Iris on health and longevity · June 26th

The core idea is simple: thinly sliced steak, a crisp lettuce cup, and a spicy peanut sauce that’s surprisingly rich. It’s gluten‑free, dairy‑free, and feels light

Emma’s new book shows that campfire meals can be more than burgers and oatmeal packets. She walks you through a handful of fresh‑feel dishes—grilled pizza, quick paella, simple pastas, foil‑packet nachos, and a glazed pork chop paired with a bright corn salsa—so you can bring a little kitchen creativity to the woods.

The key to pulling it off is prep before you hit the road. Slice and oil vegetables, freeze seasoned meat, and store the pork‑chop glaze (honey, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, crushed coriander, salt, paprika, garlic, pepper) in a small jar. The glaze doubles as a quick sauce when you’re ready to eat, and the veggies can be tossed straight onto the grill.

When you set up camp, light the fire early and create a two‑zone grill. The pork chops get a quick char on direct heat, then finish in the cooler side until they reach 145°F. Spread a spoonful of the saved glaze over the chops and top with a generous scoop of the roasted‑corn salsa.

Emma also suggests packing a batch of the salsa ahead of time—roasted corn, diced tomatoes, spring onions, olive oil, citrus juice, vinegar, honey, garlic, a touch of heat, salt, and those toasted coriander seeds. It’s a versatile side that brightens eggs, nachos, or any snack you’re cooking under the stars.

I’m glad you asked—Emily’s latest piece is a quiet confession rather than a guide. She’s lived in France for over a decade, raised two kids there, bought a home, and even jokes about finally mastering the subjonctif. Yet when a passerby asked if France feels like home, she blurted “no,” and that moment sparked the whole essay.

She paints the everyday tug of homesickness: scrolling Australian property listings, filling empty grocery carts online, and day‑dreaming about a beach Christmas. The math she does on the side is sobering—if she keeps taking two‑week trips back to Australia each year, she’ll only have about a year and a half left in the country before she’s eighty.

Emily then lays out a pros‑and‑cons list that doesn’t resolve anything, but it does capture the love‑hate relationship many expats feel. The good includes the rhythm of Parisian life, the cultural quirks that have shaped her, and the comfort of a familiar street. The bad is the lingering pull of her native land, the cost of staying abroad, and the feeling that she’s still “in between” two homes.

In the end, she leaves the question open, acknowledging that the answer shifts with each season. It’s less about deciding whether to stay or leave, and more about accepting that both places will keep tugging at her heart, sometimes at the same time.

I’m catching you up on a breezy Italian summer vibe. The host just wrapped a live chat where they’ll be sharing their seasonal recipes tomorrow, and the focus is all about fresh, light eats. Think garden‑grown veggies and fruit filling the kitchen, with ripe tomatoes paired with creamy mozzarella taking center stage.

They also mentioned classic combos like prosciutto wrapped around sweet melon, perfect for a quick picnic bite. The idea is to keep meals simple and cool—no heavy cooking when the heat is on. Instead, they’re loading up on fresh fruit and stopping by a local artisanal shop for gelato, which adds a sweet, chilled finish to the day.

Overall, it’s a reminder that summer dining in Italy leans on seasonal produce, easy pairings, and a touch of indulgence without overdoing it.

I’m glad you’re thinking about a Fourth of July treat—this flag cake is a light vanilla sponge baked in a half‑sheet pan, then split into two rectangles for easy layering. The sponge stays airy because the batter is folded gently and baked on parchment, so it releases cleanly without sticking.

Between the layers you spread a thin coat of raspberry jam, which keeps the cake moist and adds a bright fruit note. A blanket of lightly sweetened whipped cream, flavored with vanilla, sits on top, giving the cake a soft, fluffy finish without feeling heavy.

The real show‑stopper is the fresh berries: sliced strawberries (or raspberries) in the middle layer, and a topping of blueberries, raspberries, and optional cherries arranged like a flag. It’s a simple way to showcase summer fruit while keeping the colors patriotic.

