Cacio e Pepe Pasta

Today I plan to go to the walk-in clinic down the street from my apartment. I don't know how much a nurse practitioner is going to be able to do for me, but I guess worst case scenario she gives me some better drugs to deal with this cough than I could've otherwise gotten. I spent an hour and 40 minutes the other day trying to get into a doctor's office, but it seems that all of the doctors near where I live are either not accepting new patients or don't have appointment slots for new patients open until October and November! The soonest I could get an appointment was October 4th, so I booked it.

Anyway, I've been drinking a lot of fluids, including a lot of mint green tea (which I believe may have once saved me from mono...maybe), and resting up. I felt really lethargic and icky yesterday so I slept a lot, and was feeling physically better by evening (cough excluded). Josh set up a board game get-together with some of his law school friends; they were about 3/4 of the way done with Agricola when I stopped by. Afterward we all went to the pub in the Wasserstein building of the law school (which is really nice, by the way, will have to take pictures some time) and hung out for a bit, but we all wanted real food, which they didn't serve there. We checked out another pub on Harvard's campus called the Cambridge Queen's Head pub, named after Harvard's 17th century inn and tavern of the same name, which was also awesome but lacked the real food we were looking for. We ended up eating at Uno's in Harvard Square, which is where I learned what a tort is.

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to share this really, really simple recipe for "cacio e pepe pasta." Cacio e pepe is Italian (so I'm told) for "cheese and pepper," which is really all this is. The original poster of this recipe calls it "Rome's cosmopolitan version of mac & cheese," which is exactly right. For being so simple, it was quite good! Something quick and easy to throw together on an evening you don't feel like cooking.

1 lb. dried spaghetti

(I used 50% whole grain)

2 cups Pecorino Romano Cheese

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes

2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

salt to taste

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Add your pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain your pasta but reserve 1 cup of the water. Return pasta and the 1 cup water to your pot and cook over low heat. Add your remaining ingredients and stir until your cheese and butter have melted and create a creamy sauce. Season with additional salt if desired, serve topped with more cheese (if desired) immediately.