At the meetings of professional organizations that I am accustomed to attending, the exhibitors offer pens or sticky notes with their logos on them. Not so at the 2016 International Food Bloggers Convention held in Sacramento, California. The exhibitors at this convention serve fresh food made from local ingredients, and then go one step further, and package samples to take home! Thus, armed with all of my goodies, I was thinking, in order to enjoy fully the bounty of the Sacramento Valley, I will need to make a pie crust with almond flour and olive oil and make a filling with walnuts, pears, figs, peaches, prunes, and decorate it on top with endive leaves and sliced olives sprinkled with hemp seeds! I decided instead to use the package of dried Calimyrna figs I received from the California Fig Advisory Board, and made a fig and pear pie.
Figs are one of the first cultivated plants and have been type-dated to around 9400 BC near the Jordan Valley. In the mid-1700s figs were brought to California by Spanish missionaries; their fig became known as the mission fig. In the 1880s, fig growers realized that the California climate was suitable for fig production and G.P. Rixford brought fig tree starts from Smyrna, Turkey, and thus the Calimyrna fig was launched. Currently, California produces about 80% of the figs sold in the United States…..who has not at least had a fig newton!
The fig pie recipe (I ended up using my basic pie crust recipe with high quality flour, leaf lard and butter) features both figs and pears. I was at least able to use two of the products in my convention swag bag.
People to meet:
*If you travel out into the valley you will meet the producers and vendors of abundant food in the area, but my memories are of the happy attendees at the International Food Bloggers Convention enjoying a farm-to-fork dinner featuring a wide variety of fresh produce and meats that can be found in this one small area of California. 
Places to go:
*Sacramento, the farm-to-fork capital of the universe, and the surrounding river valley with its abundant produce.
*A local pear orchard, or better yet visit a neighbor with pear trees who is willing to share the bounty.
Places to stay in Sacramento:
*Hyatt and Sheraton hotels in downtown Sacramento. They are a convenient walking distance to all sorts of restaurants and sightseeing at the Capitol Building.
Places to eat in Sacramento:
*Although there are many places to eat in Sacramento, including interesting food trucks, I simply must mention The Kitchen (http://thekitchenrestaurant.com/) where Dick and I ate several years ago when attending another convention held in Sacramento. The dinner there was one of the most memorable dining experiences we have had in our many travels. The chefs are actively engaged with the local farmers, growers, ranchers and artisan producers, and serve a five-course (with intermission), prix-fixe dinner with wine pairings. Guests sit at a semicircular table while watching the chefs and sous- chefs prepare a seasonal menu which changes monthly. This restaurant is a testimony to how Sacramento has earned its farm-to-fork reputation. One itty bitty issue, though……they did not serve a pie the night we were there!
Pie to make:
Pear and dried fig pie. The pie is sweet and a bit crunchy because of the dried figs; a scoop of ice-cream melds the flavors. Our neighbor Art was the taste tester for this pie…..he liked it! 
Art knows his pears……he has five pear trees in his backyard and leaves a long-handled pear-picking basket at the side of a tree for the neighborhood pear-pickers.
- Rolled-out pastry dough (http://www.artofthepie.com for a double-crust 9 inch pie, chilled
- 1 cup dried Calimyrna figs, stemmed and quartered
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup plus ⅓ cup sugar; plus ½ Tbsp for sprinkling on the crust
- ½ of vanilla bean (I used 1 tsp vanilla bean paste)
- 6 medium Bartlett or Bosc pears (3 lbs.)
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch (I used granulated tapioca)
- Combine figs, water, vanilla, and ¼ cup sugar in small saucepan; simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until figs are soft, about 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer figs to a small bowl and set aside. Continue to simmer syrup until reduced to ¼ cup, about 10 minutes more. Cool.
- Peel, quarter and core pears and slice thinly crosswise. Place in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. Add cornstarch (or tapioca), ⅓ cup sugar, the figs, and the syrup. Mix gently.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fit one piece of dough into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. Spoon fig and pear mixture into the pan. Top with second piece of crust. Trim and crimp edge. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle remaining ½-1 Tbsp. sugar (I used date sugar; it gives a contrasting brown color to the crust and tastes as sweet as sugar). Cut vents in the crust. Bake for 1 hour until crust is golden and filling bubbles. Cool completely before serving.
