Welcome to our Weekly Shenanigans – Re-Launch Party special!

Last night we took off our chef’s hats and stepped into our party shoes!

All week it’s been full steam ahead! We’ve spent the majority of our time making sure everything was absolutely perfect for last nights party. Guess what, the planning paid off! We had a brilliant time and judging from the looks on everyone’s faces, you guys did too! To quote The A-Team, ‘I love it when a plan comes together!’ Maybe the ‘A’ in A-Team stands for Avenue? Let’s be honest, it probably does. We do believe that we are film worthy after all.

Did someone say Hollywood…?

Okay, maybe we are not ready for Tinseltown just yet, but we can give you the rundown of how our week went!

We rounded off last week with another action-packed weekend. On Saturday Jason strutted off to Barnes again to do another Private Cookery Class. We also had our popular Ready Steady Bake class running on Sunday, and another great Kids Weekend Cookery Class and then an After School Class on the Monday! Seriously how do we fit it all in? We really are amazing.

Tuesday was a very exciting day for us at The Avenue. Raffle prizes arrived en masse and we started decorating. We all rolled our sleeves up and got stuck in with the preparations, hanging fairy lights and (dare we say it) decorating the Christmas Tree! Who said we ever conformed to social norms?

By Wednesday, food prep was well underway and the excitement in the Cookery School was electric! One day to go until party time! Just as we were sitting down for a well-deserved lunch, Santa arrived! Well not the real Santa, but it might as well have been! A 2 foot edible Santa with a great Christmas paunch. I mean…could you ASK for more? Oh, and the wine delivery man arrived with multiple crates of Gluwhein on tap for the Re-Launch Party! Chink Chink darling!

So with enough wine to fill the 7 seas, a beautifully festive kitchen and our canapés starting to take shape, we all headed home for an early night before the big day. Well not all of us… Richard held one of our wonderful Dinner Party Dining Classes in the evening. The lucky budding chefs arrived just in time to see our kitchen in its party best and if we do say so ourselves, it looked magnificent! This was definitely an extra special Dinner Party Dining Class – maybe our Christamas Edition will be able top it off?!

And finally, Thursday came around. The kitchen was manic with piping bags being thrown between chefs and meringues coming out of our ears. By 5:30 we were (just about) ready before you all piled in through the doors. We had an amazing Sushi Demo going on with Rich, Gluwhein galore and of course the Raffle to end all Raffles! We want to thank everyone for coming along to the party and giving so generously to Sparks! And of course we want to say a massive thank you to the amazing Zoe and her mum Caroline for their speeches that got us, and everyone else in the room, tearing up! Those of you who joined us at the pub afterwards, thanks so much for continuing the party with us!

And now it’s Friday. And for once, we are sad.

We’re all suffering from a severe case of the Post Re-Launch Party Blues. Oh, and maybe a hangover. The only thing that’s getting us through the mass of clearing up and our slightly sore heads is knowing that we’ll be doing it all again next year! Better get planning!

We’d love to say a huge thanks to all our raffle donors! You guys are the best. Shout out to Margot, Kish and Will for all helping out on the night and Niki & Luca for taking some amazing pictures. They’ll be up shortly!

We’ve got some big changes happening at the moment and we’re saying farewell to Emma for 6 months! *cries and falls to the ground in a quivering mess* She’s off to Courchevel for a ski season! Brrrr… Today is her final day at The Avenue before her mini break and we really don’t want to let her go. We know she’ll have an amazing time but we are very reluctantly saying our goodbyes today.

Big shout out to Emma you’ve been amazing and you’ll have a fabby time in Courchevel. Don’t miss us too much… GOOD LUCK!

Luckily, we’ve got Emily and Lydia to hold down the fort while she’s off. I’m sure we’ll be snowed under with work. Ha Ha. Anyways it’s time to consume a heavy amount of leftover hummus to nurse this hangover.

Cheers, to the freakin’ weekend. ‘Till next time x