Because someone has to stimulate the economy.

Destinations: Quebec City, Charlevoix, and points between

• A British magazine called Classic Rock that counted down the top vocalists of all time. Number one choice of fans, critics, and musicians alike? Freddie, natch.
• Blueberry honey from the Musée de l’abeille. Honey that fresh is so different from the stuff you get at the supermarket, it might as well be a different food altogether.
• A crazy amount of Québecois cheese. Among them: la Sauvagine (from the source), cèdre de lune, le migneron and le ciel de Charlevoix (from that source), and the 1608, made from a rare breed of Canadian cow dating from that time. (Hey, did you know you can freeze cheese?)
• A Medieval-style red and black dress that seems slightly impractical but that I was talked into on assurances that it really suited me.
• A used copy of Roger Daltrey’s Ride a Rock Horse LP. Not CD—LP. Really, I wanted the cover.
• Chocolates ranging in flavors from ginger to chai to marshmallow. None of which I’ve actually tried yet, but they look and smell great.
• A fat British movie magazine called Empire. Because in Britain, apparently, the Internet has not killed the movie magazine business, as it has in North America.
• Items I won’t detail from La boutique Kama Sutra. Oh, and some batteries.
• Free-range duck products in many forms—magret, foie gras, paté, confit. (Yes, we travelled with an electric cooler. Otherwise, the smell of cheese might have killed us.)
• A copy of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. The one magazine I haven’t read yet.
• An original art work by a young Québecois artist, done in pastels, about 16 by 20, featuring a woman bathing. Quite striking.
• Sparkling cidar products from the cidrerie at l’Ile aux Coudres.
• An art book featuring the work of Laurent Lafleur, one of whose original paintings we already own, and whom we got to meet on this trip.
• Two bottles of Rosé from a Prince Edward County winery, meant to distract us from the astounding Chardonnay we tasted but didn’t purchase at another Prince Edward County winery, because that one was $42. Didn’t work—we spent the next half week mooning over that Chardonnay, until our taste buds were cleared by an astounding Cotes du Rhone (with meal).
• MoneySense magazine, which has advice on how to save money. Which I probably need now.