Bonnie's friend Tom, whom she knows from her days in the liberal
playgrounds of the '70s, is in town for a few days, and I get to
cook for someone new. One slight issue is that he's majorly
concerned with his heart health. so I'm having to go light on the
fat and stuff, and, in common with several other friends in similar circumstances, tends to avoid red meat. especially beef. Tom,
nicknamed Big T, is not a little guy, still, but he got his monicker
from being on the staff of a rehabilitation place for teens where
one of the clients was also Tom, so there were Big T and Little T,
and the name stuck for longer than it was accurate - though Little
T has been lost track of - it's been close on half a century - Big
T's label persists.

Tom, a dentist and also an M.D., is the director of the FACES
foundation, which provides medical care for villagers in rural
Peru, focusing on facial surgery, from restorative dentistry to
cleft palate to cataract removal and other eye surgery. It's become
one of my favored charities, and in an interesting cross-pollination
I got Lilli to be a backer, until the more local need of the Pamo
winery's family took precedence (my last charitable contribution was
to this last).

He's in town for a meeting at Tufts coupled with the 95th birthday
celebration of the patriarch of his clan, and when he's in town he
stays with Bonnie, whose house is convenient, and they'be been
friends for upward of 50 years. Both of them choose their friends
carefully and keep them for a long time. When he's here, there's a
veritable parade of interesting characters, most of whom have become
mainstays of the social activist community. Though I share most of
their values, I find them hard to talk to and tend to stay upstairs
when they come to call. On the rare occasion that I'm caught in the
kitchen, conversations are interesting and cordial but exhaust me.
The notable one of this visit was with Big T's between-wives girl,
who had not met me before, so there was a bit of the dog-behind-
sniffing thing, where she prodded and pressed and tried to find out
where I stood in the musical world, and then dropped the name of
one of the more eminent conductors in town, saying proudly that he
calls her his little sister, which she is not, biologically. I made
it quite clear that I was friendly with his first wife, so that put
that subject to rest, until Bonnie brought up the second wife, who
was another interim thing and whom this guest person had not even
been aware of at all, knowing only the third wife and thinking that
the terrible stories about the other wife related to the first wife,
so at least that misunderstanding was put to rest, and that's why I
don't hang around in those circles so much, otherwise I'd be in big
trouble all the time. Anyway, we had had a dinner planned for Big T,
and I insincerely invited this woman over, and I am rather thankful
that it turns out she couldn't attend.

Mock Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish
categories: mock, low-cal, breakfast, dairy
servings: 1

1/4 c Blueberries, fresh
2 Tb low-fat whipped cream cheese
1 English muffin, light multi-grain

[Toast muffin; mash cheese with fruit and
spread over. May substitute other fruit.]

after Jean Rife
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