With Love From Athens

Right now, just returning from a week in Athens, we are feeling inspired by blue skies and the mashup of ancient civilizations, and modern approaches together creating a truly interesting and entertaining modern yet urban city. Starting with the majestic Acropolis, to the buzzy Varvakeious Central Athens Market, and ending with the ancient ruins we visited with a renowned archeologist.

We wanted to mention some of our highlights from our amazing week spent zig zagging through Athens and share how they will become inspirations in Spring 2017.

Cocktails from Small Producers

It’s Greek, it’s chic, and very much of the moment. On our Athens adventure, we discovered some exciting flavors we intend to add to our warm weather bars. We’re pulling out our Hilary Glasses and adding touches of Mastika, Ouzo, Rakomelo, to create killer cocktails. We’re hoping to offer warm-weather Med Style DIY Party Pop-Ups where the Entertaining Company bartender pours the booze of your choice, and you add your favorite mix-ins like fresh squeezed juices, or flavorful syrups and purees. We’ll also add all types of fresh herb garnishes, no holding back on the mint! For a larger pour we’re suggesting individual sangria style glasses with straws. Just when you think you’re finished, have a sip of tsipouro and a Nescafe Frappe before zooming off on your scooter. Opa!

Frutta de Mare

We visited the Athens fishmongers at the central market where we fell in love again with all things salty, briney, and sea-like. We’re currently craving anchovies – pickled or crispy – salt cod that has been soaked to become not so salty, red mullet, white snapper, and octopus salad with herbs; anything that can be served fresh and light among friends on a late afternoon are a must. All you will need to add is a Greek Salad or as an alternative, Dakos which is a rusk, piled high with fresh tomatoes, feta, salty capers and olives originating from the island of Crete. YUM! For the perfect accompaniment, we suggest some chilled Assyrtiko from volcanic Santorini pulled from an Umi Ice Bucket for easy self service and an effortless dinner.

Street Food: Greek Style!

With the economy in less than perfect shape, the Athenians still have lots to be happy about. Since dinner hour usually began around 10:00 PM, we definitely picked up on their love of street food; spending many of our late afternoons indulging in snacks of Koulouri which are delicious little sandwich like items, stuffed with simple and highly flavored feta thyme mixture, tomato, onions, cucumbers, green and red peppers, Kalamata Black Olives finished with a sprinkle of olive oil. Wherever we looked, we sampled all manner of small production olives, cheeses and freshly baked breads. Now back in Chicago, we are excited to bring these flavor packed snacks to our chef at EC and begin adding them to our casual comfort food stations or serving them bite sized during cocktail hour on our Aruna Trays!

Blue Skies, White Columns

The intense blue against the brilliant white ancient columns got us thinking about the impacting contrast of blue and white. We’re thinking it’s a perfect combo for warm-weather entertaining. Watch for lots of ideas as they develop to bring the natural elements into our upcoming table and linen designs to add to our Phoebe Glassware.

In upcoming blogs, we’re looking forward to sharing more discoveries and inspirations from our Athens adventure!

Cheers!
EC Home Store Team

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