oh fresh figs! if i had to choose only one fruit to live with for the rest of my life, figs would be it. here's my favoite ways: 1. oh boy - just sitting there (with your favorite person) and eating them, really slow. there is something about this fruit that makes me want to slow down and savor it. 2. make a compote with fresh raspberries (lemon and sugar), puree it then add more fruit and bake it into a tart - yum yum! 3. oh, oh! - so take the fresh fig, destem it and make an "x" in the top. make a fine paste of roasted almonds (believe or not, tamari roasted almonds tastes the best) rich dark chocolate and the tiniest bit of rum (to make it come together) - here's the good part - stuff it inside - then kind of squeeze it back together to its orginal shape. this one almost beats #1. 4. drizzled with honey and goat cheese (always a delicious one) 5. i will write later (i am at work) but with dried figs, i once made a mistake while making fig bars and came up with this delicious fig paste that now we use for everything from a galette filling to making little toasts with gorgonzola - delicious! also a note to the fig tree keepers: having a fig tree must be great . . . i am so envious! my husband and i have a patio garden (we grow all kinds of things from pumpkins to raspberries in pots) and i'm trying to figure out if i could start a fig tree (and a miniature lemon tree) there. someday we will have a house and a fig tree will be the first thing i plant - enjoy them while you can! (my food store only has them for one month!)