I recently spent several days visiting my family in Canada. I have lived in the United States for so long, I have to refresh my knowledge of my former homeland’s cultural icons. This is one of them: the doughnut.

These aren’t your run-of-the-mill doughnuts. These are made fresh to order, at a tiny shop which has won “Best Doughnuts in Canada” two years in a row, which, in doughnut country, is a major achievement.

Here are our doughnuts being finished in powdered sugar, or as they say in Canada and the rest of the Commonweath, “icing sugar.”  He allowed them to cool for a few minutes before dusting them, but they were still a bit warm when we had our first bite. Ecstatic eye-rolling ensued.

Speaking of the Commonwealth, and food, we also stopped at a store that specializes in all things British, Clarence and Cripps.

Craving old-fashioned English toffees? Got’em. Scones you can bake at home? Yup. And proper English cheddar? Yes! This store has tons of English cookies and candies and tea and other foods, in addition to a large selection of souvenirs. I was told that their royal wedding party was a real blow-out.

My sister needed to buy beer (she plays hockey so naturally that’s her beverage of choice) and we stopped at the local supermarket, which, like every other supermarket and convenience store (they’re called depanneurs in Quebec) has a giant walk-in beer fridge.

This is just one half. The fridge was so large it was impossible to get the entire thing in the frame. Being of “a certain age” I could have spent all day in there. It’s very refreshing on a hot summer day.