What A Yummy Valentines Day

I was very treated this Valentines Day and felt I had to post some pics of the amazing meal Chris made for me. Asparagus wrapped in smoked salmon with a truffle infused hollandaise sauce, poached duck egg and Gruyere cheese crisp. For pudding, a gooey chocolate souffle with creme-brule ice-cream. Absolutely delicious it was.

Silly Saturdays

Last Saturday was fun, I headed off for a girls night out and Chris went to a Dressage night with show ponies and sexy stable boys theme!

Pancakes!

I LOVE PANCAKES!

Last night, I returned home after a tiring day out in London for work, visiting Pure and Stitch Trade Shows. We saw some pretty cool things there and tons of stuff I'd quite like for myself. The perfect ending to the day was having the most delicious pancake dinner with Chris and Soph.

It was a yummy, Chinese, pancake fusion! Chinese vegetables stuffed into a pancake served with rice vermicelli and pan seared sea bass with a drizzle of sweet, five spice sauce. Pancakes should come more than once a year in my opinion.

2013 Summer Trends

Taking a day out of the office on Friday, I was on a comp shop mission. A mission to find out exactly what was going on, on the high street. The most obvious trend of all was Monochrome, with many a shop window and entrance facing display boldly flaunting the classic, minimalist look. Using block colour, stripes, spots and hearts, it was pretty much apparent in all the major high street stores. Mark Jacobs set the trend in the SS'13 New York Fashion Week last year.

       

Another popular trend was Pastels. With the likes of Antonio Marras using these muted colours in his SS'13 collection, the cute, girly ice cream shades are always a nice move on from the dark, starkness of the Winter months.

        

In contrast to the black and white Monochrome, many stores had a bright, pop colour to add a touch of interest, freshness and pazazz to the ranges. This appeared in the form of vivid chartreuse, fluoro coral, cobalt blue and neon pink. Proenza Schouler highlighted this SS'13 trend.

     

Other trends which were very much evident were the collegiate, varsity trend and grungey 90's look which was brought back to life in the form of velvet fabrications, smiley faces, dip dye, cropped skinny tees, distressed denim, cosmic prints and patterned gypsy dresses.

       

These final two trends definitely seem to be inspired by celebrity culture and music, with the likes of Rhianna Rita Ora and such like being hugely influencial on high street trends.

Beth Jeans Houghton And The Hooves Of Destiny

Continuing to keep up one of my new years resolutions - to buy one new piece of music a month - February's choice was Beth Jeans Houghton And The Hooves Of Destiny, with the debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose. I have to say it really is amazing, I love her distinctive voice, which sometimes reaches operatic echelons and is enriched with dreamy violins and harmonies. Chris and I were lucky enough to catch her performing live at the Louisiana in Bristol last year which is a tiny venue and felt very intimate and low key, the best way to see live music in my opinion. Here is a great song, Dodechahedron from the album.