With what seemed to be a marathon of cooking and entertaining during the holidays behind me, it was time for a break. Whew. While I would have loved to be basking in the sun on the beach, I have had to settle for closing out the business books and transferring end-of-year files in my home office. Boring, right?

But since the above photo is indicative of the what January's weather has been like around here, staying at home, reading some books, watching some movies and not cooking large meals has been just fine with me.

In fact,  I hope to catch up on my blog reading, plan a trip to Los Angeles for Chris' 30th!!! birthday, meet some friends for dinner and others for lunch, eat lighter, exercise more, and day dream about our trip to St. Thomas in the Spring. Ah, Spring, it will be here before you know it.

In the meantime, here is a recipe for a cracker I made last week. It is spicy and buttery and goes perfectly with a Martini or a glass of wine. I think it also would make a good accompaniment to a steaming bowl of soup or stew. Enjoy.

Cacio e Pepe Crackers

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Position oven rack to center of oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line  a baking sheet with parchment.

Combine flour, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cheese and pulse to incorporate. Add butter and pulse until the mixture is coarsely combined and looks like wet sand. Slowly drizzle in 1- 2 tablespoons of cold water and pulse until the mixture begins to form a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a 12-inch long log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 week.

Cut log crosswise into 1/4 or 1/2 inch slices and bake 20 to 25 minutes until the crackers are very lightly browned.

Makes about 30 crackers

Cook's Note: Depending on your flour and the weather, you may need to add more than 2 tablespoons of water. Instead of one long log, I made two shorter ones and put one in the freezer for later. Both uncooked dough and baked crackers keep well in the freezer.