When the air turns brisk and the leaves here in New England turn into a mélange of brilliant orange, yellow, and red, my thoughts turn to food.

Recently, I dug out our bread machine from the basement and have been making fresh bread. The machine does all the work. You put in the wet and dry ingredients and push a button. The machine does the rest: pre-heating, mixing, kneading, proofing, and baking.

You come back in just a few hours to a fresh loaf. In fact, we are enjoying one now with butter and jam, as I write this. And, the kitchen smells great as the loaf bakes.

The choices are endless from among sweet and savory bread. There’s a myriad of great recipes in this book. If your machine has a timer, you even can have fresh bread in the morning or for when you come home from work.

In addition, a New England fall wouldn’t be complete without some Vietnamese noodle soup at Pho Viet 2 (prior post here) and JP Lick’s ice cream, a Boston favorite. Here are shots from a recent outing: spicy bún bò Huế and a combo of pumpkin custard and chocolate hazelnut. It’s a meal that afterwards calls for a well-needed nap.

Are there any fall foods that you enjoy this time of year?

I hope everyone has a great weekend.