..of a piercing love. Right. It’s that intense feeling. The one that’s consumed me since last evening. Since I got back from IKEA and stepped into my kitchen, and after resting my poor aching feet for a good couple of hours, and when dinner time beckoned. That’s when it happened.
***
Bit of a story before I tell you all (I am not called a rambling tease for nothing):
Q: How does one make an average IKEA trip, exciting?
A: Drive alone and leave the husband home.
No, really. Someone called me mean, but think about it, why would any husband in his right mind want to accompany his wife to a store if it isn’t Best Busy or equivalent. Is that a fair statement or what? The corollary works too. No wife in her right mind would want to drag her husband to any kind of store dampen her mood? Retail therapy has known to work wonders on many a hormonal woman.
That said, let me go on record and say I do not like shopping. Nope. Yes, am a woman. No. I do not like the mall very much, I do not like the crowds, I do not feel the rush of a bargain. Over the years, shopping for pleasure which never really grew beyond the nascent stage is now dead. As in, shopping’s a necessary chore. Unless there is a necessity, there really is no need to ever step into a store. That would make me either old, or not feminine or both. It doesn’t matter.
Every rule has an exception. So says Murphy’s law. My exception is this gorgeous delightful place called IKEA. If I die, and someone really desperately wants me to come back alive, they just need to whisper the magic word and I’ll be up and strapped in the car gunning at ridiculous speeds towards the nearest IKEA.
It’s the whole European simple compact way of life that’s gotten me hooked since I first stepped into it at Zaventem in 94. That’s where we bought our very first chest of drawers and a wardrobe for our very first home as a couple in Ixelles. The memories of dragging the heavy pieces up three floors and then spending all weekend fixing them, I was about 4 months pregnant. Heavy lifting didn’t faze me then and I doubt either of us thought twice about it. Such nincompoop lovebirds we were. *sigh
Anwyays, out here, it’s usually always a family trip kinda thing. The place is an hour’s drive away, but life is so busy here that it isn’t near enough I’d be dropping by in the time I have now. We enter with an explicit plan all laid out, where I hurry and keep pace with the husband as he’s a man on a mission, while my neck’s still craning a few hundred yards behind on that lovely bedroom setup or the kitchen. The marketplace is where I could spend a whole day and a large chunk of money too, but it’s like pick up what you can by the time it takes him to reach the checkout.
The marketplace: It’s a manna isn’t it? Deliciously simple stuff. Some days I’ve just stood there hoping I could start all over again, and start afresh from an apartment. Okay, enough dreaming. I could go on and on about the magic of the place, but I need to remember that this post is about the other love that’s happened. Old loves can wait.
The daughter’s room needed some furniture and the husband in a weak moment said “why don’t you both go pick up what you want?” Not wanting to waste another moment where sanity sets in and decisions could get flipped, we jumped into the van and drove away, and boy, what a fine 2.30 hour we spent. Exhausted but very happy, we girls loaded our purchases into the van by ourselves with some fair amount of heaving and neat manipulation! All along munchkin stood there and clapped her hands and did the cheer, “C’mon akka, you can do it. Yay, you can do it. Good job mom! Yay everybody, we did it we did it!”
See, we have proof!
As a side note: that frikking bookcase and chest of drawers were each 1o0 lbs and 160 lbs respectively, that we couldn’t move it into the cart and this really handsome lithe young man lifted it up like he was picking up a trash bag and dumped it on our carts, while the daughter and I watched open-mouthed!
Anyways, so amongst that neat pile you see on the right side lay a vegetable cutting knife that I picked up with great hesitation. $15 was a lot to pay for a knife. Yet, unescorted and unhurried, I let my liberties take over and I plunged the case into the cart.
***
Cut to present:
Right next to the stove, amongst the spices and the heat from the wok, the vegetables lay listless on the counter, waiting to be prepped. As I washed and cleaned them, my hand went to my old trusty small vegetable knife. The new member of the kitchen stood innocently still in its wrapping.
OH MY GOD.
This knife here, it’s heavenly. It’s so unbelievably sharp and smooth and cuts through the vegetables like slicing through butter! I was on a roll! I showed off my prowess at cutting to evryone who made the mistake of walking into the kitchen. I’ve been chopping all evening, and I even woke up ay 6 am to cook lunch (well, that’s also coz I was back at dance class at 9 and I wouldn’t be home past lunch, so it had to be done anyway) but yeah, I chopped the whole tray of vegetables out!
I even stepped out, did more groceries and I have chopped a 2 lb bag of beans into a zillion neat tiny pieces! This is just luxury. Pure luxury. To think I spent 16 years of my cooking life with an excuse of a small knife! It is so sad.
The lunch of sambar and guthivankaya (stuffed eggplant) was delicious, I was told by a well fed husband, and the matar panneer for dinner got the son and daughter to say “mom, this is good stuff you made here”
I fainted.
This of course spells more trouble for me as suddenly the bar’s been raised and now expectations are set higher. Then again, I lay it all on the knife. Which I wouldn’t have bought if I did not go alone. Which would not have happened if the husband didn’t stay home and let me go by myself.
So yes, you guessed right. The husband’s claimed all the credit for today’s meal. Go figure!
phew! I thought you were putting up another recipe post 😛 But yeah, the chef’s knives are the best. I started using mine a couple of years back and cannot got back to the smaller ones now. Chopping with the santoku’s is fab. You can get good Kitchen-aid/faberware ones in TJMaxx for 10$, just in case you need another one for company 😉
I am not a mall-goer either. But Ikea, World Market and Whole Foods, I will rush to in a blink of the eye 😀
Really? @TJMaxx? I looked! The one next to my home looks like a badly managed salvation army store tho’ …
IKEA is heaven. It’s the Swedish contribution to the world, and now they can sit back.
