighborhood.

Actually, Seward is a pretty safe neighborhood — contrary to what you hear on TV. Yes, we had a shooting last spring but the shooter is in prison and will stay there for a long time. The shootings at Seward Market and Halal Meats were much more terrifying to me than my own mugging was, but the courage of my Somali neighbors in keeping their business open impressed me. Shortly after they re-opened I stopped in to buy something to show my support. The market was empty except for five young Somali men behind the counter, one to wait on customers and four friends who were there to show their support.

In recent weeks I have learned how important support is. Better lights and more police presence are good deterrents to crime, but nothing beats the support of your friends and neighbors, all of whom have done so much to remind me that I am just one of many people in Seward, and that Seward watches out for its own. The cards and flowers and personal reassurances have made it clear to me that I am not a victim. Seward residents are not victims. No one is a victim unless they wish to be, no matter how hard TV stations may work to try to scare us.

Anna Prasomphol Fieser is a full-time Public Health Nurse for Ramsey County Public Health Department. She and her business partner Charles Whitney own and operate True Thai Restaurant on East Franklin Avenue in the Seward Neighborhood of Minneapolis.

I don't know why this didn't interest the Star Tribune, but maybe True Thai should start advertising with them. That does seem to be how things work.

Too tie!

Sorry for the lack of posts. You have been so wonderful and supportive that I've been too busy to write for my blog!

I do not have any news about True Thai but I do have some reading for you.

Angharad is an English woman who lives in the Twin Cities and who tweets and blogs as Eating4England. She recently visited one of my favorite places, the Hmong Marketplace at 217 Como. She was very fond of the red Thai bubble tea which is just one of the many very tasty beverages there.

You might also want to see "We Dare You Not to Laugh at 31 Foods With Misspelled Names." If you do much shopping for authentic Asian groceries, you probably have noticed that Asians do not always do a good job of translating what's in the box into English. Here is an example:


As you might have guessed, there are 30 more mislabeled pictures waiting for you at URLesque.com.

I was ambushed by WCCO-TV!

It is every restaurant owner's dream to be on television. We all want to be famous for our food. If I had known a TV crew was coming over today I would have had everyone cleaning and putting out extra flowers. I would have worn my best clothes and jewels and my hair and makeup would have been perfect.

But I did not know WCCO was coming over and they caught me coming out of the gym after an hour-long hot and sweaty workout. I looked terrible! How terrible? Watch WCCO News tonight at 10 pm to see how bad I look after working out.

Not only did I look bad, they didn't talk to me about True Thai's food. All they wanted to talk about was my mugging and the support the Seward neighborhood has shown me. I like to talk about how great my neighbors are but I am getting a little tired of talking about the mugging all the time.

I'm working tonight so I would be very grateful if someone had a way to record WCCO's clip of me and True Thai. It's the 10 o'clock news but I don't know when they'll show it, just that I will look sweaty when they do.

True Thai will be closed Labor Day

Yes, True Thai will be closed on Monday. That's the bad news. The good news is that we are open today (Saturday), tomorrow (Sunday), and will re-open on Tuesday, September 7.

How are you going to spend your Labor Day? I am pretty sure I will spend mine sleeping in and going to bed early. You can't catch up on sleep, but I like to try.

I will probably also do some housecleaning. I think I have just the outfit for cleaning the kitchen:

All you need is love

What a week! Since I was mugged last Friday night, True Thai has been jam-packed with neighbors and friends every night. The restaurant is full of flowers, I've received dozens and dozens of get well cards, I've been gifted with two new wallets and almost all of True Thai's closest neighbors have given me their phone numbers (just in case).

Last night a couple from Seward stopped by with their dog Billie, and offered to come back every night to walk me to my car. The police have been stopping by every night to make sure everything's OK. In my life I have never felt so safe!

The bruises are getting better and in another day or two I might let people hug me again (but I'm still sore so a handshake is just fine!). My dentist fixed my dental work Tuesday and I should get my new credit cards in a day or two.

Thank you to all of True Thai's supporters — yes, I know you're out there! Among other clues, you're responsible for Anna's True Thai News' blog traffic spiking:

The mugging happened at midnight on the 20th and two days later blog traffic started going up almost as fast as True Thai's tables filling up at dinner time this week. Actually, not just dinner time. Many of you have been stopping by for a late dinner so as to boost late night foot traffic, further discouraging other muggers.

I'm not mad at the mugger. I think he hit me from behind so many times because he was scared too. Now that Seward residents have come out in force, I'm sure he's thinking about trying another line of work. I'm not.

Running True Thai is the best job I've ever had because it brings me into daily contact with some of the best customers in the world.

Thank you Seward

Friday night after closing the restaurant I was mugged. It is a part of the American experience I do not recommend and I spent most of Saturday feeling very low and depressed.

Then I went in to True Thai and discovered that all day long our Seward neighbors had been stopping by the restaurant to drop off get well cards and to express their sympathy. I was stunned. The robbery was not in the newspapers but apparently the neighbor who called the police also posted about it to some kind of neighborhood electronic bulletin board.

