First of all, thank God for Epicurious.  Mary – one of my scarily un-crummy cook friends – told me about them while teaching me how to make a souffle.  They are a searchable database for Gourmet and Bon Appetit recipes, where you can type in your ingredients-on-hand and see what they’ve got.  In this case, I had too much Gruyere cheese (from the souffle) and a tub of pitted olives I’d bought on a whim the previous week at Whole Foods.  I typed in “gruyere” and “olives” and, voila: the Tomato and Onion Tart.

Easy recipe, once I made the crucial simplifying assumption that I would buy rather than build the crust.  (Using pre-made stuff is no shame in the tech business: it’s called “buy vs. build” and it’s even a bit more chic to buy than to do it yourself”.)  Whole Food’s whole-wheat frozen pie crust was probably easier on my constitution than the Butter Pastry Dough they were going to have me prepare.  I can always make a dough in Year 2.

It went well.  Debbie – who had just come home off the road – liked it (and even ate a smidgen of seconds, a surer proof of approval than mere words).  For the first time since New Years, no criticism and self-criticism afterwards.  Life is sweet.