In many parts of the world right now, it gets dark before five p.m., the last time you saw a fresh peach was literally in another year, and your city is still piled under epic amounts of snow.
It makes total sense that this is the time when cacio e pepe emerges as the pasta of 2016.
This traditional Roman dish may have gotten its start as early as the 1200s but has since evolved nto a dish revolving around three (sometimes four) ingredients. Just cheese, pasta, pepper, pasta cooking water and sometimes fat.
The specific ingredients may differ slightly (Pecorino vs. Parmesan cheese, tonnarelli vs. bucatini, olive oil vs. butter), but the general idea is the same.
Warm, al dente pasta. Lashings of coarse black pepper. Stir in pasta water and cheese to make a thick, creamy sauce right in the pan.
Or you can always make the pasta directly in a wheel of cheese.
Freelance food writer and consultant Lauren Bloomberg tells Mashable, "It hits all of the flavor notes that are people crave. It's salty, cheesy and pepper-y. It's impossible to get through a bowl of Alfredo without palate fatigue. The layers of flavor in cacio e pepe solve that issue."
No cream, no expensive vegetables, no meat. Just a few ingredients resulting in a thick, spicy pasta dish that makes carbonara look like a brazen hussy.
That said, there are also new and exciting ways to enjoy these classic flavors in everything from vegan sauces to pizzas.
Bon appetit.
Chrissy Teigen digs it and can now make dinner in her own huge wheel of cheese
A photo posted by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) on Dec 19, 2015 at 4:04pm PST
You can eat it on pizza
A photo posted by Victor Mazzeo (@mazzeo) on Sep 18, 2015 at 5:22am PDT
David Chang takes out the cheese and replaces it with a fermented chickpea paste
A photo posted by skillman (@gotjen67) on Jan 21, 2016 at 5:59pm PST
You can make it grain-free
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Even a Master of None can master this pasta
A photo posted by @azizansari on Nov 14, 2014 at 10:16pm PST
Unlike a date, cacio e pepe will never stand you up
Because sometimes food really is love. #cacioepepe pic.twitter.com/cLiR8jHDzT— Joanne Natale (@joannenatale) August 24, 2015
Now all that's left to do is grate that cheese and enjoy looking at people get splashed by slushy water on the street as you sit inside slurping your pasta.