One of my minors in college was Ancient Civilization so I studied about Roman and Greek mythologies, culture foods and college. My love affair with Greece started in middle school when I learned the alphabet and continued on through reading a number of ancient texts. But in college, I saw pictures of the most beautiful city which was Santorini. It is one of the 2 cities that I have yet to go to that I have always wanted to (the other would be Paris - my goal is within the next year I will go to both as the 3rd was Tokyo and I can check that off my list this month)! My love for being in this region has manifested itself by me being a fan of hummus and eating amazing Greek food. Last week I went to Molyvos and enjoyed it but when I received an invite to attend the Tsantali Wine Tasting and lunch at Thalassa, I knew it would be amazing. There have only been a handful of times that I have attended an event with a number of well known foodies and wine enthusiasts but I had our Food Editor with us and I decided that it would be a fun time!

Being in fashion, I look at restaurants differently, I think about places that would be amazing for a corporate dinner, Fashion Week Parties, launches and more. You want a place that transports you and when I talked with Tasso who is their Special Events Manager, I conveyed this feeling to him. The restaurant is gorgeous, has great details, exposed brick, light and a lot of space. This post will not focus on the food as we had a press lunch and I would have loved to have tried a number of things; however, I will definitely be back to share but I will say that the menu was enough to make me come back.

Tsantali Wines stems from the Tsantali family which is the third generation to continue this tradition with a diversified portfolio of wines. We enjoyed a number of wines but there were some that definitely caught my eye and the fact that many of them retail below $20 a bottle, it's an amazing buy to be honest. There were so many wines to choose from including red, white, rose, dessert wines and even an organic wine. My favorite was a Kanenas 2009 Rose I loved that it was a mix of sweet and dry tastes and I could imaging having it while eating caviar as I think it would be very complimentary. I also enjoyed Kanenas 2006 Red as well which had a taste of rosebuds and currant. Being someone that normally doesn't drink a lot of red, it was a pleasant surprise! I tried both of the Agioritikos (first regional wine in Greece) in White as well as the Rose - the Rose was my absolute favorite of anything that I drank the entire afternoon. The organic wine from the Halkidiki Vineyard was a Cabernet Sauvignon and I liked the satin like finish that it had and the spice that was in it. I felt that if I was drinking this, I would love to have it with a Kobe Burger as I think it would be an amazing pairing. In terms of the dessert wine I enjoyed the Mavrodaphne Cellar Reserve which would have been tasty with a creme brulee and the Lemnos which was thicker but would have been phenom with a honeydew and prosciutto plate. As I said there were a lot of wines but these were the ones that I enjoyed.

I loved hearing everyone's comments on the wines and learning about their culinary journey's. I also enjoyed just watching everyone interact with one another. With the hour of the tasting wrapping up, we headed upstairs to enjoy an amazing meal that would be paired with the drinks that we had tasted earlier in the day. While we ate, we had the honor of listening to Roger Dagorn, 1 of only 180 Master Sommerliers, taking us through the region and listening to what we should look for as we enjoyed the same wines with lunch as it would take on a different taste. Each course had at least 2 pairings of wine. Our first course was the Diver Sea Scallops Wrapped in Katalfi with Sheep's Milk Butter and Kalamata Balsamic Reduction (I loved this and found it so filling), this was followed by a Mediterranean Lavraki with Steamed Wild Greems (loved that one of the wines that was included was the Kanenas Red), this was followed by a third course of Grilled Lamb Chops Fingerling Potatoes and Haricots Verts which has the organic wine and finally our dessert was a Mavrodaphne Poached Pear with Mediterranean Halva that was paired with both of the dessert wines that were mentioned earlier in the post!

What an amazing meal and I agree sipping a wine alone and tasting it with food does change the way that you feel about it. I definitely enjoyed the Greek wines but I'm very excited to go back to truly experience the restaurant and to sample their Pear Martinis which I hear is phenom there!

This week was very busy with everyone packing as many events as possible into Fashion Week. There was very little time to think about the fact that we were all enjoying the last time at Bryant Park! With so many events going on, I was so excited to slip in the Kate Spade and Rebecca Ward event at the Broome St store! Kate Spade is the epitome of classic design with a pop of funkiness in there! When I think of this brand I think of Audrey Hepburn, Marlow Thomas and other woman who were very modern and had a distinctive style.

At this event, I had the honor of talking with Deborah Lloyd , Creative Director of Kate Spade who shared her insights with me on the brand and her sense of style. While I interviewed her, I felt like I was at a tea party and we were chatting as if we had known each other forever. Prior to speaking with her, of course I Googled her and I remembered that she had been in Harper's Bazaar last fall! My favorite quote was that she loved dressing everyday as if she was going to a wedding - so of course, this is how I kicked off our interview. Her way of dressing means that she can always be found in fabulous dresses and heels. Even when winter refuses to take leave, she allows spring to come into her wardrobe by pairing her looks with fabulous stockings (tonight she had glitter stockings). She loves bold color and prints and just as I feel that accessories are a conversation starter, she feels that a vibrant palate does the same thing. In Kate's collection, we can expect lots of color which is always a great way to pop into your wardrobe and in terms of accessories, they have a gorgeous collection of lilac handbags with bows on them that are very sweet! Of course, our purpose for being there was to see the installation of Rebecca Ward's gaffers tape. Deborah told me that this came about because they loved the ideas of frames and subway lines and Rebecca had been using this medium and it seemed to be a great synergy.

Talking with Deborah was a lot of fun as you could see her passion for the brand and that she had a distinct sense of style. Talking with Rebecca Ward was also a treat as you could feel her energy as an artist. Although she is currently applying for grad school, she is already known for her use of gaffers tape which is a fabric like tape that I never thought would be used in the way that she has. She loves it because it's very close to being a fabric and has a texture to it. She loves that although what she does is very fashion oriented, there is also a lot of math behind it. She would love to work with an engineer or architect as she sees a commonality between the two. Although she has collaborated with Kate Spade in Tokyo and most recently here, she looks forward to more collaborations as well.

No conversation is complete without me being able to peek into someone's closet even if it is virtually. Rebecca is the epitome of the hipster artist in terms of her style and you can expect to see her in her Chuck Taylor's. She also enjoys going to antique shops to purchase jewelry as she loves wearing items that she feels has a soul and a story. Like any girl, there is always the question of what you would love to have in your closet regardless of price. For Rebecca the answer was simple - more space in her closet!

It was a fun night to mingle, take in Rebecca's work and to even get a chance to play with the gaffers tape as well. It also allowed me to browse some fab pieces (love the Gabby heels) and to decide how I would be amping up the color in my own closet a la Deborah Lloyd!