Well, it’s very sad to say that summer is coming to an end. Think about it–we only have eight days left of August and then it’s back to school month! Sad face with a teardrop.

Luckily, I don’t go back to school until September 17th, but I know that the majority of students start at the end of August–heck, some might have started classes right now! If any of you guys have started classes already, I’m praying for you since it must be a drag having to worry about classwork during a month that is still technically in the summer month. Gosh darn it to those schools who try to steal summertime from our children! But anyways, enough about a drab subject, right? Let’s talk food!

One thing I’m seriously going to miss once August is over is the produce. I mean, figs–can we just take a moment. I almost thought that I would never bite into a fresh fig ever again, and here I am making a salad with it! It’s literally like biting into a little sack of fresh jelly. Spread a little almond butter or peanut butter and then give the Italian kiss of culinary victory. I’ve also been adoring Italian plums since they are super sweet when you bite into them, plus they don’t leak out their sticky juices unlike conventional plums. I brought the last of them to a meetup last Saturday and let me tell you, they were surprising competition against the colossal boxes of vegetable sushi rolls, Crunchy Cinnamon Squares cereal boxes, vegan peanut butter and chocolate cookies, zucchini bread loaves, and drumroll please…JAPANESE SWEET POTATOES. MAD THANK YOU to the amazing man who brought them! 😉 But anyways, the Italian plums were a huge hit, and I was thrilled to not carry the need to bring leftovers back home.

But speaking of fruit, it also goes to show that with the farewell to summer also comes with the farewell to fruit. Well, that’s an overstatement, but you know what I mean! Fall just doesn’t provide the same vibrant amount of berries and juicy sweet fruits that we all look forward to during the sunny days. However, it goes to show that we should treasure the remainders of what we have now through simple, versatile and delicious recipes, or we could just resort to freezing everything so that we can stock up for fall and winter like how squirrels do with acorns.

Just as I do with Stevia packets. Hey, sometimes you can’t have too much.

RECIPE

• 1 bag of fresh arugula leaves; I used Trader Joe’s brand
• 1 green onion
• 2 medium-large green apples; can also be any kind of apple
• 5 fresh figs
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil to drizzle
• Optional: cranberries, walnuts, almonds, pecans, golden raisins, etc.

PROCEDURE

1. If they are not already, gently drain and rinse your arugula leaves. Repeat with the other fresh produce.
2. Finely slice the green onion. Set aside.
3. Thinly slice the figs. Set aside.
4. Shred your green apples finely. Set aside.
5. In a deep and large salad bowl, assemble the arugula, green onion, figs and apples but do not mix.
6. Add the seasonings, olive oil and lemon juice on top of the salad.
7. Carefully mix as you do not want to crush the figs.

What is your favorite summer fruit? Are you guilty of hoarding something for future use?