Summertime and Produce Joys
This week has apparently been harvest week for everyone at my work. The break room has had baskets of freshly-picked goodies from everyone's gardens, and I've been showing my appreciation by partaking in (more than) my share of the bounty.

Monday: Figs. Now, get this: so far, every person I've spoken to at work (except the person who brought them in) has said that they've never eaten a fresh fig, don't know how to, and were wary of trying because they don't care for Fig Newtons. GAH! FIG NEWTONS? They are not even from the same planet as fresh figs. Newtons are not cookies, they're fruit and crap. And don't give me that "oh, I've had dried figs" -- Not even close. A fresh fig is like a silky, tender little bag full of honey. There's nothing else that comes close to fresh. And it has to be perfectly ripe. Dark color, heavy for its size, and if it's a brown fig, a red (not pink) "flower" end (not to be nasty, but I'm referring to the "butt" end of the fig). And yesterday, through careful experimentation, I determined another way to determine ripeness in a fig: drop it in a glass of water. If it floats, it needs more time to ripen. If it sinks but doesn't stink, it's perfect. An overripe fig has a distinctly musty/sour smell and tastes like a fig newton.

Tuesday: Tomatoes. Although everyone is hot on heirloom tomatoes these past couple of years, these were just romas. A little salt and some parmesan & fresh herbs and it's like a pizza for someone on a diet. If you squint really hard. OK, maybe it's not. But it tastes good anyway.

Wednesday: Nothing. Must have been an off day. But Wednesday is the day they deliver the M&Ms, so I guess that's got to count for something.

Thursday: Figs again!!! Since no one else knew what to do with them, I took more than 1/48th of the basket. I figure there must have been at least 11 other people who weren't planning on having any, right?

Today: Cucumbers! One of my FAVORITES! These are those funny little pickling cucumbers that are sometimes sticky to eat, but they're always crisp and have very few seeds, so I don't mind eating them raw. Friday is also doughnut day, so going into the breakroom is sketchy. Since I ate someone else's figs, they can have my doughnut.