maybe not SO awesome

I went to Ikea yesterday to pick up a prize for my mother. I took my bff D with me (my other bff K didn't answer the phone or she would have been there too and it's too bad really because K is a very accomplished and savvy shopper - something I am not) and we were wandering through the store, trying to choose the perfect thing. I use the word "perfect" here to mean not too expensive but not too cheap either and fairly simple to mail. At one point we had decided on something - I don't remember what it was - and I checked the label. Made in the People's Republic of China.

It turns out that the Ikea doesn't get all their stuff from actual Swedes. And while it's all so cool and chic and Swedish-design-looking it isn't actually from Sweden.

Which naturally took a lot of wind out of my sails.

Because maybe my mom wouldn't notice or care if her Swedish prize was actually Chinese. But I noticed and I cared. D and I went through the whole store, picking up everything that would fit into a somewhat smallish mailing carton. Thailand. Bangladesh. Vietnam. India. Great Britain. China. China. China.

The only actual Swedish stuff in Ikea, stuff made in Sweden by - I can only hope - Swedes, were the foods by the cash registers.

So, mother, you're getting some very interestingly funky flat giant rye bread/cracker things. Also some lingonberry preserves which according to the nearby sign is typically served with meatballs and cabbage rolls. Which I believe is right up your alley. I hope you love it!