Just two days before all of UK went into lockdown, I had a note from our accountant urging to stop all food and drink orders to clear stock ASAP, because the first two weeks of March in 2020 vs 2019 saw a revenue drop by 60%.

Everyone was already staying away from public spaces and The Living Room at My Chelsea Hotel was deserted.

Then, forced to close our doors, three months into lockdown was three months too many for some painful financials to deal with.

To avoid further losses, we had no choice but to hand the hotel and the deli over to another company and say our goodbyes.

It all feels so surreal and so raw still (no pun intended).

I just can’t come to terms with the idea of going back to our beloved London without my beautiful deli to visit, without My Chelsea to stay at, without all the staff who became family.

Discovering just how many businesses the virus has taken and will continue to take is simply heartbreaking.

We may be a number in the statistics of the world, but for many of us our business used to be the world.

Time to create a new world now.

I know that I already posted these words on social media, but I wanted to write to you here and to thank everyone for supporting our restaurant turned deli over the years.

Honestly, it is our customers, I am missing the most. I just love you guys so so unbelievably much!

I’m not going far myself (well I suppose NZ is as far as it gets, LOL, but I mean I'm still online connecting with you all) and will continue to post whatever inspires and serves you.

Speaking of which, what sort of blog posts would you like to see more of...

Family updates? Recipes (raw or cooked vegan)? Inspirational quotes? Kitchen hacks? Food prep tips? Videos? Cleanse ideas? Nutritional facts? Wellness coaching? Glimpses into my every day life?

I’d love to know what’s interesting (or not interesting) to you!

It would be so so so amazing if you could please add your thoughts in the comments section below...

Thank you.

I love you.

Stay well, 

💚 P.S.  I’ve started coaching on Skype again and it’s keeping my broken heart in one piece.

Every Friday 7am-11pm, we’re doing something special for you and each week is totally different!

We’ve already given away £1000’s worth of raw cakes, organic salads, cold press juices and dehydrated snacks.

Plus we’re planning to give away EVEN more!

Pop by Tanya's deli at My Chelsea Hotel on any or every Friday and ask about our offer that day. 
 

Have you been following since the early days and remember this backdrop?

Thank you SO much for sticking with me!

I miss this kitchen so much, even though I love our remodel into Tanya's "The Deli" and know that by adding the take out + delivery aspect to our business is helping to nourish more of you. 

I miss these adorable faces, even though I also adore the My Chelsea team managing the Deli. 

So many mixed emotions celebrating our 5 year anniversary.

The truth is, when we first opened, I had a vision of a 5 year project, but throughout the many ups and downs of running a restaurant over this period, a fear that the 5 years will be cut short and we’d have to close down prevailed.

Well we don’t have plans to close even though the ‘project’ has undergone many changes, endings & beginnings over this time. 

And then... on our 5 Year Birthday... it finally hit me!!

I can see now that the ‘5 year vision’ was never about the restaurant making it massive or failing, it was just a cycle of a certain genre of my own life which has been preparing me for the next & most important stage yet...

As you know, I’ve had 2 babies over these few years (really 4, because opening a cafe and publishing a book felt like giving birth in a way).

My focus has shifted mainly to my kids and how to help them grow into strong, healthy, happy humans with a big appetite for nourishing food and adventure.

I’ve been experimenting with healthy kids’ recipes and gathering winners for a couple of years now.

Finally, I’ll be able to share the collection with other parents in the form of eBooks, videos and coaching, very very soon. 

Nothing can take away this focus now. 

I’m seriously motivated to watch more children grow up super well and healthy and to witness more parents feel confident and well informed in their decision making when it comes to feeding their children.

So motivated in fact that I’ve recruited the most amazing intern to help me launch these projects and for Summer we've been busy testing and typing recipes in my kitchen as well as photographing kids of all ages enjoying them (so you can see proof that it's not only Lake's tastebuds :))


All this awesomeness will be ready to launch very very soon! 

Make sure that you're subscribed to our newsletter to be the first to know once we're LIVE >>

Every month, I team up with My Chelsea (the hotel we’ve been in from day one) to host my favourite event of all time…

In The Wild Afternoon Tea.

We stick to the vegan, half-raw-half-baked, gluten-free, dairy-free, healthful-comfort-food, plant-based, handmade, devilishly-delectable-goodness theme, but each month is a little different. 

Last month, a friend came back from visiting my parents in Ecuador and brought back a parcel from them. One of the things inside was a box full of stunning rose petals that my parents grew in their organic high vibration garden, picked, washed and dehydrated over low heat and many hours.

I was immediately inspired to create something beautiful and sharable. 

That’s how my raw white chocolate macadamia blondies were born. 

We served them with the award winning teas at our March event and they were such a big hit, I thought you’d enjoy making them at home for everyone you love, so I’m sharing the recipe below.

The next In The Wild Afternoon Tea is happening tomorrow, but if that’s too little notice for you, check out all future planned dates, here>>

(BTW that link above stays Live and every time more dates are announced, that's where you'll find the details. Keep the link bookmarked for later!)

Raw White Chocolate Macadamia Blondies

For the blondies

2 cups (280g) almonds

50g coconut sugar

1 tbsp (10g) maca powder

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

2.5 cups (300g) pitted dates*

1/8 cup (30g) cacao butter, gently melted

90g macadamia nuts

For the dipping chocolate

Dark vegan baking chocolate or this recipe here, grated

*If your pitted dates are quite dry and hard, soak in boiling water for 1 hour, then squeeze the water out well before using in recipe. You are after soft (almost sticky) dates.

METHOD

-Place all the ingredients, apart from dates, cacao butter and macadamia, into a food processor with an S-blade.  Process till all the almonds are broken down to a fine powder.

-Add the dates and melted cacao butter. Process till the entire mixture forms one big sticky ball. You may need to stop your food processor several times to scrape down the sides and back onto the blade.

-Using a wooden spatula, break up the mixture to evenly cover the blade. Sprinkle macadamia nuts all over and pulse the processor till nuts are slightly broken down and folded into the ‘dough’. You’re looking for nice chunks here so they are visible when you score the final slab into many blondie bites.

-Get a decent sized container (mine was 17cm/ 6.5 inch square), line it with cling film so it sticks out the sides of container and transfer the mixture inside it. Using your fist, really press it into the container so it won’t crumble later. Transfer to the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours or freezer for 1 hour.

-Holding onto the cling film, pull out your set slab of blondies and score into equal sized squares. You can then slice each square in half to form rectangles like I’ve done with mine. Transfer to the freezer if you are going to dip yours in chocolate and leave there until the moment you’re ready to dip.

-Gently melt down your grated chocolate in a double boiler, remove from heat. Take out the blondie bites out of freezer and dip a corner, edge or one half of each piece into your chocolate. Dip and remove each piece quickly, so the entire chocolate mixture doesn’t begin to solidify inside the bowl from the coldness of frozen cake. Store in a cool dry place inside a sealed container.

Vegan. Gluten free. Dairy free. Half raw. Half baked. Superfood packed. Organic. Indulgently healthful. Crazy delicious. 

After a successful launch in 2018, we are back with our monthly #InTheWildAfternoonTea and what a better way to kick things off than celebrate Love Day!

Saturday 16th February will be the Valentines Day Edition. For more dates and to reserve your spot, see below...

[Cover photo credit @harriettui on Instagram]