After starting the long overdue laundry, then filling out the forms they sent home for Anna to be tested for gifted and talented (this was really hard! Does she have a large vocabulary? Yes! Give examples. Umm, er, ah, she uses big words all the time, can't think of any at the moment... Does she figure out the why of things? Give examples. Oh, geez, yes, but I can't think of anything specific to write down...) anyway, after a couple of hours of that, Anthony and I succumbed to our temptations and went to the IKEA grand opening today.
We weren't going to go the first day because we knew it would be crowded. People had been camping out since Monday in order to be some of the first ones in the store! But the lure of everything stylish, cheap, and Swedish overtook us and we headed north.
We had to go through the showrooms hastily, because we knew we had to pick up Colin from preschool by 2:30. We marveled at the sofas, kitchen sets, storage, pottery, wine glasses. Before I fainted from hunger, I steered Anthony to the cafe. "We could've eaten at home before we left..." he groused, until he sank his choppers into an amazing ciabbata sandwich with mozzarella and roasted red peppers. I had to get the classic SWEDISH meatballs, which were a little mass produced but delicious nonetheless. We split a slice of apple pie, so cinnamon-y, and drizzled with custard (not limp and wilted whipped cream). Then we rushed out of there, not buying anything this time, and totally skipping large sections of the store.
I told Anthony it was just an appetizer portion of the store we got today. Although some of the items make me think Ikea is stuck in a 70s European time warp, we loved the efficiency, the eye to form and function, the trash cans divided for recycling. Why can't Target and even WalMart be more like that?
I think we will have to go back this weekend. The cafe opens for breakfast before the store opens....
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7 comments:
mmmmm...IKEA bacon.
You are a lot of 'Foodies' on here !!! my mouth waters every time I read your blog,Jenn. I have an 'Emilys' word for you...well two cos I am Family: Clever.and..caring. OK? xx
In Sweden they call it Ik-Eee-Ah: in England we call it Eye-Kee-Ah and everyone tries to avoid it because of the crowds, but it's one of those phenomena that draws you back again and again. Partly because of the food. Sometimes I go there just to buy huge bags of mini Dime bars and big jolly red tins of Pepparkarkor biscuits.
Ikea never looks quite like its catalogues would have you believe. Whenever I go, I always wish I'd taken my camera so I can make an authentic catalogue, with pictures of adults lying horizontal on display chairs, surrounded by shopping bags, looking absolutely broken and beaten by the five-mile walk around the store.
I don't know what the rest of Europe calls it. You've got me wondering now.
You say ickeeya, I say eye-keya, let's call the whole thing a swedish godsend. Who knew the lingonberry was so prominently used in other parts of the world -- sauces and soft drinks even!? I love the kiddie part of the cafeteria, but not so sure breakie is their best meal. Go on a weekday this close to the opening for heaven's sake. Hoards of people make me jittery.
As you know, my kids sleep in IKEA beds, have a brilliant IKEA seahorse that illuminates their potty at night. We also play on a great $15 IKEA train rug that beats those expensive train tables IMHO. And don't get me started on the tableware. You know I love my IKEA champers glasses and party plates.
Vive L'IKEA however you say it!
OK, Antonia, I guess that's just what they call it in Germany, and I globalized it to all of Europe. How American of me. Thanks for filling me in on the Swedish pronounciation.
Steph, I do wonder what they call it in France, since they have to have their own name for everything. Hmmmm...too brain dead tonight to come up with witty Frenchified moniker...
We love the Ikea food. The girls both like the meatballs, my husband tries different things and I LOVE the salmon, which always comes with delicious,well cooked veggies!
The cookies are great--we love the Ballerina cookies,especially the chocolate filled ones, and there's usually a bag of Ikea meatballs in our freezer and lingonberry concentrate in the fridge--it's great mixed with apple juice BTW!
And we have:
an Ikea table and a half table
kids Ikea chairs (like barstools)
an Ikea ottoman/storage box
a Poang footstool
office furniture cupboards that make a cool window seat
plastic Ikea cups and plates for kids
Ikea Malm bureaus in all our rooms (I have 4--they're )
Nightlights in the girls rooms (SC has the blue star, JR has the pink flower)
JR's new loft bed
And last, but not least:
More than 20 Billy bookcases, including several that we use as storage cabinets, and 3 that we turned into a towel storage rack.
I keep figuring one of these days we're going to start getting a red carpet greeting complete with trumpets when we show up. Or at least a free bag of meatballs or something...
My favorite reward for making it through another exhilerating trip through the swedish cattle call is the $1 nonfat frozen yogurt. can't beat it! brings the blood sugar up just enough to get you home and despair over the assembly process...
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