Being a very fortunate girl, when I’m in New York my dear clients take very good care of me. They ensure I know what’s going on in the city, email me links to the coolest exhibitions and as if that wasn’t enough they take me out for dinner.

Last night I had the great pleasure of dinning with GA (I never give out my client’s names). We went to her local restaurant Café Luxembourg on Upper West side, which is really a classy and super cool French Bristo.

Being super excited, I arrive 10 minutes early, I’ve learned this is very New York. The place is buzzing and is only 7:20pm, New Yorkers dine early! The décor is a mixture of old school French and modern New York. Starched table cloths in a relaxed atmosphere, I love it! I announce at reception who I’m meeting and straight away I’m treated like royalty. Staff is very friendly in a super respectful and courteous way. I sit at the bar and a distinguished gentleman a couple of seats down whispers some kind of greeting that I don’t really get, I smile and nod not knowing what else to do.

I order a glass of Sancerre as GA walks in, suddenly a whirlpool of excitement comes over the staff as they all rush to meet her, kisses and warm pleasantries are exchanged. We seat a GA’s favourite table in a discreet corner by the window and decide what to order. I ask what is good and GA tells me the steak is rather good… yes, she’ll have steak! Momentarily forgetting I’m supposed to be experiencing being a vegan I shout out – I love a good steak, lets have steak! We decide to be good girls and have it with veggies instead on frites. As I happily chew my way through the delicious steak I confess to GA I had decided to be a vegan for a few days, much to my delight she tells me its perfectly okay to be a vegan until 6pm and then eat whatever you want. There’s actually a diet based on this theory, its call VB6 by Mark Bittman.

As I leave I decide to walk the 17 blocks back to my hotel… as the Hemsley & Hemsley say, you don’t want to take your steak to bed!

http://cafeluxembourg.com/

My quest to a healthier life has taken Jorj and I to discover vegan food and with it possibly the best fast food on the Planet!!! No exaggeration! This is blowing my mind and not to mention my taste buds:

http://www.juicepress.com/

I LOVE everything about this place, they are millions of miles ahead of any other ‘take away’ fast food place on earth. They understand that healthy food should be tasty and satisfying. I never thought I’d be saying this about vegan food, but by the love of G, this is on another level.

We need them in London as fast as possible, leaving NY is going to be painful knowing I won’t get this ready made goodness back home.

I had a Sushi Maki Roll made out of cauliflower rice and Portobello mushroom, paper thin beetroot wrapping it up, served with real fresh ginger…. Sounds disgusting? You will be eating your fingers when you manage to get them on one these supreme inventions.

The steamed Kale salad is so amazing that I don’t have words to honour it and all the juices and little bite size snacks are just the icing on the cake…. If we could have cake!

I survived my last few days in the shocking humility of NY on juices! The Good Weed one kept me in a lovely mood all day!!! 

This week I’m in New York all alone so what better time and place to fully immerse myself in my search to a healthier lifestyle.

After walking the streets of New York the whole of Sunday I realise that New Yorkers style come alive in the summer, they know how to be stylish in a simple and colourful way. Suddenly I feel frumpy and in desperate need to update my wardrobe!

But I needn’t worry as my first visitor on this sunny Monday morning was the most stylishly cool person in New York, the amazing Gaby Basosa (designer of Tucker) and with her my colourful stylish New York wardrobe, a collection of beautiful silk shirts that feel cool and luxurious on the skin. I hurry and put one on straight away and OMG is the most perfect fit for a shirt, a slim fit that is chic and cool. Thank you Gaby for saving my almost disastrous wardrobe crisis.

My new shirt by Gaby Basora 

In order to comply with the Hemsley + Hemsley nutritional guidelines I’ve I had an extra fridge and a kettle installed in my hotel suite. Luckily they are very accommodating here at The London NYC Hotel. Getting around the coffee dilemma hasn’t been easy so I decided to make my own daily cup of coffee myself. Got some lovely instant espresso from Wholefoods and managed to get whole organic unhomogenized grass-fed milk. I then filled the fridge with fresh forest fruits for my clients and I to snack on throughout the day.

Hemsley & Hemsley Quinoa Tower

My Fridge in the The London NYC

On my second day I decide to go vegan… soooooo New York!