Lapin Cafe 25 July 25 - Fabulous Italian Food - Chiangmai

 

Super Fresh Calamari with Cabernet Sauvignon 

Situated along the Lampang Chiangmai Superhighway, is a gem of a small eatery. Called Lapin Cafe, it serves top notch Italian food at pretty decent prices. I have an extra night for my business trip which I am currently on, and I checked out this little restaurant on the outskirts of Chiangmai. 

The restaurant serves perhaps 20 people inside and 10 folk outside. I ordered 2 of their house specials and I was not disappointed. The calamari (babu octopus) was superbly fresh and tender and the flour batter was crispy. The dichotomy of crisp exterior and tender and flavourful interior really made my day.

I also tried a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and it was the perfect foil to the fried calamari.   

Lapin Cafe - Outskirts of Chiangmai 

By the time I arrived at almost 2pm, the place was empty but it filled up with late coming lunch diners after me. The next course was seafood risotto (see below). The presentation was really pretty. The risotto rice was very flavourful and full of ingredients. There was a strong truffle flavour and aroma. There was 4 very fresh and tasty scallops, some calamari bits, cherry tomatoes and shavings of parmesan cheese. To top off the pretty dish, there was some herbs and a slice of lemon.

Seafood Risotto Pretty as a Picture 

Happy Diner 

The price for the meal, a breakdown of the prices are shown below : 

                                    THB                         S$

1. Calamari                  210                          8

2. Truffle Risotto          380                          15

3. Cabernet Sauvig     220                            9

4. Water                       25                             1

                                                               ---------

                           THB  835        Total     S$ 32

                                                               ---------

My verdict ? Fantastic food and in a quiet setting. Price is expensive for Thailand, but I have noticed that costs of food has been escalating upwards for the last 2 - 3 years.

Lapin Cafe 

8/43 Lampang - Chiangmai Superhighway

Tambon Chang Phuek, Chiangmai

50300  

Oral Hygiene - My first line of Defence

Oral hygiene is so very important for us all. I have discovered this only in the last 3 years or so. I have had issues with my gums, and I realised that regular brushing of my teeth is not good enough. I have to floss, or use interdental wires to get in between my teeth. This is to prevent plaque buildup and ultimately gum disease, which if not checked, can result in me losing a lot of my teeth.

My regimen is brush and use floss (interdental easier for me) twice daily and seeing my dentist as many as four times a year.

Yes, growing old is not cheap. That is the brutal truth of the matter. 

Its a hard struggle with sugar, to be very honest. I take my morning coffee with half a teaspoon of sugar, and try to minimise sugar intake with every meal.

Scientific studies have shown that sugar, in particular refined sugar, if not checked when we get past a certain age, will cause age related metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and increased inflammation. Diabetes is a very real possibility and I know easily a dozen friends who have to cut their sugar intake seriously as they have diabetes.

I have seen friends first hand, have serious wounds, as a result of something as innocuous as an insect bite !

Back to Oral Hygiene. I brush at least twice a day and floss or use interdental wires to clean between my teeth. The saying "prevention is always better than cure" so I intend to keep my teeth (or as many as I possibly can) for as long as I live.

The goal is to age well, age slowly, and hopefully have a dignified and fast passing when that time comes.    

 

QRA Vision (2025 - 2030)

 

This is the Vision set out by me in 2020 ; in the midst of the COVID 19 crisis. We are well on track to achieving the goals set out. Business is very good this year so far.

Even in this year of very uncertain economic outlook made worse by the US tariffs, I am very confident that QRA will ride out the ups and downs in a very positive way. QRA is very well positioned in its industry to capitalise on the opportunities which are coming our way. In the last few months we have secured orders from many unexpected and non traditional markets. I firmly believe that utilising AI to generate leads, enhance industry awareness and create opportunities for our little business is the way forward. 

Good news is expected for this second half of this year.

Seize the Day !! 

I no longer need these, hopefully for the next 25 years !

 

Glasses, Contact Lenses Case and Disinfecting Solution

Since my cataracts operation approximately 1 month ago, I can say that the followings have changed. Firstly I am very grateful for being given the opportunity to see perfectly clearly again. After a span of 55 years of poor eyesight (myopia degree 800 plus, with aestigmatism and some floaters), I can see clearly now. I wake up each day with a sense of gratitude and hope.

My attitude to eye management and care has improved tremendously

As mentioned in the past posts, I do eye exercises, take breaks to rest my eyes, use eye drops diligently and clean my eyes with 0.9% sodium chloride solution daily. I will continue this regimen for more than 1 month, even though my ophthalmologist has recommended to use the drops for 1 month.

There is another set of eye drop regimen which I am doing almost religiously, that is to drop 1 drop twice a day of Timolol Pol for reduction of eye pressure. This is very crucial for my eye health as the eye pressure is directly related to long term macular degeneration and glaucoma which can cause blindness, so I cannot take things lightly.  

Since I worked closely with my optometrist and ophthalmologist surgeon, I am VERY FORTUNATE to be able to adjust for reading and doing screen work using my right eye and driving and looking far with my left eye. 

I do not need to wear glasses, and contact lenses for a long time now (hopefully) 

Prescription glasses, contact lenses, disinfecting solutions and saline solution bottles are a thing of the past now, so that is a big plus for me.

Its not all a bed of roses - I need to still practice near field focussing 

I can fee very far now, as far as 500 m or further unaided. I tested my new sight and can see runners and cyclists as far as 500 m or even further, the shapes and clarity of the image is superb. 

