Today marks an important transition from summer into fall, warm yang into cool yin, fruitful harvest into preparation for quietude.  Day and night equal each other in length today, as sunlight will gradually yield more of its hours to the night in the coming winter months.  Seasonal foods move out of the sun and back into the earth, producing hearty root vegetables like yams, potatoes, squash, beets, cabbage, and brussel-sprouts.  Before the modern conveniences of having such foods like strawberries available year-round, this was a day for harvesting the last of summer’s produce and preserving it into pickles, jams and sauces to be enjoyed through the barren winter.  Just as plants dissolve and the leaves begin to shed from the trees, we too can prepare to let go of that which no longer serves us.  The fall is an amazing opportunity for parting with the unnecessary, to lighten the load and make space for the dormant winter months to generate stillness.   

In Five-Element Chinese Medicine principles, the fall corresponds to the Metal element - which is characteristic for using divine inspiration to cleanse the spirit  and purge the system.  Interestingly enough, the metal element corresponds to the Lung (inhaling pure air) and the large intestine (moving out waste), a quite literal expression of the energetic idea. 

The fall equinox marks the first step in the transition.  Even within the hustle of a metropolis like New York City, the approach of fall cannot be ignored.  I encourage you to enter it with thankful reflection and willingness to absorb the natural bounty this transitional season can bring.  In honor of the fall equinox, I prepared home-made banana-fig muffins last night to meld the tropical bananas of summer with hearty fall figs.  If you’d like to try the same, here is my recipe. 

BANANA-FIG MUFFINS

3-4 ripe bananas, peeled

1/2 Cup Virgin Coconut Oil (or other vegetable oil)

2 Eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 Cup Brown Sugar (loosely measured, not firmly packed)

12 Figs

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Baking Powder

Dash of Salt

2 Cups Flour

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.  Using a hand mixer, blend together the bananas and oil, add the sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Incorporate the eggs one by one.  Slice 6 figs into halves and place in the batter, sprinkle the mixture with salt, baking powder and soda.  Blend until figs are fully incorporated into the mixture and powders are dissolved.  Using a large spoon, slowly incorporate the flour.  Lightly grease 12 muffin molds and fill 2/3 full with batter.  With remaining 6 figs, slice them into quarters, nestling 2 quarter-pieces on the top of each muffin for garnish.  Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into muffin comes out clean.  Enjoy!