A dreamy gift

Dear Anna sent me a great surprise in the mail: Tessa Kiros' cookbook Twelve. I love it!! I am a complete Italophile, and months ago, stumbled upon my dream house, in Venice: it's Lord Byron's former aparment on the Grand Canal. I have a photo of this magnificent palazzo, and I obsess: when can I move in? How can I come up with $11 million? How?And so, I will be taking this book with me, and Anna & her family are invited to stay with me as soon as I get the key. Yes, because while practically everyone we know is swooning over Tessa's new cookbook, Apples for Jam, our noses are happily buried in Twelve, which is dedicated solely to Italian food, hurrah! It is very beautiful, as Tessa's books are, with authentic recipes organized around the seasons, and pretty, color-saturated photos of glorious Tuscan food (Tessa & her family live in Siena.) For days now, I've been staring at the luscious-looking Mandorlata con fichi, fig tart with almonds. I gaze at the picture, and then the recipe, and then read more recipes, and then pause to daydream of the countryside and also think of the upcoming holidays...which the Italians celebrate so well. For now, however, I snap back to the reality of summer, and gladly take advantage of the current avalanche of figs, which, like Lord Byron's apartment, are back on the market.
Tessa says you can substitute any nuts you like for the almonds. Since I did not have almonds, I preferred to make this w/hazelnuts, rather than wait another day. The tart base is a blind-baked sweet pastry crust, over which you swirl apricot jam. Next, lay down the trimmed & sliced figs, the nuts, a sprinkling of sugar, and finally, an egg yolk beaten w/a bit of milk poured over it all. That's a blueprint for a classic rustica tart. The fragrance of the bubbling jam and the heated figs, nuts & pastry was heavenly -- perfuming the house.
The flavor is delicious: velvety, jammy, chewy, and crunchy textures all blended together; it melts in your mouth. My thanks to Anna!Please --now that you know my intentions, don't mention the apartment to anyone, I would hate to be outbidded & have to cancel my big housewarming party. Worse still, we'd have to go shack up with Clooney in Lake Como, and believe me, we do not want to do that, he is very grumpy lately.