Putting Fall To Bed and A Recipe!!

(This post was written Saturday and published today while I was at Heath's ceremony in Boston - today was cold as late November should be and the leaves disappeared yesterday in the heavy rain and wind) -
I've got to blog about this fall before snow flies.  I've already told you that the color here has been long lasting and utterly incredible.  It's November 19th and the Norway maples, Japanese Maples and the Oaks are still loaded with leaves and color as are so many shrubs.  I emptied the last of my outdoor pots and cut down the perennials in all the borders today and sadly, I was pulling out and cutting down A LOT of live and blooming plants!  It had to been done though because next week will be very cold finally and I won't feel like doing it then.

Every year I pick and press colorful leaves and store between sheets of wax paper in heavy books for next year's fall decorating.

 Picking pretty things to enjoy before killing frosts arrive.

 The October Super Moon from our bedroom window

 I drove to my old house in Kingston to do yard work and look what greeted me on Rockrimmon Rd!

 Look at the nasturtiums in the pool yard here in Rye the beginning of November! It's amazing what a dozen seeds produces.

 Japanese Maple in our front border in Rye

 Here's a pretty picture of a pond in Connecticut in the Litchfield area on a little road trip we took the third week in October

 Look near the top of the picture - just where the trees meet the field you can make out hundreds of pumpkins in a patch - Connecticut

 Connecticut farm stand

 Another pond shot from further back.

 Harbor in Guilford CT.  By the way, if you want to see a real live Stars Hollow you Gilmore Girls fans, this town looks just like downtown Stars Hollow.  I was ready to move there!

 Guilford CT

 Lobster shack in York Maine on another road trip the first week in November.  Same pond below.

 The view from the third floor bathroom here in Rye the second week of November.

 Last week November 14.

 Color wheel perfection - opposites!  One of the most beautiful combos ever!

 Then the Harvest Moon last week - we took it while driving - there were so many cars at the coast we couldn't park!  Here is someone else's pic of the same moon at dusk, below.

photo credit - Debbie Smith

 I've been digging up dahlias - hundreds of dahlias!  They are now drying and preparing for winter storage.
 Below - four pics - I got up early one morning last week and ran to my car in my pajamas and bed hair and drove down the street to watch the sunrise.

 I doodled this old picture of me with a pen while these delicious pork chops (recipe!) were cooking and the potatoes were roasting the other night to pass a little time.  Those huge teeth!  I want those glasses back. I want to talk to that young girl and see who she was then (I can't remember!).

The pork chop recipe comes from Mimi Thorisson's new cookbook on the left and the lemon roasted potatoes from Ina's book on the right.  I also made the apple pie bars from Ina's book a few days ago and they were phenomenal - better than pie!  I am going to cook my way through both books this winter I just know it.   Recipe for pork chops below - I made some of my own tweeks such as substituting pure apple cider for hard cider since I didn't have any and sour cream for creme fraiche for the same reason:

Black Pig Pork Chops (you can use any pig you want!)

4 Bone in or boneless Pork chops (I used boneless because that's what I had)
2 T butter
four shallots or one small onion chopped (I've made the recipe 2 times and used either)
2 garlic cloves smashed

Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and cook the shallots for 3 minutes.  Add the pork chops (score first and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides) and garlic, reduce heat to medium and cook pork 7 minutes each side (until juices run clear) - put these chops in an oven proof pan and place a sage leaf on each and sprinkle on some of the pan juices if any. Place these covered in a warm oven.  Increase the heat under the pan and pour in:
2/3 cup hard or fresh apple cider - boil for a few minutes to reduce.  Add 3 T of creme fraiche or sour cream and stir until thickened  Pour over the warm chops and serve.  The meat is tender and juicy; the sauce is so good you want to drink it!  Easy Peasy - great for company too.

Now for the autumn wrap up:

 Dan and Therese in Connecticut on that road trip  - we attended the open house for the Hartford LDS Temple.

While on that trip we went in to a little sandwich shop in Farmington CT for lunch and the wall next to the bathroom was covered in old silver trays - it was a pleasing sight.

Pizza in New Haven CT with my love!  Isn't he cute?  I just have to say that we went to this pizzeria intentionally because I have read for years and years that this joint makes the best pizza in New England.  We both emphatically agree that it does not!!  It was an expensive disappointment - expensive pizza (that one was over 30 bucks! and I ordered my own large as well ($75 dollars for pizza dinner).  We meant to take home lots of leftovers which we did but we ended up throwing them both out - yuck!  Tasteless sauce, thin crackery crust and underwhelming toppings flavors.  Dan had the loaded meat one and mine was - I can't even remember now but very different from Dan's so we could have variety.  The famous place?  And right down the street from the gorgeous Yale University campus?  -  Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.  It even googles as the best. Sorry, it's not and we were so sad after making the trip there just for the experience.  Monday we are going to the best one, the real winner - Regina's Pizzeria in the North End of Boston.  My son Heath is being sworn in the day after tomorrow and taking the Massachusetts Attorney's Oath and we'll be attending and then eating really outstanding pizza afterward.

And to end this post - this is the last rose of autumn - the one I allowed to keep going when everything else has been cut down, pulled out or put to bed.  She smelled amazing in the warm sun today.  Good bye fall - now it's time to paint (I've got a new space to tell you about another time), do house projects, travel, bake a lot, make pretty things, enjoy coats and woolen hats and mittens, snow boots, snow shoeing, reading, fires, Netflix - Gilmore Girls next week - oh my gosh!!!
P.S. - I have been watching "The Crown" on Netflix a bit every night - it is fascinating and well done!