IKEA is one of those institutions, one of those places that you go to for the Billy bookcase and a pack of 1,000 candles. I'd never been to an IKEA before living in Sweden, but it quickly became the place where you buy furniture in a hurry and if/ you replace it, you don't feel at all guilty. This is what happens. IKEA is like a pacifier you cut your teeth on, and it's soothing, comforting, and fits in your gob nicely.

We went to IKEA yesterday, which is something of a trip for my dad and stepmom. They've been to the IKEA in Seattle, but only for the meatball lunch. This time, they helped us pick out blinds for the study and nursery and Angus and I went ahead and bought another crib for the Lemonheads, which will be needed down the line. I'm not sure IKEA was really their thing, but they were good sports.

It was the Asian grocery store where fun was had.

We were glad to have them with us. We've been dying to know what the hell half of the things in the aisles are, as while Angus and I are adventurous with foods, we have limits (one of them being "pig uterus", which they do indeed sell there.) My dad and stepmom are Japanese, and they eat, speak, read, write it as well. They were both born in Japan and emigrated to the U.S. as children, and they speak Japanese with their mothers as well as spend a lot of time in Japan still. So we get out of the car and Angus and I turn to my family.

"OK now," I say. Angus and I are the only white people at the shop. "Don't embarrass us in there, ok? Try to blend."

They laugh.

We have a great time in the shop, which isn't easy to say when you see a display of pig uterus. They had a batch of fresh crabs come in, and Angus, Dad and I look longingly at them. Angus and I love seafood, but there is no way, ever, that we can drop a live crab into a pot of boiling water. We appeal to my stepmom, who grins, shrugs, and says she has no problem cooking up the little guys - provided we don't give them a name before we boil them, because then she gets squicked out.

A deal is struck. Two unnammed crabs come home with us for dinner.

And the four of us cook up a massive Asian meal. She makes Vietnamese summer rolls, and (after the initial moment where the crab is dropped into the pot, which my stepmom handles while the rest of us head out of the kitchen for the moment of killing) Angus and Dad boil up the crabs. We snack on edamame which we peel open with our teeth. My stepmother brings a helping of pan-friend bok choi. I tell her we should put some in a bag, and she can knock on my neighbor's door and ask them if they ordered Chinese food.

The Asian jokes don't stop. It's all par for the course - the British jokes and "very white child" jokes don't stop, either. It's all good-natured and no one takes offense. Truthfully I've always wanted to look Asian, but instead drew the "whitest of white" gene straw.

Angus asks why I didn't learn Japanese. I tell him that I do know Japanese. And I do - I can say hello and goodbye and I can count to four. I don't know where five went, maybe five is irrelevant, maybe I never needed five, but I can do 1 - 4.

I'm an embarrassment to my people.

For some reason, my dad adds a bowl of Indian tikka massala sauce and some nan breads to the table, so our meal is one serious cultural explosion. It was one of the best meals I've eaten in a long time, and we leave the table sated.

Their visit is going well so far. I love having them here. We haven't done much besides relax and chat a lot, and they're coming to the doctor with me this morning (Angus has a meeting he can't miss). Tonight Dad and Angus are off to London for the birthday present I bought Dad, as his birthday was last week - I bought the two of them an evening wine tasting course, where they get to have wine and whiskey tasting and take it easy. The kids arrive tomorrow night, which isn't without its stresses. I'm glad they're happy to relax here - I can't imagine how boring it must be to come to London and then spend time in the country, but last night was one of those "you will have 3 hours max" nights thanks to contractions and breathing problems, so relaxing is helping me immeasurably.

-H.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 09:11 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 848 words, total size 4 kb.

