Serendipity

I love when good things happen that you could never have predicted. Big crazy things like falling in love, yes, but also little things that make your day or your week a little sillier, a little happier. One of the things I get to do is answer a statewide food preservation and safety hotline, along with LOTS of other volunteers. We all took a class through our state extension service and this is a way to serve others using the knowledge we gained. That class was a blast and I learned lots. But the people I continue to meet as a result of it - that is the bonus no one tells you about! I meet all sorts of fun people who are a part of the program (that is how I got to can tuna last week). But it also opens other surprising doors. Usually time on the hotline is spent sharing recipes, techniques, etc. Sometimes it is a matter of life or death (no you shouldn't eat food that has other lifeforms growing on it - I don't care if you did put it up yourself!) This week I answered a call from someone who wanted ideas about how to preserve and/or cook with figs. Seems she bought her daughter-in-law a fig tree some years back and it has a bumper crop this year. So they have presented her with several pounds of these little gems. We talked about drying them, making jam, etc. and I also said (being the cheeky gal I am), "Well, I'd be happy to eat some of them for you!"

Honestly, I was just kidding. But before I knew it she was getting my name and calling her daughter-in-law and when my shift on the hotline was done, I had an appointment to pick some figs. Now, you need to know I love figs. My grandmother had a big old fig tree and we used to have access to figs or fig jam year round. It wasn't until I was an adult and went looking for them in the store that I realized what an expensive little habit they can be! They are usually more than $1 apiece! Ouch! So I sometimes treat myself to one little box of them each year. I savor them and wish for a fig tree.

Well not this year! I hauled myself to the arranged meeting place, introduced myself to the lady of the house and she encouraged me to take as many as I could carry home in the boxes I had in the car.

I picked more than 20 pounds in about 15 minutes. There were SOOOOOO many of them that I hardly made a dent in the crop!

I had figs to snack on aplenty, and enough to do some fun things, too! I did share some with friends, but I also made some jam . . .

So now I have a dozen amber jars of yumminess to enjoy.

I am drying some even as we speak s

o that I can put

them in my oatmeal, or a port wine sauce for pork this winter . . . .

And at the recommendation of a friend I took some figs, stuffed them with blue cheese (Oregonzola from the Rogue creamery), wrapped them in pancetta, put a few drops of olive oil on top of the whole thing and roasted them. WOW! They were amazing. I served them with a salad of fresh greens and grated beets from my CSA along with a fig balsamic vinaigrette and some toasted pine nuts. What a feast!

When I left to answer the phone that afternoon, I never guessed I'd be remembering picking figs at my grandmothers, or enjoying a meal fit for a queen that night! Plus I met a really nice lady and her daughter in law - days like that just make me smile!