I totally missed posting about the new year. At the last minute, we decided to stay home, make dinner, and see if we could peep some fireworks from our balcony.

We had no groceries. So we raided our pantry and fridge and came up with what turned out to be a fantastic dinner.

I whipped up an artichoke-and-kale dip, and now I think we have to make this for every event. I just stirred together chopped, canned artichoke hearts, frozen kale, mayo, the last bit of sour cream, and seasonings, then topped it with Parmesan and baked until it was hot and lovely.

Then we rolled out some fresh pasta together and made cacio e pepe (one of our favorite things). The dough was a little finnicky – I used regular all-purpose flour and definitely didn’t knead it enough (I was hungry!). I’ve been watching/obsessing over Pasta Grannies lately, though, and now I’m stocked with Tipo 00 flour and am ready to spend some time kneading my dough.

J shook up some daiquiris with Plantation Pineapple, and we were all set! It turns out that our little balcony currently has the perfect vantage point to see alllll the legal and illegal firework shows in east Austin. The horizon was completely filled with fireworks – it was pretty amazing.

So – happy belated New Year! I hope 2020 is treating you well.