🦃 , ☕️ , 🥗

Thanksgiving, Coffee & Cucumbers

Greetings Anon,

Thanksgiving 🦃 is 3 weeks away 🚀 🔥

I know… that went quick, right?

🐙 is putting together a Thanksgiving Guide for all of the Paid Subs. Planning to drop this in two posts the week prior to Thanksgiving (instead of the regular 1 paid post), and then skip the following week.

This will allow you ample time to prepare and make your menu decisions.

When talking about Thanksgiving there are 1,000,000 different recipes and variations but given the climate this year, the Octopod Thanksgiving Guide will be focused on Efficiency and Costs, with an emphasis on great flavors.

Feel free to comment with any requests, numerous have been requested on Twitter, this will help as I narrow down to final menu!

Coffee:

A further update from last weeks Substack. We are a few weeks away from the official launch of the 🐙 E-commerce site. Will be sharing more details as we get closer, but keep an eye out on Friday as you will have an opportunity to get in on the first offering of the Octopod Premium Coffee Subscription. This first run, is only available for Substack members so you all get first shot at trying!

The Coffee’s-

🐙 has hand picked two specific coffee’s and worked with an amazingly talented roaster to produce two very unique, and delicious, expressions of coffee’s! So here’s profiles on both.

HONDURAS:

Grown by a 3rd generation coffee producer, the quality of these beans has been placing and winning awards in the prestigious Cup of Excellence competitions since 2005. The farm is now being run by the younger generation and they have heavily reinvested in the infrastructure to facilitate the best conditions for processing and drying premium coffees.

This coffee is Honey processed, with tasting notes of Caramel, Honeydew, Malt

KENYA:

From the Kainamui Coffee Factory, established on the slopes of Mount Kenya in 1963 and is part of the New Ngariama Cooperative. It is situated in the Ngariama location, Gichugu division of Kirinyaga County. With ideal conditions for coffee growing, farmers benefit from the mineral-rich, red volcanic loam soils and an elevation of 1650 meters above sea level. Being a coop model, this is vibrant part of the local economy.

This coffee was one of the most interesting and alluring coffee’s I cupped out of the 14+ candidates. This lot is of grade AA. If you’re a fan of acidity, this coffee is up your alley. (Kenyans are known for their sparkling acidity, explosive aromas and lingering aftertaste and this coffee is true to it’s origin).

This coffee walks the tightrope of fruity acidity, sweet and savory with specific tasting notes of Black Currant, Grapefruit, & Molasses.

TLDR: Tasty AF 🔥

Thought Process: For this first launch, 🐙 wanted to give you all coffee’s from both ranges of the spectrum, but solidly premium and and artisanal. As my roaster said, “Coffee isn’t just a beverage… it can be a story with an experience”. That’s what you will have when you pour these incredible coffee’s.

Details and Signup will be sent out this Friday! ☕️

Cucumber 🥗 :

Dropped below is one of my favorite quick salads… most people don’t enough vegetables. Vegetables have the stigma of being boring and “icky”. Complete horse crap.

Although best eaten day of, this will last a few days so you can make a larger batch if you like. It hits all the points with texture, flavor, acid, herbacious and a great kick of salinity with fresh feta cheese. This also uses Sumac (optional but recommended) which is a lovely tangy spice used in a lot of Middle Eastern cuisines.

(Note: your Middle Eastern market should have fresh feta stored in brine and cut to order for you. I love Bulgarian but the French is delicious as well.)

Fair warning: this salad is totally crushable with Lamb Kofta and Hummus (yes, the previously dropped Substack Recipes for these!) as well as grilled chicken.

INGREDIENTS:

½ pound ripe tomatoes, cut into ½-inch chunks

½ pound Persian or English cucumbers, peeled (optional) and cut into ½-inch chunks

½ cup thinly sliced red onion (1 medium)

1 chili (like jalapeno or serrano; omit if don’t like 🔥 ), finely chopped

4-5 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

4-5 sprigs of fresh mint, finely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (optional, but highly recommended)

2 TB red wine vinegar

2 TB EVOO

1/3-1/2 cup of crumbled fresh Feta (Bulgarian is 🐙 preference)

About ½ teaspoon sea salt, or to taste and a crack of black pepper

Generous sprinkling of ground sumac

METHOD

-Place the tomatoes, cucumbers, chili, and onion in a bowl.

-Add the herbs and toss. Then add the vinegar and EVOO.

-Sprinkle on the feta, salt, pepper and sumac, toss, and serve.

Simple, easy and delicious! You can cut the tomatoes laterally, and squeeze the juices in with the vegetables in step 1, if you like. I prefer doing this most times, but not necessary!

FRIDAY PAID SUBSTACK WILL DROP AN INSANE PEAR-UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Until Next Time, Frens!