Happy food... on 2 levels

It has been a trying week... Not so much the work load that made it trying, but working with one of the bosses. Having spent the last month with a boss who was such a wonderful person, this was a stark contrast. I mean STARK. I loved the way my ex-boss saw his patients... with so much human touch and compassion. He reinforced, by example, that medicine requires more than the hard-core scientific stuff. He always made his patients feel listened to, and he genuinely cared for them. And being like-minded, working with him was JOY. This week, however, I felt that for the better half of the time, we were managing diseases rather than caring for patients. Doesn't help that this boss seemed as if he was perpetually MANopausal, with frequent displays of his irritability... and guess who bears the brunt of it... What saddens me most is that sometimes, the patients get a taste of his irritability. Sigh.

So, anyway, on Thursday night, I msged Line to arranged for dinner on Friday, as I was so in need of happy food. Whatever that might be. When we met up at my workplace, we decided to have a quick-ish dinner somewhere along the way, then head to our favourite place. :o) So we headed to Bishan and walked around in search of food.

Lobs-xi-fa-cai caught our eye... It was a seafood platter with a small lobster, calamari, and fish, served with garlic rice and fries. Manhatten's current 1-for-1 promotion. The tasty lobster was succulent, and topped with mayo that was flamed brown; the calamari tastily battered, though slightly overfried; the fish was well done, retaining its juices. Topped with my extra serving of chopped garlic (pardon my garlic breath!), the meal did well as happy food. :o)

What followed was actually more instrumental in helping me unwind... sitting at the steps of our piazza in the silence and God-sent gentle breeze, and staring up at the 3 warmly-lit crosses against the background of the dark sky. It somehow was a reflection that in the darkness of the world, we are called to look to the Cross, for there is the light. That place is special to me... to both of us, in fact! A place that we've often sat at to share & enjoy each other's presence, and also a place that we sometimes go on our own to be alone... It has never falied to calm and soothe me, a place where I can take a step back... to retreat... I suppose that was my spiritual happy food. :o)