Where can an Estonian in America go, when Christmas means lots of stuff wrapped in boxes and piparkooki is a foreign afterthought? IKEA, of course.Last night, with minu kallis naine Epp in the humdrums over the lack of genuine Christmas cheer in our lives, hungry for gingerbread and glögi and all the stuff an Estonian can comfortably buy in their neighborhood shop, we searched for an answer that could provide some measure of kodumaa to drive away her Yultide blues.
The answer came in the Swedish royal colors of blue and yellow -- IKEA, located on Route 107 in Hicksville on Long Island. Surely Ingvar Kamprad and Anders Dahlvig, the blue-eyed Rootslased that run IKEA must feel for their northern European compatriots abroad and would have made sure that every Icelander, Norwegian, Swede, Finn, Dane, Estonian, and whoever else drinks glögi at Christmas, had access to much needed gingerbread and mulled wine at this time of year.
And so we went to IKEA, in search of Estonian Christmas spirit. "Yes!" I thought. "We'll go to IKEA and there will be rosy-cheeked Scandinavians willing to indulge us in affordable Jõulu products!" But when I got there and asked for glögi, the Mexican guy behind the counter pointed to a case of sparkling pear wines. And when I went hunting for old-fashioned piparkook, all I could find was a box of capuccino-flavored Anna's gingerbread thins. All the while, a sign in the store market encouraged us to "take a taste of Sweden home." Yeah, right.
Cutting our losses, we decided that we'll make glögi on our own and we took a box of capuccino-flavored Anna's piparkooki thins, because piparkooki is piparkooki, even if tastes like Italian coffee. We also managed to buy several jars of Lingonberry jam, which was interestingly titled "Lingon sylt" and Epp also found cloudberry jam or "Hjoltron sylt" --something that Estonians know well, but that is unknown here in New York.
So although it didn't all work out as planned, we didn't go home empty handed. And at least we had some "sylt" in our basket.
11 kommentaari:
It's only one year ago that our german town is a IKEA town too. My sister (now in Sweden for two weeks),she queued for glögi but missed the last one. Fortunatly nobody was watching her. Then she grasped the one - from the decoration.
Oh, come on, the joy is to make your own hõõgvein...and having to keep experimenting to get the spices right...or until you fall flat on your face! I guess making sült and verivorst on your own is a bit more problematic...and messy...and possibly earn an inspection from the Board of Health...
Oh, come on, the joy is to make your own hõõgvein...and having to keep experimenting to get the spices right...or until you fall flat on your face!
I think you are correct here. The homebrews are best. Good thing we'll be "forced" to make our own.
We were at IKEA today too :) We were not looking for swedish food though. We were after a few cabinets :) But when I saw swedish coffee I could not restrain myself :)
Approached my dear husband and said please, please, please :)
To make a long story short three packs of Löfbergs Lila followed us home.
But piparkooki I baked at home. The same with hõõgvein.
Kas välisameeriklastel Eestis ka oma oaas on?
Kas välisameeriklastel Eestis ka oma oaas on?
Tegelikult, oli Tallinnas see probleem et tõeline itaalia toit ei oli poes. Neil ei oli tõeline genova salami, või tõeline ricotta juust, või tõeline suitsu-mozzerella kui ma elasin seal. Ja Itaalia pitsad oli ka naljakas.
Ja üks päev ma olin nii näljane, et ma pidin tegema hamburgerit kodus. Ma ostasin hakkliha, ja ma tegin seda ahjus!!!
Minu kaastunne Sulle, Giustino, et pidid ise tegema hamburgerit :) Aga ega elu polegi meelakkumine :)
Eestis on võimatu korralik hamburgeri leida.
Itaalia toiduga on tänapäeval vist natuke parem seis kui mõned aastad tagasi... ricottat ja mascarponet näiteks liigub, pestot samuti.
Oh yes, Estonians and their starry eyed reverence of Sweden... Hea Rootsi aeg and all that. Even the smorgasbord ("seisova pöytä" in sensible Finnish) is Rootsi laud. Go figure. Being a rare open Finnish admirer of Sweden, I'm - mostly - just teasing, but even I must say that IKEA is surely no icon of Christmas for God's sake!
Even the smorgasbord ("seisova pöytä" in sensible Finnish) is Rootsi laud.
Ah, that's actually a direct loan from Russian, where any sort of self-serve buffet is literally "Swedish table". (They say you can always tell an Estonian abroad by their slightly overenthusiastic approach to the concept of all-you-can-eat.)
Giustino - couldn't you find the proper stuff in Stockmann? Oh, and Tartu has Dolce Vita, with a proper Italian chef (but still amazingly bad Estonian service).
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