1 oh boy, you ate crabs - that means the lemonheads should be here any day now!!! let me explain. my mom ate 3 - yes 3 - buckets of crab legs at an all-you-can-eat buffet the night before she went into labor with me. labor which was not supposed to happen for quite a while, as she was only 26 weeks along in her pregnancy! 36 hours after the doctors were unable to stop her labor, i was born via emergency c-section. i weighed all of 1 lb 14 oz. yeppers. and 12 inches long to boot. and happy to say, i turned out just fine after a 3-month stay in the nicu, despite the 5% odds the doctors gave my parents. okay, i am rambling. the point is, you have made it thus far with minimal problems, your babies are very healthy and at a extremely viable size, you ate the crabs, and the babies - they'll be evicted in very short time. if not, i've always heard that eggplant parmesan does the trick!! and a weird thing to add - thanks to my mom's crab leg binge, i cannot stand seafood, except for fish. very strange. enjoy your family time :0)

Posted by: deborah at September 20, 2007 12:11 PM (piMxm)

2 Sounds like an awesome night. Pig uterus? For real? I'm happy for you to have your family around to help you relax, and maybe see the lemon heads when they become Nick and Nora! Not that I'm excited or anything :-p

Posted by: Angela at September 20, 2007 12:16 PM (DGWM7)

3 I love that your dad and step-mom are there, and it sounds like a great meal and a fantastic time. I think that is just what you needed!

Posted by: Teresa at September 20, 2007 12:23 PM (wDVrO)

4 Are her summer rolls soft wrapper, or fried? I haven't yet been able to work out the logic on summer and spring rolls, because I swear - one place will have spring rolls in a soft wrapper, and then the next place we go to has spring rolls in a fried wrapper. Granted, they're both usually good...I just wondered what was traditional.

Posted by: Tracy at September 20, 2007 01:01 PM (0rzA0)

5 Enjoy your time with your exotic family, Helen. Everybody should have such nice parents as yours, who will come to Ikea with you and not grumble about it. Nick and Nora will have some interesting ancestry. My daughter is Dutch from my side and Irish, Danish, British, French and Swiss on her father's side. Heinz 57. She likes being Dutch as I suppose you like being Japanese. She's forgotten all of her Dutch too, like you have forgotten your Japanese. Good luck with everything!

Posted by: Irene at September 20, 2007 01:41 PM (RL+iu)

6 I feel slightly guilty when I cook up live lobster. But then I get a grip on myself and realize that they're the bottom of the food chain for a reason. And not only that, they pinch, and they would pinch me if it weren't for those heavy duty rubber bands. And they're just so good with butter.

Posted by: statia at September 20, 2007 01:56 PM (lHsKN)

7 Relaxing is good. I'm glad you're enjoying your time with your family. I hope the arrival of Melissa and Jeff is fun-filled and stress-free. You won't be having to wait long now. I can almost feel the expectancy (ha- almost a pun!) in the air from here. I'm all verklempt. :: shushing before I say something stupid ::

Posted by: Lisa at September 20, 2007 02:02 PM (e8V7B)

8 I'm right there with you...My Dad is off the boat from Germany and I can't really speak a lick of German. I can't read it, write it or really speak it. I do, however, understand alot of it because the darn language is very close to English...if you open your ear to the words you hear can hear it. It freaks my aunts out when they are having a conversation with a cousin wanting to ask me something and before they can translate I answer them in English.

Posted by: Heidi at September 20, 2007 02:24 PM (12Egh)

9 Sounds like a nice time. Seriously. I wish our holidays with parents were always that nice.

Posted by: caltechgirl at September 20, 2007 02:40 PM (/vgMZ)

10 Sounds like just what you need right now.

Posted by: sue at September 20, 2007 02:54 PM (WbfZD)

11 Honestly? I grew up a "City Girl" and I doubt if I could even steal an egg from a chicken, so the whole lobster thing is totally out for me, as well. I'd starve on a farm. Heh. Relaxing is wonderful. Relaxing with your relates is even better. I'm glad you are having such a wonderful visit.

Posted by: Margi at September 20, 2007 04:05 PM (zFQsX)

12 Sounds absolutely lovely ... and yummy. I'll be checking the fridge later for leftovers. I'm glad you're getting the rest that you need and I hope that things continue to go smoothly once the kids get there. Keeping you guys in my thoughts even though I not comment as much as I would like.

Posted by: Michele at September 21, 2007 04:32 AM (h1vml)

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