Category: Photography

Captures I’m able and willing to share.

Sweet Chilli Thai Restaurant

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My boyfriend and I drove up to Augusta a couple weekends ago to see a bit more of Maine. I hadn’t been there before so I didn’t know what to expect, but it was a pleasant surprise! Not too different from where we live now in the Portland area, but different enough to be remarkable. One difference is that it is definitely a hillier landscape, and there’s a pretty river running right through it, visible from two large bridge thoroughfares.

While there we actually drove up toward the regional airport for food! It was a quaint restaurant called Sweet Chilli Thai Restaurant, and it was perfect. We were able to sit by the window and see planes taking off and landing on the air strip while eating our tasty Thai fare.

It was delicious. I had the yellow curry, which had a good spice level and was a decent size. My SO had the pad thai. He tends to like it more peanutty than this version was, but I don’t, so I thought it was perfect. Both of us thought it was really delicious though. We also both got a Jasmine milk tea, which was DELICIOUS. Closest thing to bubble tea I’ve had in a long time (and that includes a place in Portland that actually serves boba..). It was an excellent meal and the establishment had excellent service, so I really highly recommend this place if you find yourself up in the Augusta area!

Ogawa Coffee in Boston, Mass.

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When my boyfriend and I came back from Japan we were cordially invited to a reception at the Boston Japanese Consulate General’s home. We attended and we met a good many people there – Japanese members of the community as well as JET returnees – and one of the attendees was the CEO of Ogawa Coffee.

Ever since we were there and I learned about it, I wanted to go back, and in April when I made a trip down to Boston I was able to! Here’s a look at the cafe and the sort of fare you can expect to get there.

 

Ogawa Coffee has a really cool, pretty authentically Japanese cafe atmosphere, but with American influence of course. Still pretty close quarters throughout, but with great high ceilings, some stadium/riser-style seating for solo guests and some tables for groups of up to maybe 5 or 6 people.

Now I wasn’t aware before I went, but they are apparently well known for their latte art. Upon seeing it, of course, I believe it! As you can tell I got not one but two drinks. :) The first a cappuccino and the second a matcha latte:

With my cappuccino, I ordered some food as well a turkey sandwich! I can’t remember the details but they actually have an extensive menu for food – mainly breakfast or lunch – and it was really delicious, balanced and healthy in my experience.

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I really miss the Japanese way of balancing meals, and this dish helped me reattain that balance. I wish I could pop in and eat there everyday.

To top off my experience I grabbed my matcha latte to go as well as a bag of coffee to share with my SO. :) Overall I had a great experience and they do a wonderful job of whipping up some delicious coffee, with the latte art as an added bonus. I always feel guilty for drinking the art away…

Have you been to Ogawa? What was your experience? And if you know of any other insider Japanese stops in the Northwest up here that are worth stopping at, give me a shout! I’d love to hear them.

Winter in Maine

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Having been a Southerner most my life, in Texas and Japan, it was a bit of a transition coming up here and settling in Maine with my dear. I like to talk about it as if I’m in Game of Thrones, hehehe: I was whisked away from the warm southern coast to the north and the land of winter and… winter was coming!!

And come it did. Here’s a quick rundown of my snow experience so far: it snowed every once in a while in Texas growing up, pretty lightly for the most part. Then my college years witnessed one “Snowpocalypse,” which shut down the entire area for about a week – absolutely no infrastructure to deal with that. My Canadian professor was laughing hard at our weaknesssss…

More recently, it snowed once pretty heavily in Japan – about 6 inches – even in Amakusa where I was placed.

And then there was Maine! It was a completely different ballgame. The snow season cranked up in December and lasted until the first week of April this year, which was a real surprise to me. I think the peak occurred February 13th (don’t quote me) but here are some pictures that represented those conditions:

A quaint Maine scene
That’s the most snow I’ve seen in my life!!
Believe it or not, it IS more difficult to walk in deep snow…