A disappointing plate of restaurant tacos sent me straight to my kitchen — and into cochinita pibil, a dish I'd never made. I swapped pork for beef, banana leaves for fig leaves from my own tree, and learned along the way what actually makes pibil pibil. The result: boneless wagyu short ribs, wrapped and slow-cooked for three hours, with a garnish inspired by a Yucatecan condiment called xnipec. Inspiration, not authenticity — and I'm happy with that distinction.

A full season of cooking with figs and fig leaves, logged by date from the first green figs in May to the last salad in July. Toasted fig leaf powder, cheesecake, a pistachio tart with 23 eyes, pickles, smoked figs, chutney. One failure — goat cheese aged in grappa-soaked leaves, which did absolutely nothing. I didn't invent any of it. All of it was new to me.

My professional menu had two petit fours: Tropical Dream and Chocolate Dream. This summer, a third joined them — Midsummer Dream, built entirely around fig leaves. A half-sphere of fig leaf custard mousse sits on a fig leaf pistachio sablé, finished with toasted coconut, chopped pistachios, and a white chocolate pearl. I'm documenting the whole process here, including the white chocolate mousse that completely failed before I found the version that finally worked.