The cake serves about 10‑12 people, and you can assemble it a day or two ahead—just cover it loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let it sit at room temperature for ten minutes before slicing, and you’ll get a cake that’s cool enough to be refreshing but still soft enough to cut cleanly. Enjoy!

Housekeeping Detail: Before we getting started talking about books, I want to remind you that today is the last day of the Amazon Prime Days Sale. I just created a post with What I Put In My Cart and Bought, made a Reel, and last week I shared some of my Favorite Deals and Why I Recommend Them! I keep all of my books I’ve read on my Amazon Book Page! I wish I had time to update another platform like Goodreads but I don’t. Here we go…. Whistler - 5/5 stars AMAZING LOVED IT! Along with Buckeye and Strangers, this is one of my very few 5 star reads of 2026. Ann Patchett wrote it AND narrated Whistler so it was especially perfect. Reminds me of when Julia Whelan narrated her own, My Oxford Year, which is currently Free on Kindle Unlimited. Whistler is a story of a chance encounter of a grown woman and her husband randomly encountering the woman’s stepfather who was only a part her life for a few years in her childhood. This is a story of family, of loss, of what could have been, yet to be reminded that what we do have is beautiful. I cried, I thought about my own family, choices, my mortality, my childhood, my adulthood, just such a wonderful book. I had a few 25k step walks listening to Ann Patchett because she is a master storyteller, a creator of characters so real you feel like you know them. I didn’t want this book to end. I laughed, I cried, I thought about my life, my choices, how one seemingly small choice can affect so many things, with ripple effects for decades. One of my favorite lines of the book - and it was mentioned a few times and a few ways - was something to the effect of that you really have no idea what’s going on in someone’s relationship or behind closed doors. And isn’t that the truth. You will LOVE this book. And if you haven’t read her Tom Lake, which is narrated by none other than Meryl Streep, run and download that too. This Story May Save Your Life - 4/5 stars. A thriller with some romance aspects, it follows a couple of friends (a man and a woman) who are podcasters. And the woman’s husband disappears and turns up dead. It’s a whodunnnit type of thriller with some twists and turns that kept me guessing. Listening to it because of the podcast element to it is the way to go. If you want more in this thriller + podcast plot, definitely check out Listen For the Lie (currently FREE on Kindle Unlimited) and None Of This Is True. Yesteryear - 4/5 stars. Long review, lot to say! This is a really hard review to write because I am very conflicted about the book. To preface how eagerly anticipated this book has been, it was contracted to be made into a movie before the book even came out (4/7) starring Anne Hathaway. I think the movie could be good but rarely do I watch movies based on books because they don’t tend to live up to the book or things are drastically different, etc. Back to the book, we follow an influencer who amasses a huge following on Instagram showcasing her life as a tradwife. Meaning, she is a good Christian woman, says yes to her husband, has a lot of kids, loves to make her own bread, you know the woman. But I actually kind of hated her. Not that she’s a tradwife, but that she seemed to really hate both her followers and her children. And I couldn’t really get past that. There were sections in the middle that were really hard to listen to for me because of the contempt she seemed to have for both. My finest days were the ones I spent parenting my now 19 year old when she was younger and so it made me kind of sad to hear her talk about her children and her followers too. There’s also a past-present theme going on, and in the beginning of the book, I was really confused, I still kind of am. The one thing this book DOES do very well is talk about what modern feminism looks like, what does it mean to be a woman, a wife, a tradwife, a mother, there’s all of that. The narration was good, although I am not a fan of this narrator. She also narrated Heart The Lover (another book I didn’t really love too much despite the hype, thought it was boring and plain with some weird stuff mixed in) and this book also had weird stuff. I can see why the narrator narrated both if that makes any sense. This may be one of those books you just have to read to see for yourself and I can see people totally and completely loving this book - or not. It would make a great book club book and I read it for that reason (have not met yet to discuss). The Measure - 3.5/5 stars. I had originally given this 4/5 stars but nearly 2 months later, it feels less memorable to me. The premise of the book is, if you knew how long your life would be, would you want to know? Would it change how you live the life you have? Would you do anything differently? My criticism with this book is that it felt very lengthy and points and I don't feel like it needed to be that long to get the point across.

