A city under siege......

The city is under a siege. A sudden drop in the temperatures and the city seems to have collapsed under it.

It all started on Thursday evening, when my friend and I had to pick up the kids after school. It was cold, very cold and a drizzle started, just as the car hit the main street. The kind of rain that hurts, when it hits you, sharp and icy, icy cold. A matter of 5 miles, which is covered in about 20 mins. (driving  normally and getting caught at some signals) took us about an hour. 

Driving home was about the same. 

Dallas, is afraid of such weather.

By evening, whatsapp was buzzing with questions, 'is our school closed tomorrow?'  No one knew the answer to that, but everyone seemed to have an opinion about how foul the weather was just about now and how it would worsen by the time the sun was up. 

The kids, however, were sure, there was no school on Friday. They stuck to that. 

Well, whaddya know? The kids were right! By 9:00 pm there was an IVR broadcast announcing that the school was closed due to inclement weather.

We woke up to a dazzling white morning. To people living in places where there is regular snowfall, this seems like nothing, and it is, nothing, but for a city, that knows little to nothing about snow, it comes as  a rude awakening. 

Men and women work from home, stores are swept clean of any and every vegetable, dairy, water and snack. Heaters are cranked up and the roads are clear, of cars, that is. 

Not many want to brave the snow and even worse, the icy streets. It's the icy streets that kept us indoors too. 

It is difficult, to sit at home and play and do stuff with an active 5 year old, who never seems to tire.

2 play dates and playing about in the scanty snow and freezing our axxxx toes  outside and the little one still showed NO signs of wear and tear. 

It was time to involve him in some activity that required minimal effort but good results and most importantly, kept him in one place for a few minutes.

On my last trip to the grocery store, I had, on a whim, picked up a roll of Crescent Rolls dough, the kind that comes in a tube. 

When it is as cold as it was outside ( it was about -7 deg. C, by the by, Celsius in the negative is so much more impressive then 2 digit Fahrenheit, no?), something warm, sweet hits the spot. Like Cinnamon Pull- Apart Bread.

I pulled out the tube of Crescent rolls (the one that makes 8 rolls, I think) from the fridge.

Pre-heat the oven t 375 deg. F ( as per tube instructions)

Melted about 2 tbsp butter

Ina  small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar, approximately 1 tsp Cinnamon powder  and 1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder

Clean and prep the work surface.

Pop the tube and pull out the dough. 

Roll out the dough on the clean work surface and pinch together the triangles to make one big rectangle

Brush the surface of the rectangle with the melted butter

Sprinkle the cinna-nutmeg- sugar evenly all over the rectangle, covering the entire surface. 

Here comes the part when you start the cutting and arranging.

It helps to have  loaf pan ready, greased and all.

Now, using a pizza cutter (which is the best way to cut it) or a sharp knife, cut 3 horizontal lines in the dough.

Now, carefully, lift one strip and place it on top of the other. 

3 strips piled on top of one another, think 3 mattresses piled on top of the other , just so we are clear.

Using the pizza cutter, cut the piled on strips in 4-6 squares, vertically, so they look like stacked pillows in a line.

Now pick up one stack at a time and place it in the pan, like soldiers in a line, not piled on top of one another. Just so we are clear on the placement.

Sprinkle any left over sugar on top and bake in the oven.

The tube says bake for 15 -17 minutes, but I took longer, about 25 minutes. 

At the 15 minute mark, the first pull apart was done, but inside, the rest was all soft and doughy, so I had to bung it in the oven longer. 

It may be my oven, so keep an eye after the 17 minute mark. 

Remove the pan from from the oven, click a picture while it cools and then devour.

It has the child's seal of approval.

Mission accomplished.

We still have a school shutdown and so it's time to do more stuff, indoors.

Stay warm folks! See you soon.

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