Rain....

so it's a good day to have a pot au feu simmering in the kitchen for hours. It's simple to make: a piece of beef (this time marinaded overnight in red wine, thyme, juniper berries and garlic, although that's not essential), a couple of carrots and a leek cut into chunks, two quartered onions, parsley, salt and a couple of bay leaves, covered with water, brought to the boil and simmered very slowly for about 3 or 4 hours. Traditionally, rather like the Welsh cawl, the meat would be eaten one day and the vegetables the next, but we'll probably eat some of both this evening. Tomorrow I'll make aïoli (garlic mayonnaise) to go with the leftovers.

We had a wonderful evening last night - a very good meal provided by the village bar and a singer who sang mainly songs in French by Jean Ferrat, who died last year. I'd only heard his popular songs before so hadn't realised how political some of his songs were - one at least is still banned on French TV - so I'll have to listen to some more of them. The singer ended with the Occitan (unofficial) anthem 'Se Canta' and we all joined in - only with the chorus in my case! Then people just got up as they felt like it and told funny stories in Occitan. Luckily we had an Occitan-speaking friend on our table to translate as I often get most of the joke but then fail to understand the punchline! We came home tired but much more cheerful than the night before!

In LARGE you can see how grainy this is in low light, but also the starry spots of light glistening on top of the pot au feu.