Cottage cheese is the quiet workhorse in these ten recipes, and the real selling point is how easily it blends into both sweet and savory dishes. A high‑speed blender turns it smooth for dressings, while a food processor helps you make a pliable flatbread from just cottage cheese, eggs, parmesan, garlic and Italian seasoning.

The skillet lasagna skips pre‑cooking noodles; you toss broken pasta, sauce and cheese straight into a pan and let everything bake together. The buffalo chicken dip swaps out some of the usual cream cheese for cottage cheese, keeping the dip creamy and protein‑rich without losing the kick.

For snacks, the chocolate‑banana pops combine cottage cheese, banana, maple syrup, cacao and a scoop of protein powder for a frozen treat that feels like fudge. And the cinnamon‑apple banana bread shows how the cheese adds moisture and protein to a gluten‑free loaf that stays soft for days.

If you’re looking for a simple way to boost protein without changing flavors, these ideas demonstrate that cottage cheese can disappear into almost any recipe, from hummus to queso, while keeping the texture creamy and the taste familiar.

I’m thinking about the little things that make a day feel just right. First, there’s the simple pleasure of stirring fresh berries into jam—sweet, sticky, and a reminder that patience pays off. Then there’s the game Anomia, the one where you scramble to name things fast; it’s a fun brain‑boost that never gets old.

Sardines get a double shout‑out: buttered toast with them is a comforting bite, and the fish themselves are just solid, salty goodness. I also love the idea of supporting sustainable fish choices, which feels responsible without being preachy.

For treats, swapping the usual graham crackers for Tates in s’mores adds a richer, buttery crunch. And when I see a current Rothko painting, its bold color blocks feel surprisingly calming.

Finally, the tiny moments—like an avocado pit dropping with a soft “plop,” the combo of baby blue and maroon, or just a familiar face on a screen—are the ones that stick with me, little reminders of what feels good.

So Mayim recently discussed a couple of episodes from her show, and one of the topics that came up was Neil deGrasse Tyson's thoughts on UAP, or unidentified aerial phenomena, and alien encounters. He's still pretty skeptical about the whole thing, even with more and more people from the military coming forward to share their experiences. Mayim seemed a bit disappointed that he's not more open to the idea, but it's not entirely surprising given his background as a scientist.

Mayim also touched on another episode where she talked about the idea that our souls choose the lives we lead, which is a pretty interesting concept. It's not something that's necessarily backed up by science, but it's definitely a thought-provoking topic. Mayim seemed to be exploring the idea and how it might relate to our experiences and choices in life.

It's worth noting that these are just discussions and not necessarily based on empirical evidence, so it's not like there's any concrete proof to back up these ideas. But it's always interesting to hear people's thoughts and perspectives on these kinds of topics. Mayim's show often delves into some pretty deep and complex subjects, and it's clear that she's passionate about exploring different ideas and ways of thinking.

Mayim's conversation about Neil deGrasse Tyson's skepticism was pretty brief, but it's an interesting topic that's been getting more attention lately. As more people come forward to share their experiences with UAP, it'll be interesting to see how the conversation around this topic evolves. For now, it's just a lot of speculation and debate, but it's definitely something that's captured people's imagination.

Overall, it sounds like Mayim's show has been covering some pretty fascinating topics lately, and it's always great to hear her thoughts and perspectives on these kinds of things. Even if you don't agree with everything she says, it's always interesting to listen to her discuss these complex ideas and concepts.

(MedPage Today) -- Note that some links may require registration or subscription. In Hungary, a hospital orderly admitted to eating human body parts he got from work and elsewhere, according to police. (People) Scientists still puzzle over where...