Just add eau de vie

This morning we were invited again to pick cherries from our friends' tree and this time decided to preserve some of them in eau de vie (brandy made from the grape skins left after wine-making and given to us by another friend). It's very easy to do: wash the cherries and pack them into sterilised jars with a tablespoonful of sugar poured onto each layer. When the jar is full, pour over the eau de vie until all the cherries are covered. Close the jar and leave for at least 4 months, turning occasionally to make sure the sugar mixes in. By Christmas these will make a very good digestif.

Last night was fun and we had a very good meal. The first and second course dishes were from the Auvergne - charcuterie and pounti, a sort of terrine made of chard and pruneaux, which was delicious and I'm going to try to make it sometime, and then grilled sausage with aligot, an Auvergnat speciality of mashed potato with a LOT of cheese mixed into it. I'd been worried that this mountain food would seem a bit heavy on a summer's night in the Languedoc, but the weather did its best for us and it was so chilly we were glad of this sort of meal! The fire will be lit next Saturday instead (weather permitting), so we won't miss out on that.