Times and Seasons

Today I went looking for figs. I LOVE fresh figs. They bear no resemblance to Fig Newtons, the closest thing I ever had to a fig before I came here. Unfortunately, there were no figs to be found. Fruits and vegetables here are, in general, fantastic, fresh, cheap and exotic. They have an additional bonus/disappointment attached. They all have their own time schedule. Things come very much in season. Cherries appear at the end of June and disappear by the middle of July, so if you like cherries, you have to make the most of those three weeks. I'm a little worried that we hit the tail end of fig season without my knowing it. The upside: avocados are on their way!
I haven't yet worked out the timing of these seasonal reappearances and diappearances. I'm often caught by surprise. There have been times when I planned to repeat meals that I had just last week. I fantacize about them all day- portobello mushrooms with blue cheese for example. At the end of the work day, I wander the several blocks of the open market and find one sad, black portobello mushroom, but suddenly the place is bursting with artichokes and eggplants. The whole thing lends itself well to creative cooking. It also makes me appreciate the fruit I have when I have it. There is a Jewish prayer that is said at special occasions and, at least according to our prayerbook, whenever one eats the first fruit of the new season. This makes me even more aware of when the first fruits of the season are available.
It isn't just produce that runs by a special clock. We tried to make fish last Sunday, the first day of the work week. We walked for 30 minutes in 90 degree heat to get to the fish shop only to find it closed. On our way back we stopped at the grocery store. No fish there either. Fortunately, someone there was able to explain that since the fishermen don't work on Saturday, there are no fish on Sunday.
Not only fishermen don't work on Saturday, almost all stores are closed from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. This leads to some serious traffic jams between 8:30-11:00 pm on Saturdays. We tried to make our way to an Ikea sale at 9:30 last night, 20 minutes to the north of us. When we arrived, the traffic at the freeway exit was at a standstill with the intersection opening into the Ikea parking lot creating gridlock that reached to the freeway. We debated for a few minutes, visualizing the horrors this would lead to at the checkout counter, and then made a mad dash back south for Tel Aviv.
My first Ikea shopping trip of the season will just have to wait.