This jar contains several hundred sour sours. Need I say more?

Since I have returned to Canada after 6 years in the U.S. I have gone through phases of re-integration. The first 3 weeks that we were here we went through 4 tubs of iced tea mix (they mostly drink unsweetened iced tea in the states). Then there was a stint of going to Timmies almost daily. There were a few weeks last fall when I was watching hockey and hockey reality shows as though the NHL might go on strike at any moment.

But it was only recently that I rediscovered a little treat that I didn't even realize was Canadian. I was at a gas station one day, and noticed the penny candy bins, a staple at almost every corner store in the Great White North. And there they were, shimmering in all their sour, sugary glory. Sour Soothers. The real ones. The ones I would purchase by the pound on my way home from school, and consume in one sitting, on my bed, listening to Michale Jackson.

I started loading up a bag, when a girl came by and seemed taken by the whole penny candy setup. I asked her if she was going to want any sour soothers, because if not, I told her, I am taking them all. She shook her head, and then commented that she had never seem them before. The sour soothers, I asked? Well, the whole set up. She said she was from the U.S. and had never seen bins of penny candy like this.

My heart broke for her.

But she seemed okay, so I bought all the sour soothers in the store, then ran home, ate them in one sitting and I have been consuming sour soothers in ridiculous quantities ever since.

Let's just say I have been accused by several people of buying out all of the sour soothers in town. And I am pretty sure they are right.