untold blisses

The final day of my Birthday Bonanza 2015 was my actual birthday, which tradition dictates is spent with my beautiful Husband.  The day started off emotionally, as I unwrapped a brand new Macbook Pro and immediately burst into tears.  Husband says he just wanted his Bluetooth keyboard back after my disaster earlier this year but I was really not expecting it and felt very overwhelmed.  Now, the long task of transferring my entire Photo album over to the new laptop begins.  I do have quite a lot of photos…

I messed around on the laptop for a bit before we set off for Not Afternoon Tea at the Oxo Tower.  The Oxo Tower has fast become my favourite restaurant in London – I’ve been there a few times now, and this was out second time having Not Afternoon Tea.  It was just as perfect as the first time.  I had wanted to sit outside but it was so very wet – we got a table by the window though so that’s the next best thing.

Once again, we decided to take advantage of their special “Experience” menu, which this summer was Alice in Wonderland themed.

This was our first course:

We had Drink Me virgin pina coladas which had chocolate labels that we peeled off to eat.  The rocks in the middle were like M&Ms only way more delicious.  Finally, the Eat Me cakes were red velvet and GORGEOUS.

The cocktails arrived next – above is Husband’s Nutslide: “Koko Kanu, Absolut Vanilla vodka, PX sherry and almond milk. Shaken with a pinch of smoked salt” which was insanely chocolatey.  I had a Victory: “Chartreuse, cointreau, blackcurrant and apple juice, charged with soda water”.  It.  Was.  Strong.  I kinda want another one right now.

And then the main event – the cakes.  I was surprised when Husband ordered exactly the same as me as he’s not really a chocolate fan and the Chocolate Classic plate was very chocolatey.  Chocolate orange pavé, Black Forest sundae, salted caramelia almond stack and chocolate coconut mousse.  Every single one was amazing.  It’s funny – it really doesn’t look like a lot of cake, but I was already full by the second piece.

After the empty plates were whisked away, we were served a Golden Afternoon cocktail out of a teapot (which I didn’t get to photograph) with a gingerbread pocket watch.  I actually don’t remember much about the ingredients of the cocktail- I think it was Hendricks gin with jasmine tea?  What was really cool was the dry ice, which gave the effect of steam coming out of the teapot.  I really want the tea set though, despite the fact I don’t actually drink tea and would never use it.

And if that wasn’t enough to put you in a sugar coma, we got two boxes of sweets to take home.

Our next trip to the Oxo Tower will be less sugary, but we’ll definitely be doing their Not Afternoon Tea again after that.