Saturday 9: One Night in Bangkok

Saturday 9: One Night in Bangkok (1984)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

I always liked this song. It is unique.


1) This song is from the play Chess. It's been said that the most successful players are fluid in their thinking. Do you consider yourself flexible or set in your ways?

A. I never make the same recipe twice, so maybe that is flexible? But I also have certain things that I like to be done certain ways, particularly when it comes to my personal comfort.

2) Nigel Short, a real-life chess grandmaster, used to wear a t-shirt that said, "He who cares, wins." Do you always play to win? Or do you play board/card games or sports for the fun of it?

A. I don't play to win. I play to play, to be around friends and enjoy someone's company.

3) The singer is in Bangkok for an important tournament. He maintains that he doesn't mind missing the sights and dismisses Bangkok is just another "crowded, polluted stinking town." Do you find big cities exciting? Or do you think of them as noisy and dirty?

A. I am not a big city girl. I don't necessarily think of them as dirty but they do have too many people to suit me. I am a small town woman.

4) Air pollution has reached serious levels Bangkok. Do you suffer from allergies, asthma or another condition that could be aggravated by pollution?

A. I do, and it is problematic at this time of year, when the ragweed is blooming and molds are in the air. ::sniffle:: (Hand me my inhaler. Thanks.)

5) To reduce traffic, commuters travel through Bangkok on ferries that make regularly scheduled trips up and down the Chao Phraya River. When was your last boat ride?

A. I guess before I married, as I cannot recall one since. Or does a flat-bottomed boat on the pond count?

6) Round trip airfare between ATL and BKK is $1750. If we gave you a travel voucher for that dollar amount, how would you spend it?

A. Can I just cash it in? No? Then I'd find some nice little mountain retreat and stay for as long as the money would last.

7) The Holiday Inn Express in Bangkok has a McDonald's onsite. When you go somewhere new, do you find it comforting to be surrounded by what's familiar? Or would you prefer to try new things?

A. I find it comforting to see familiar things, but I also like to try new things. My husband, who is a fire chief, is not big on trying new restaurants. I hesitate to tell you what the kitchens of non-chain restaurants sometimes look like. He comes home with horror stories from kitchen fires they put out, where they see roaches and dirty pans and rotten food being dressed up to look not-so-rotten. Blah. One time the fire sprinklers went off in a restaurant with a buffet, spraying fire retardant all over the food, and the restaurant owners wanted to keep serving the food! Even though it had fire retardant all over it! My husband shut the restaurant down until the health inspectors could come (he has the authority to do that). There are lot of local places he won't visit for a meal. So generally we do not try unknown restaurants, but we will try new activities or museums or whatever. I don't know why restaurant chains are cleaner in the kitchen, but he is more comfortable eating there.

8) One of Bangkok's most popular restaurants is DID, which stands for Dine in Dark. The dining room at DID is 100% light free -- cell phones must be stored in the lobby to avoid distracting from the experience -- so customers eat their four course meal without seeing it. This heightens the diner's sense of taste and smell. When you prepare a meal, do you put a great deal of care into its presentation?

A. Only over the holidays or if I have a guest over. Day to day dinner? No. I mean, I don't serve burned toast or anything, but I also don't put out the good china and linen napkins.

9) Random question: Think about your last professionally prepared meal. Did you dine in, carry out, or have it delivered?

A. I picked up a pre-cooked chicken at the supermarket and we ate it at home. I can buy a pre-cooked roasted chicken for less than I can buy uncooked parts to fix, which makes no sense, but who am I to argue? At least I didn't have to cook.


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