1.   As inviting as those combinations are, last week I had the most indulgently elegant dish of fresh figs ever.

2.   As I experimented with the fresh figs, I was thinking of eggplant caponata and olive tapenade, both of which are moist, highly seasoned all-purpose relishes.

3.   A fresh fig on a sunny October morning is bliss.

4.   But a table almost spilling over with fresh figs and berries drew us past the kitchenwares.

5.   Dessert brings such exquisite possibilities as fresh figs sandwiched between the most fragile of pastry sheets, perched on mango coulis and served with huckleberry ice cream.

6.   For years I have listened to seemingly knowledgeable food lovers become positively ecstatic about fresh figs and the nuances that make one variety better than another.

7.   Fresh figs do well roasted with lavender honey, then strewn with lavender buds.

8.   I could imagine the aroma of a fresh fig and pistachio frangipane tart and practically taste the buttery apple, quince and raisin charlotte.

9.   In slickly edited scenes, the contestants lug bottles of water to a campsite, ford a river and bite into a fresh fig full of tiny squirming ants.

10.   Main courses include grilled lamb tournedos with fresh figs and polenta, and saddle of rabbit stuffed with scampi and coriander.