I am still overcome by the overwhelming support Seward residents have shown in the wake of my mugging. Sitting up front last night it seemed as if every time I finished reading a get well card I'd look up and there would be yet another neighbor with another card.

Seward is a wonderful neighborhood filled with caring, loving people. One stupid mugger didn't change that.
Thank you Seward for being the best neighborhood in the Twin Cities. I am proud to own a business in Seward and grateful to my neighbors for their love and support, coming as it did at a time when I really needed it.

Garden fresh

I've referenced Anna's Garden before, blogging about the Thai chili peppers and basil we grow behind the restaurant. I also have a garden in my backyard at home, but I want to assure all of True Thai's customers that our locally grown produce comes from the Chang Family gardens, and not my backyard!

Why is this important? Because this is a picture of what one of my homegrown tomatoes typically looks like:


Some friends have speculated that there is nuclear waste buried in my backyard. Others blame it on the three cats buried there. All I know is that I am very grateful to the Chang family for selling their garden fresh produce to us for use at True Thai.

The Chang family has sixteen acres of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, gailan and other produce growing at four locations just outside St. Paul. Their tomatoes do not look scary like mine do. They taste better too. If they didn't, we'd stick with our usual vendors but to tell you the truth, many of our vendors buy locally during the summer months. Most of True Thai's jalapeños and Thai peppers are locally grown, even in the winter.

I don't know who Lewis Grizzard is, but I've always like this quote from him:

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.

Fortunately, Mr. Grizzard never had to eat a tomato from my backyard, and I promise that if you dine at True Thai, you never will either!

Oy vay!

From Bob Von Sternberg at the Star Tribune:

Here we go again.

Another summer weekend, another bunch of traffic-snarling freeway closures.

The most aggravating -- again -- will be the shutdown of the westbound lanes in St. Paul of Interstate 94 between Interstate 35E and Hwy. 280, just like last weekend.

The good news: This is the last closure of the road construction season on that stretch.

Fortunately True Thai's customers are clever and resourceful people who still manage to find their way to East Franklin no matter how much weekend construction there is.

Given the wonderful weather these past few days, I suspect the patio will be full this weekend, no matter how much construction there is.

Construction season continues

Starting tonight at 10 p.m., a big section of I-94 in St. Paul will be closed. The Pioneer Press has maps:


If you live in St. Paul, this is your chance to come to True Thai the way I do every night. Just take University Avenue almost all the way to 280 but then turn left onto Franklin just a block east of 280.

Follow Franklin across the river and you'll arrive at True Thai in just a few minutes.

We'll be there, waiting for you.

Weekend highway closings

If you're coming to True Thai this weekend via I-94 or I-35, please read Bob Collins' News Cut blog to find out which highways will be closed when.

There are only two seasons in Minnesota: winter, and highway construction season.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch

I have written before about how con artists have tried to take advantage of True Thai. That telephone scam was not typical of the usual stings that criminals use to take advantage of busy restaurants, however. What happened the other night is much more common.

We were very busy. This is an important detail. Con artists rarely come in when business is slow because they don't want you to have any time to figure out what is going on. What was going on the other night was a that a couple came in and immediately told me how often they'd been been in and wasn't it time for us to give them a free meal?

A free meal? As a restaurant owner who has not raised her already cheap prices in over five years, I could not believe their chutzpah. But, as I mentioned, it was very busy, and because they were very loud and blocking the cash register I sighed and told the host to tell their server to give them a free meatless entree.

A cheap way of dealing with a problem, right? Wrong. After they left the server told me they only ordered the one "free" dish between the two of them, and then insisted on extra rice for free. The menu states that extra rice is $1.50 but these two "customers" didn't even want to pay for extra rice! The server gave them extra rice rather than waste her time running to ask me what to do.

OK, so True Thai was out a cheap entree and some extra rice. Did this couple really eat for free? No, not if you count their tip. If you count their tip, they ate at True Thai for 16¢!

I am not insensitive to the economy. I understand that some people really have no money. That's why so much food from True Thai ends up on the tables of poor families in St. Paul, where I work for the Ramsey County Dept. of Public Health. True Thai Restaurant also made donations to several dozen local charities last year. I cannot think of a single charity we turned down.

But I guarantee I will be turning down the next couple who come in asking for a free meal. My friends who heard this story told me that there is a famous American acronym: TANSTAAFL. It stands for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

True Thai's new motto is TANSTAASFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Second Free Lunch.

We're still working on the concept.

Life in the Seward neighborhood

I'm sure many of our patrons do not realize that when they visit True Thai Restaurant, they are dining in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. I live St. Paul but since we opened True Thai in 2002, I have come to feel like I am a resident of Seward.

I mention this because the Seward neighborhood is doing something quite different tonight. If you go to the 900 block of Franklin Terrace at 6:30 you can help say goodbye to the oldest tree in Minneapolis. Jeremy Iggers' Twin Cities Daily Planet has the details, but the oak tree in question is believed to be at least 300 years old!

Saying goodbye to their oldest tree is a Seward thing. I like spending time in this neighborhood.