Pastry Day/ Genie 'n' a bottle

Yesterday Grandma and I had a pastry day. She made "kubba" which looks like and is almost an English shepherds pie, "arais" (like lasagna but instead of the pasta we put bread), and I helped her in making "kleecha" (the most famous Iraqi pastry or cookie stuffed with dates also known in other Arab countries as Ma'mool). I baked a coconut cake and made coconut cookies.

I remember how we used to have "kleacha" festivals few days before Eid back in Baghdad. I remember I used to steal from the dough and eat before it was baked. I did that yesterday too :)
We had a nice day. In the evening my mom's cousin came with three of her kids. We had the pastries with tea.

When I went to bed I remembered my mom's word "Don't leave the cake uncovered". I remembered I took it back to the kitchen but I didn't cover it. Then I thought my grandmother is so insightful, she must have covered it before she went to bed. Guilt plays its role and forced me to go to the kitchen at 2 am just to check the cake.

I looked where I left the cake but it was gone. I said "yes, I was right" then I wanted to check where the cake was. I checked where we keep the cookies but no luck. I checked both refrigerators with their freezers but no luck. I checked the cupboard but no luck. Then I thought it could be someone who wanted to eat it and took it to the living room but no luck. As long as it's missing then it must be somewhere. It was a big cake and only three or four pieces where eaten. I remembered a friend who had a tale to tell about her duck.

My friend had balloon like a duck, which she used to take with her swimming when she was a child. After she got older, she left the duck resting on her closet. She used to go to sleep and look at the duck. Four years and the duck up there was smiling in her face every night. One night she looked as usual at the duck and fell asleep. Next day, she opened her eyes to see the duck was gone.

She ran to her mother asking her about the duck. Her mother had no answer. She asked the neighbors who visit but they knew nothing. She called cousins and friends and told them that the duck is gone and she wondered if it was someone playing a joke on her. None knew anything about where the duck was.
She went back to her mother asking if she gave the duck to someone and didn't want to say. She assured her mother that it's alright if she had done so; she only needs to know that the duck didn't disappear.

The friend lived her life after giving up and she still has no doubt that there are creatures living among us but we can't see them. She was certain that their home was haunted or they had genies around.
One day she was missing a Pepsi-bottle from the case of 24 bottles and she needed it to exchange the empty case with a new one. She searched everywhere but she just couldn't find it. She started running and shouting in her house "You took the duck. It is fine. But give me back my bottle".

A note: I found the cake today in the pickle jar. It was a clean big jar but had some pickle smell. My grandmother has lost her sense of smelling when she was a child :)