Occasionally, I get into some near field focussing whereby I need both my eyes to adjust so that the image is singular. I do not have the flexibility or plasticity of my eye lens as a young person, so that is  the downside of this surgery.

It is highly recommended to go for this elective surgery as early as possible, as I firmly believe that my quality of life is enhanced greatly with clearer and brighter vision.

 

Take time to smell the roses.

 With a good mate, Tom having lunch

The current worldwide geopolitical situation is a mess. I won't parrot the news and the many podcasters who spread doom and gloom every other day. Today I want to remind my readers to take time to smell the roses.

While I am very focussed on achieving my business goals and personal life objectives, I need to be reminded that health is wealth. I must take care of the mind, body and spirit and I must not neglect the fact that life is finite, so while I am pushing the financial goals to hit the right numbers, life first and foremost is about people.

Take time to spend with the people that matter to me, my family, my relatives, my good and trusted friends and the community at large.

No one really cares about you - in the world of social media. People come  visit my Youtube account to be entertained, and for this blog, I guess, its the same goal.

Have a good Saturday readers. 

Can I get 250,000 views by September 2025 ?

 

The year is fast closing to an end. Barely in the blink of an eye (pun definately intended) we are past the halfway mark. Its a scary thought at as late middle aged, early old age people such as me, I still have a thriving business which keeps me very busy every day of the week and sometimes Saturday too, active hobbies like running and karate, social interaction and a social mission I have yet to fulfill.  

I will continue posting my posts as regularly as I can, as I love to write, to read and explore new social media technologies, even though I am rather a late entrant in the AI scene. Its better late than never.

Dear readers, this blog will always be free for everyone to read. Everybody is welcome to post their comments, good and critical and everybody can ignore my thoughts and views. Its a free country and my wish is to get 250,000 views by September 2025.

Read On ! 

Carpe Diem ! 

Editor's Update 29 Aug 2025 

We have hit 250,000 views, thanks everyone !  

2 Young Brats with our Parents circa 1970. What we did with our free time in late 60s to early 70s.

The time is sometime in 1970. My father was 50 and my Mum 40 years of age.  The 2 young brats in the picture are John (my only younger brother) and I. 

The setting for the top picture is the Botanic Gardens. We occasionally went there with our parents to feed the swans (you can see one in the background), and we created all kinds of mischief (well mainly me, as I was the Bully in Chief).

I constantly remind myself that the first 12 years of my life was totally carefree, practically zero homework, tests were a breeze to take in school, we never really studied much if at all in Primary school and the main events were always after school, playing and fighting with the neighbourhood kids while waiting for my parents to come home.

Our daily routine was (if we were in the morning session) ;

a) 6.00 am Arise and have breakfast (2 half boiled eggs and some toast) ;

    6.30 am Take the school bus ; 

   Oh man that in itself was an adventure. We were always up to no good (well Me and a     couple of other miscreants), there was loads of monkey business inside and all manner of bullying between the older kids and the newbies.

  7.30 - 12.30 pm School

 12.30 pm Lunch in school - we were given pocket money to buy lunch from the tuckshop 

  1.00 Go home.The school bus would fetch us home.

  2.00 pm - 6.30 pm All kinds of fun around the house with the neighbourhood kids.

 Games we played : 

Catching spiders, hide and seek, fighting games, playing with kites,exploring the neighbourhood. I had the occasional Chinese homework for the school "Ting Xie" of Listen and Write Test from Primary 3. I recall, I did pretty badly then and the Mrs. Pang who was a really nasty piece of work, would call me up in class and ask me why I failed. If I did not give a reasonable answer, and most times I couldn't, she would wring my ear and I could hear the membrane cracking even now when I took my punishment

Chinese as Second Language 

To be honest, easily 50% of the boys got the same punishment. St Andrew's boys were notoriously monolingual, and it was a 'badge of pride' to fail our Chinese exams.

My parents hired a Chinese tuition teacher from Pri 3, but with little success. I was a recalcitrant and made little effort to practice, let alone use the language in those days. 

We had a swing in the garden, a slide,and kennels for the dogs. We had a rambutan tree, several papaya trees at the back and gauva trees. 

People who lived in our house compound  

Our house had a row of squatters who lived in the shacks (around 4 - 5 people), we had a Mr. Fry who was my father's clerk, a Malay family and some random people who did some dubious stuff. I believe they were odd job workers and did night life business.

Por Por 

Our Por Por (paternal grandmother) lived with us, and we terrorised her, I am rather ashamed to say. She used to call us "Sam Mun Zai"  or "Sam Seng Zai" (hooligans) in Cantonese. 

Our Por Por used to live at the second floor back room facing West and she had a small Sanyo Colour TV with antennas sticking out to entertain her. She was a Gem of a grandmother, she could speak some Malay, and she taught my brother and I Cantonese.I have since spoken some Cantonese and always give my Por Por credit for teaching me a sprinkling of Cantonese during my early formative years.  

Our Neighbourhood Friends 

They were a motley bunch, and their ages were easily 10 years to a couple of years older or younger than us. There were Chinese kids, "S", "R" , Liang Puck, "Poh San" and "Kee Seng" as I recall. There was also a Jacob Matthew who lived up the road from us.

He is now happily resettled in the US and we have reconnected.  

Our first 15 - 16 years 

We were the neighbourhood kids, the gang of kids who had too much free time and never spent much time in the house.

It was a glorious time !!!