One Saturday in the month of August for almost as long as I've lived in Oakland, there's a garden party filled with a friendly crowd of people enjoying blush colored liquid filled bottles of the "finest" rosés (and sometimes not so fine...I remember that Martha Stewart variety one Rose Party a couple years ago...it was AWFUL -- even nasty...down and out WRONG. No one will convince me otherwise! OK, back to the story.) around. This year, that Saturday was last Saturday. Usually the invitees bring bottles of rosé to share...except me. This year I actually realized I have never brought a bottle of rosé to this fine gathering. Instead, I bring some things from my kitchen. I never questioned if this was what Christine wanted me to do... make food for her party. I mean, she used to regularly ask me if I'd help prepare a few things but these last couple years...ANYhoo, this year, I actually asked her...tart and cookies?...just to be sure. I mean I've never known her to worry about whether she'll have enough wine (I swear there's wine hiding under the house...there's always wine around. She's practically French!) but she does usually worry she won't have enough food... What did she say, you ask? She wanted tart and cookies! w00t! That's good because rosés go so nicely with a nice savory summer tart. And well, I haven't made anything wrapped in a pastry dough since my Christmastime Turkey Curry Pot Pies... I remember being super proud of the flakiness of my pie crust sans gluten. I wanted to make sure I hadn't lost my touch not to mention I thought there was a chance I could make it even better! This year's tart was of the cherry tomato basil variety. The tomatoes were sweet! Yay! The crust was as I imagined and maybe just a little better -- not necessarily in taste or texture. Rather, it was the adjustments I made during the preparation of the dough. I think I did it justice!

The other great thing about this garden party weekend was that just the week before, I shared my pastry dough recipe with a well known Athens, Georgia-based chef who has converted many of his own sauces into gluten free...not because he cannot eat gluten but because it's just the right thing to do in the name of health! This last weekend, he ALSO used my pastry dough recipe (in all it's whisking glory) to make a perfectly southern-style peach cobbler...and well? He said the master recipe for the dough was very good! Yippee! What a perfect ending to a perfect August week in Otown!