#fatayer

Today's fic is from the 2024 Dreamling Bingo prompt, Bakery, so there are many many many food mentions in this fic! I'll probably have to revisit this fic in the future to make more things, but for today I chose the spinach pies and the honey cake. In this story, Hob owns a bakery/coffee shop with Joanna (there is always some funny banter going on between these two!) and Dream is an artist. But the most adorable part of the fic is that this is also a dad Dream and little Orpheus fic! Hob always watches their little antics and pines after the dad, as they regularly walk by the cafe. But one day they come inside and soon they become regulars, much to Hob's delight! It's a one-shot but a slow burn, and there's a lot of mutual yearning! But I really love the pace because it feels so real, and watching them fall in love is really sweet.

Here are a few lines from the fic!

~~~~~~~

Hob looks up from wiping the coffee bar, to see Jo leaning back against the counter, watching him.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Do you think he’s a musician?"

“Who?”

“Mr tall, dark and scary, with the rainbow mini-me? The one you’ve been watching for days?”

“Shut up, Constantine,” Hob warns, turning back to the coffee bar and shaking his cloth over the grounds bin.

“I think I’m going to go for a walk,” he says. “I’m taking a pie.” This week they’re selling middle-eastern-inspired spinach hand pies since spinach is one of the few ingredients still in season. He drops one of the crescent-shaped pastries into a paper bag, and turns towards the front door.

[I made Lebanese fatayer, which are usually triangles, but I was in a rush and rectangles were easy to shape 😁. We continue with more food.)

-cippy6

Yes of course habibti ❤️

Once upon a time there was a little girl named cippy. And cippy loved to eat fatayer. So one day cippy smelled something very delicious coming from the kitchen and she went to investigate while her teta was distracted. And she found a tray of thirty fatayer fresh outta the oven. And she hadnt eaten anything alllll day so she was very hungry. And the akawi cheese looked so good and melty... And she knew her grandma would be busy for at least a WHOLE nother twenty minutes... Twenty minutes! So she took one. And then she rearranged the remaining 29 fatayer on the tray so it wouldnt be obvious that one was missing. And she ate the fatayrah, and it was very delicious, and she went about the next twenty minutes feeling very satisfied and pleased with herself.

But then her teta finished what she was doing, and she went back to the kitchen expecting thirty fresh fatayer, still warm but not hot enough to burn you anymore. She wasnt a silly woman, so she counted them up, 1 2 3 4 5... 26, 27, 28, 29...!!!! And the thirtieth one was missing!

The only other person in the house had been cippy. So the grandma came to cippy and said: cippy, i made 30 fatayer, and now theres only 29! Did you take one?

And cippy said no teta i didnt take one, i dont know where it went! Maybe it was a ghost that stole it, because it wasnt me!

And the grandma said oh! The last fatayrah! Where is it, cippy?? Are you sure you dont know where it is? Are you sure you didnt take it?

And still cippy denied it.

Ten years pass, and cippy is graduating from high school. Teta is there, and after cippy takes her certificate, teta cries out: the last fatayrah, the last one! Are you sure you didnt take it, where did it go?

And cippy says i tell you, i didnt take it!

And then cippy gets married, and teta is at the katb kteb. Cippy and her husband sign the papers, and everyone is so happy for her! But teta feels like something is missing. When cippy and her grandma finally make eye contact, teta can tell that cippy knows whats coming, because she starts to grimace. And while she is dancing teta says cippy, youre a married woman now, are you sure you dont know where the last fatayrah is? Where did it go, did you take it? Tell me where it is! And cippy despairs.

A few years later, grandma passes away. Cippy cries and thinks of how she never owned up to what she did. Still life goes on.

Some years more, and cippy is a grandma herself now. She goes to visit her grandma's grave for the first time, as her guilt has not allowed her to do so before. But maybe now she is ready to let it go.

When cippy walks towards the grave, she sees something move. And when she reaches the stone that marks her grandmas place, the ground starts to shake and crack. And a skeleton crawls out from the dirt. Then it stands itself up and it starts to dance. Cippy, the dancing skeleton says, my fatayrah! Its still missing, did you take it? Are you sure you dont know where it went? Are you sure?

Fatayer Recipe | Fatayer |  Levantine Cuisine | Savory-Stuffed Pie

Prepared using Mastercook Maida, fatayer is a popular middle-eastern savory-stuffed pie. It is Levantine cuisine delicious & light-textured Recipe with Fillings.