Dear Friend,

I've written to you about the figs in Arfara before. But as far as I'm concerned, I could write an entire blog about this delectable fruit. When I last wrote, it was just the beginning of the fig season. I had been visiting the three trees in my garden... periodically checking on them, but not really having any idea what a ripe fig looked like. One morning on our way back from church, Maria picked a fig from the side of the road and had me taste it. Unbelievable. It was still warm from the morning sun. I hurried back to my garden to see if any of my trees had begun to ripen and found a few to pick. After savoring those, I actually lay in bed that evening wondering how morally wrong it would be to just "happen by" that tree on the path to church. Figs clearly have some addictive effects on me. I had clearly lost my mind if I was contemplating fig robbery.

As the week wore on, I found more and more ripened figs in my garden each day. I started bringing them to my neighbors and eating them just about constantly. I then came to the point where I couldn't even pick them fast enough and I think neighbors may have started ducking into their homes to avoid my deliveries (just kidding). While sharing a bowl of figs one day at the "coffee house", I must have mentioned that I liked to eat my figs cut in half and then scooped out of the peel with a teaspoon. I think the whole village fell silent as I mentioned this. My friend then demonstrated how a fresh fig was supposed to be peeled with a small fruit knife and then enjoyed. I later ran into an American family visiting relatives and shared my cultural faux pas with them at which the only comment on my fig eating method was "blasphemy". I think of myself as someone who is open to cultural differences and ideas and had successfully navigated (with help of course) Greek Orthodox funerals, memorials, a wedding, inheriting property, ordering food on my own, spending time in people's homes, etc. but I had clearly gotten hung up on the art of fig eating! On our last day in Arfara, I saved a plate of the largest, most succulent ripened figs and ate them all by myself... savoring every bite and saying goodbye.

After we had returned home to Boston, I went to a local Lebanese grocery store that carries a lot of imported Greek products. I was picking up a few kitchen staples when I looked down and realized I was standing in front of crates and crates of fresh figs! I was so excited and started looking side to side to take all of them in. I gushed over their delectability with a fellow shopper who thankfully seemed to share my addictive behaviors and we each carried a tray to the cashier along with our other goodies. $9.99 for 14 figs (now I knew I had lost my mind)! I brought them home and ate them all by myself... savoring every bite. Oh and I ate them with a spoon...

XOXO,

Karen June