I adore Ikea. Slowly, just about everything in my house is being replaced with something from there, although it's hard to justify certain things I covet. And when we go, it's an event: it's about a 45-minute drive on a good day, and because of that we always allow time to play and, especially, time to eat. After all, who can resist a plate of meatballs with lingonberry sauce? (and why did I resist the lingonberry sauce all those years? It rocks!)

Better still, there are things you can take home. Like a Trader Joe's, only Swedisher.

We just finished up a nine-pound box of some pretty awesome cookies, an enormous cardboard vault containing some sort of chocolate-chip flavoredy things that were basically chocolate sandwiched between two let's-not-skimp-on-butter-here cookies. And spending two months down in the basement didn't seem to affect the taste at all! You have to admire a cookie that has that kind of resistance to biodegradation.

And, well, the meatballs. My older son likes them browned in the oven so they're crispy and heading toward burnt. And they keep forever and are pretty cheap compared to other frozen meatball-type products, so they're pretty much a staple around here. I wonder what else can be done with them? Can you sculpt things from them, for instance, or add them as mystery ingredients somewhere, or do you pretty much stick to their meatball persona?

Things to avoid: the gummy-type candy is just weird. And those little pretty desserty things? What are they made of?

Oh. I can't leave you without mentioning the cinnamon rolls. I would subscribe to regular home delivery of these if I could.

What about you? What edibles make their way home from Ikea to your house? 

Photo: armandfrasco.typepad.com