Love is in the air...

You may recall that I blogged about my second wedding anniversary earlier this week, and if you follow me over on Instagram, you will have already seen a little sneak peek into our celebration.

My day started by being presented with a big, beautifully wrapped box, containing my anniversary gift - a wonderful 1950s cocktail dress that fits like a glove.  It is coming to Las Vegas with me in April, so I will only show you a tiny glimpse...

After a day which seemed to drag on for forever, loverboy picked me up from work, with a gorgeous, fragrant bunch of flowers and we headed to dinner.  Do you remember me telling you about my birthday dinner at SushiSamba?  Well, we were so impressed, that we knew we had to return for our anniversary, as a special treat.

 If you look closely, you can just about make out the orange lights near the top of the Heron Tower.  That's where we were heading!

We stepped into the glass lift and were immediately shot up into the sky, whizzing past tall buildings, above the trees, and looking down onto the twinkling lights of London...

On arrival, we were led into the restaurant, and given the best seats in the house - a big comfy booth, for just the two of us, overlooking the city.

Of course when you are celebrating, you have to kick off the proceedings with a glass of bubbly...

...and a portion of seared wagyu beef, topped with a generous portion of fois gras and a quail egg....after all, it is a celebration...

No celebration would be complete without a cocktail (or three) and I plumped for the Yuzu Gimlet, which was the perfect choice for me, as I prefer dry, tangy drinks over sweet ones.

Our favourite dish, same as last time, was the grilled black miso cod, as it is just the most perfectly balanced, light, delicately flavoured fish you could ever try.

I also enjoyed the duck, but the most interesting flavour combination went to the salmon, which was cooked with orange miso and Peruvian dark chocolate.  It shouldn't work...but it does.

We shared a dessert...and immediately ordered a second one (it was a celebration, remember?) choosing the With Love From Rio (coffee, chocolatey, creamy goodness), and the organic red chocolate chili peppers which we remembered fondly from our last visit.

We popped out to the balcony after dinner, to snap a few photos by the amazing tree in the sky...

Loverboy looked handsome in his 1950s flecked jacket, and I wore my new favourite vintage two-piece knit set, which I got from Aaron for Christmas.  Unfortunately the details don't show up on these photos, but the top has lovely scalloped edges around the neck and sleeves, and the skirt has an amazing loose knit, with almost see-through gaps in the stitches.  I will take a close up of the pattern next time!

As ever, the service at SushiSamba was impeccable, the view was mesmerizing, the food was delicious, and the bill was pretty hefty!  A romantic evening, and the perfect way to mark two years of marriage with my sweetheart.  

Pop into the Barbican

Last month, loverboy and I spent a lovely Sunday at the Barbican.  It was pretty quiet, as it was just after Christmas, so we were able to get into the current exhibition without having to wait.

The Barbican Centre, for those that don't know, is a huge arts and conference centre (the largest in Europe), where you can see live music, theatre and dance, as well as art exhibitions.  It also has a cinema, showing new releases, alongside old movies.  There are restaurants where you can grab a bite to eat, as well as a library, where you can grab a book to read.

The Centre itself is located in the residential Barbican Estate, which also houses the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the London Symphony Orchestra. It is a great example of 1970s Brutalist architecture, and whilst some find it to be quite ugly, I really like the way that the Barbican looks - it's kind of like a huge urban playground!

It was fun wandering around and taking photos in the middle courtyard, as Aaron had not been before, and I will admit that the last time I was there, was for my graduation ceremony back in the mid-noughties.  How time flies!

After we had gotten suitably chilly snapping pictures and being silly outside, we went up to the Pop Art Design exhibition.  Unfortunately, no photos are allowed, so I can't share any images from the exhibit with you, but we did take some shots by the promotional posters...

Whilst the exhibition certainly wasn't anything ground-breaking, we really enjoyed it, and thought it was curated exceptionally well.  We got to see multimedia works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton, Charles and Ray Eames and my favourite, Roy Lichtenstein.

Here's my own little attempt at Pop Art.

The exhibition is on until the 9th February 2014, so there is still some time to go and see it before it ends.