My boyfriend and I have had a baking marathon with this, wholemeal muffins and Anne's Tomato Pie! This was the first thing and we have eaten most of it while preparing the other two. And that's from a man who takes pride on his orderly mealtimes (meaning, no merienda!).

Following our dinner a couple weeks ago, Aimee asked for the recipe for the cherry cordial, which I originally got from my Bulgarian neighbors, Ilya and Tricia. This is that turning time of the year, when we serve the last dregs of last year's cherry cordial and go out and pick this year's sour cherries to repeat the cycle. Prepare Christmas gifts now! The contemplation jar: 1 lb. sour cherries 3 cups (710 ml) vodka 1 1/2 cup sugar Wash the cherries and remove stems. Removing pits is optional. Place them in jar, add vodka, cap with tight lid and mix. Stir daily during the first days, later at least once a week for 3-4 weeks. Contemplate your manifold sins and wickednesses while stirring. Add sugar, stir until most of it has dissolved. Stir again at least once a week for 3-4 weeks. Filter the mixture of cherries and alcohol and transfer the liquid to a bottle. The liqueur should mellow at least until Christmas before drinking. Or for the lazy, just leave them all together and pour off the liqueur as needed, pull out cherries to put in brownies, over ice-cream, in yogurt, and bottle as gift opportunities arise. The color of the cherry liqueur is ruby-red. This recipe can also be used with sweet cherries, but the flavor and color will be muted, darker. If you wish to make a liqueur with a stronger hint of almond flavor pit 1/3 of the cherries, break them with a hammer, and add the broken pits together with pitted cherries and whole cherries when making the liqueur.