Are you justifying a harmless whim on which you bought that knife?
er, excuse me? rads doesn’t justify things, she just does things!
*did that sound like a Rajini dialog?Pls say yes!*
Yes, it sounded like a Rajini dialogue! 😀
Oh, right, she was to confirm.
How does it matter @ Vig? 😛
Rads doesn’t care. She does what she has to do 😉
I like Ikea too! :–)
I will probably make a trip to one soon, next month, will look for this awesome knife you are talking about. :–)
ooo, someone’s come outa hiding 🙂
Yes, and then you will be chopping a lot, and if you’re anything like me, half of them will die coz the thrill’s just in the chopping, not cooking 😀
i could be one of those females u come accross who doesnt like IKEA. Been there once and swore never to go back.
You have got to be kidding me! :O
OH THE SHEER HORROR!!!! Jaya, How could you (sobbing)
You are kidding me, right? I live in Ikea. For everyone’s info – its half a mile away from home.
Ayyo. Now I have to visit you 😛
i love the hot-dogs they sell at IKEA
heh, next time try the swedish shorbread/thick rusk type thingies. Coffee dippable. 🙂
The yogurt is good too!
OH! i luv ikea too!! esp the market pl!! i bought some plain tall vases and did some free hand painting on thm and they came out so well! the purushan luvd thm and gave some xtra bear hugs:-)!!
Neat, artist eh! ..and then a husband who appreciates art too! That’s double fun 🙂
I Rajini dialog from earlier sounds just right for me as well 🙂 Nicely put. Now am going to have to check this knife out at IKEA. AS for not taking the other half along, am right there with you. we are having fun shopping and suddenly he gets hungry and things go south pretty quickly from that point on 🙂
LOL@hungry! Well, I suppose such a knife’s always seen around, just that I’ve never owned one. 🙂
Thanks for the review. I hate the knife I currently have. I am going to buy one of these tomorrow itself. Ikea is a stone’s throw away from my workplace. 🙂
You’re just rubbing it in with the stone’s throw and all aren’t you?
Oh how lucky can some people get. I have a friend who lives in the DC area and has never been to Potomac Mills. Sigh!!!!!!
Really? *shocked*
Yay! I got the knife yesterday just like I said I would. It is an awesome knife. Now I feel like one of those chefs on food network. I am wondering if I should tell you the price though. I am afraid you might call me a mean spirited person for rubbing it in once more. Oh well, I will take a chance. It was 9 something with tax at the Frisco TX store.
Maybe Ikea took one look around and felt sorry for us. “No mountains, no beaches, not much greenery, harsh summers, poor guys, let us atleast give the knives for a lower price so that they can cut vegetables with ease and have some excitement in life. ” 🙂
*shocked* No kidding at $6 difference!
LOL@your justification. Never been to Texas, but I have to agree with you I guess. We pay for being close to the Capital. 🙂
I luuuuuuuv IKEA. We used to go across to Burlington Canada. 17 years ago my parents had come for my first delivery. My dad was bored witless. So we gave him the chest of drawers and crib to put together. He loved it. I still have them and they are great. Next trip he put together a bunk-bed and a few other things. 4 months ago my son and his friend put together his Hopen bed.
While I wander around the Market Place the guys are polishing away pies and coffee.
Now a trip to Pittsburgh means visiting the SV Temple, Ikea then Robinson Mall. I HATE malls. The guys luuuuuuve the Mall, because that has Dicks! All in a day’s job. Dinner at Chipotle, then back home to Penn State.
haha, That was what got me hooked. The ease at which we could assemble and have that DIY accomplishment grin on our face. 🙂
lol@trip. Never been to Robinson mall, fo us Pittsburgh is a pligrimage trip!
The last sentence… classic !!! ROFL
You would associate with it, wouldn’t you?! 🙂
most definitely !!!
Ikea sucks – their stuff lasts for years, and never breaks! How is one supposed to justify buying a new table or bed when the old one is still perfectly fine??? Ikeas – the antonym for “planned obsolescence”
LOL! Really? You saying that, or did Mrs. Bhel stand over your shoulder and make you type it? That’s so true tho’.. feels a shame to chuck them!
Dude, it’s called controlled demolition.
If you need lessons, hit me up and I’ll teach you a thing or two on breaking stubborn furniture.
I’ll sell my soul, but can I have the knife please? Mine sucks and is blunt as a baby’s toothbrush. Please, please, give me, no?
Maami: Too much no? I’ll ship one out 🙂
I love knives, my excuse to make dinner is just so that I can slice those roma tomatoes.
and yes, I dont cook without roma tomatoes!
Me too! Roma’s so fleshy and firm and yum!
I have been called couple of times as an ikea guide, do you require more proof than that.
My knife is the smaller one, from ikea too i think. though sadly, I havent been appreciated it.
Btw, munchkin’s first day at school/bus was too cute.
LOL@Guide. heh, my soul sister! 🙂
Thanks, she’s done more antics after that, am in trouble alright!
wow Rads,
This post makes me have a IKEA darshan ASAP.
I have never been to the store but have heard so many good things about it.
What? You kidding me?! Please visit the one near the beltway this weekend!
*note to self: Write more posts on IKEA*
Nearest IKEA is 600 miles away from home…
hence i could never visit one.
Aw am sorry! I mistook you for the other Jyothi 🙂
O well, it isn’t that good anyway and then you end up spending so much every time you go. 🙂
I need to make a trip I guees. I have knifes but then such a glowing review and does anyone really have enough knifes.
Yep, just like shoes. Can’t have enough of them. Or in my case, saris. 🙂
I love the knife story:)
Have visited Ikea as a tourist, loved it but emerged with pocket unscathed:)
Oh yes, it’s a perfect tourist spot, along with Niagara and Disney 🙂