I Got Hysterical

This is only tangentially a food post. It's more a "if I hadn't been so upset it would have been funny" post.

As you know, I travel a lot for work and tonight I'm once again out of town.

Today, I worked in the city and then left town around 3:30 p.m. to go to work at a public hearing on a nuclear energy power plant. The meeting, which I'm working at tomorrow morning, is in a lovely little town that's over 4 hours drive from home when you have to get out of town at rush hour (as I did).

I'm staying and working at a centre that's owned by a union. They hold a lot of training sessions here for their members, but also rent out meeting rooms to outside organizations. The centre is right by the lake and a bit like a cross between a sprawling hotel and a summer camp.

I arrived around 7:30 p.m., very tired and hungry. The reception was closed for supper and I had to wait a bit before someone came to help me. I finally got my room key and was given directions on how to find the building. It was night, the place is full of twisty roads and the map they give guests was totally useless.

Looong story short: I had a meltdown. By this time, the reception was closed. I couldn't find my room, and I was hungrier and hungrier. I went back to the reception desk and buzzed for the maintenance man. By the time he drove over, I was literally in tears and hyperventilating. As I said, it would have been funny if it hadn't been so horrible.The maintenance man was wonderful, although I think I scared him with my tear-soaked face.

It was 9 p.m. before I got something to eat. The restaurant was not fancy, but my 6 oz. steak was perfectly cooked, the salad with balsamic dressing, served on the side, was wonderful and the best news of all is that, aside from the salad, which I polished off, I left a bit of steak, about half my potato and half my roll on the plate. I ate what I wanted, but didn't stuff myself. The only thing I did "wrong" was eat too fast. But man, was I hungry!