Better Than Chocolate?

Was running along the beach and listening to a podcast of NPR's Leonard Lopate interview Anthony Bourdain a few days ago. Lopate asked Bourdain (who often raves about Singapore being one of the best food places on the planet) if there might be a link between Singapore's reputation for being authoritarian and the great food.

To hear what Bourdain said, check out the interview: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2006/06/21

(OK - if you want a preview, the answer was "no")

But, it was kinda trippy listening to the very New York-sounding interview when I was running past the Singapore Seafood Centre.

And - here's a message for my friend Lisa, who is always trying to tell me to "slow down" - and gave me a "Slow Down Kit" a few years ago. Today I discovered that the tunnel outside my condo that leads to the beach aka my jogging track also leads to something comPLETEly different. Utter calm and quiet.

Instead of hurtling from appointment to appointment this weekend I decided to walk over to the beach to watch the last of the Singapore International Triathletes finishing up their races.

After that, me, my ipod, the weekend edition of the Asian Wall Street Journal and Monica Ali's new book - Alentejo Blue- went and lay on a park bench under the shade and hung out. I ended up not even turning my ipod on - having the waves in the background was really, really cool. I had never quite understood why Central Park was always crowded with people sitting still on weekends when there's so much to do all around in Manhattan, but now, I'm startin' to get it. Almost - better than chocolate.