So far, my heart is in good shape, near as we can tell.
However, my maternal grandmother died of heart disease at 58 (I am currently 56). Her sister died of heart disease at 59. They both also smoked, as has every maternal relative I’ve ever had that has had heart disease. So maybe that particular problem will miss me.
However, I also had cardiotoxic chemotherapy in 2001/2002. So maybe it won’t miss me. It’s been 20 years, which, I guess so far, so good.
At any rate, when I approached 50, I decided to start researching heart-healthy diets and, based on my own taste in food, there was one clear winner — the Mediterranean diet. I mean, lean protein, fresh produce, and cheese? What’s not to love?
One thing has led to another and *finally* I’m committing to this. I’ve subscribed to Emeals and generally I pick one meal a week to cook from scratch (usually there are enough leftovers to make one or two more dinners from it). My meal earlier this week was just a Greek salad with romaine lettuce. Delicious, but not much cooking.
Tonight, I took my second stab at that TikTok tomato and feta pasta. I just sort of half-assed it this time and it came out with too many tomatoes and not nearly enough pasta. If I ever take a third try, I’ll use a smaller baking dish for the sauce and make about twice as much pasta. I love pasta, but I don’t like that much in the way of sauce.
I work the late-ish shift tomorrow, so I don’t know if I’ll have the energy to cook. Maybe I’ll just make another salad.
For today’s Gratuitous Amazon Link, we’ll go back to one of my favorite writers, Ally Carter, with the first book in her Embassy Row series, All Fall Down. Grace Blakely has been through a lot. Her mother died in what everyone tells her was an accidental fire. She was there that night, however, and she knows her mother was murdered. After getting out of a mental health facility, she has been sent to live with her maternal grandfather on Embassy Row of the small Mediterranean nation of Adria.
I don’t think I’ve ever read the third book in this series. I’d better get on that.