Is it a fig-ment of my imagination?

Or did it take me 32 ( almost 33) years to learn that figs can be eaten straight from a tree?!

{Fresh Figs from my Father-in-law's tree}

As a kid, I liked Fig Newtons.. remember that "it's a cake, not a cookie" commercial? But I have never, ever entertained the thought that I might actually like figs without a cakelike crust. In Davis, I also Once Upon a time, lived in a rental house on Fig Place, and you betcha, we had fig trees in our yard, plump with mission figs, and I never once picked one to eat. I like, had no idea they were edible straight from a tree. Crazy, right? What rock did I grow up under?

So, here we are in 2010, and I get this crazy idea that I want to make homemade fig newtons. I had dreamt about this baking excursion a few months, and finally made the trek to the store to buy figs for my sure-to-be-awesome-if-i-ever-make-them-fig newton-bars. And wouldn't you know... A pack of 6 figs was $3, and the recipe called for a pound! Now, I love to bake, but I am also frugal ( my husband calls it something else, not so nice), so those $3 figs stayed at the store and my dream of making fig newtons came to an end.

A couple weeks later, I was having supper at my father-in-law's house, and thought I spied a fig tree..I asked him about it, and sure enough, it was a fig tree...Even better, it was a fig tree full of plump, fresh figs for picking. He helped me pick a bag, and showed me how to eat them straight from the tree ( HOW on earth I never knew you could eat them straight from a tree, I do not know..) He sent me home with a grocery bag of figs and I was to return a fig newton to him in return.

Well, let's just say, I attempted a newton with no recipe to go from. I should have looked up some recipes, because it was a disaster. I then proceeded to eat the entire bag of figs, all by my lonesome. And they were good..OH SO GOOD.

I've since looked up a multitude of fig newton recipes, and think I am ready to try making them again...but first I'll have to butter up my father-in-law to let me pick more figs. I promise, this time, they'll make it into a recipe, and not my mouth.