2016, The Year in Review

Song

Weyes Blood, Front Row Seat to Earth (Mexican Summer)

sample track:  "Do You Need My Love"

Weyes Blood + Sahara + Ducks Unlimited, Baby G, Toronto, October 29, 2016

DIIV, Is the Is Are (Captured Tracks)

sample track:  "Bent (Roi's Song)"

Ranking Dillinger, None Stop Disco Style (Clocktower)

sample track:  "African World Wide" + "Into the African Dub"

Heron Oblivion, s/t (Sub Pop)

sample track:  "Beneath Fields"

Destroyer, “Forces From Above” and “My Mystery” (both remixed by DJjohnedwardcollins@gmail.com) (Merge)

Destroyer + Andre Ethier, Mills Hardware, Hamilton, ON, November 10, 2016

Nathan Bowles, Whole & Cloven (Paradise of Bachelors)

sample track:  "I Miss My Dog"

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Skeleton Tree (Bad Seed)

sample track:  "I Need You"

Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker (Columbia)

sample track:  "It Seemed the Better Way"

Promised Land Sound, For Use and Delight (Paradise of Bachelors)

sample track:  "She Takes Me There"

Angel Olsen, My Woman (Jagjaguwar)

sample track:  "Shut Up Kiss Me"

Steve Gunn, Eyes on the Lines (Matador)

sample track:  "Ancient Jules"

Steve Gunn + Promised Land Sound + Nathan Bowles, La Victrola, Montreal, June 26, 2016

Bob Dylan and The Band, The Bootleg Series, Vol. 11:  The Basement Tapes Raw (Sony/Columbia)

Bob Dylan, Another Self Portrait (1969-1971), The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10 (Columbia)

sample track:  "Pretty Saro"

Bob Dylan, John Birch Society Blues (bootleg)

The War on Drugs, Wagonwheel Blues (Secretly Canadian)

sample track:  "Barrel of Batteries"

Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary + Early EPs [deluxe edition] (Sub Pop)

sample track:  "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts"

Townes Van Zandt, Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas (Fat Possum)

Sandy Denny, Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (Hannibal/Carthage)

sample track:  "The Banks of the Nile"

Wye Oak, Tween (Merge)

sample track:  "Better (For Esther)"

Cate Le Bon, Crabday (Drag City)

sample track:  "Wonderful"

The Byrds, Untitled (Columbia)

sample track:  "Lover of the Bayou"

Beyoncé, Lemonade

sample track:  "Formation"

A Tribe Called Red, "R.E.D. (feat. Yasiin Bey, Narcy & Black Bear)"

Meg Baird, Don’t Weigh Down the Light (Drag City)

sample track:  "Stars Unwinding"

Sahara, s/t (Artificial Sounds)

The Feelies, Time For a Witness (Bar None)

sample track:  "Doin' It Again"

David Byrne w/ Arcade Fire and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Société des Arts Technologiques, Montreal, February 19, 2016

Moving Images

The Lobster (2015), dir. Lanthimos

Stranger Things (2016- ), created by the Duffer Brothers

Arrival (2016), dir. Villeneuve

Manchester By the Sea (2016), dir. Lonergan

Weiner (2016), dir. Kriegman & Steinberg

Son of Saul (2015), dir. Nemes

The Revenant (2015), dir. Iñarritu

45 Years (2015), dir. Haigh

Mustang (2015), dir. Ergüven

Paterson (2016), dir. Jarmusch

Gimme Danger (2016), dir. Jarmusch

Dark Horse (2015), dir. Osmond

The Strong Man (1929), dir. Szaro

Algol:  Tragödie der Macht (1920), dir. Werckmeister

13th (2016), dir. DuVernay

Moonlight (2016), dir. Jenkins

Things To Come (L’Avenir) (2016), dir. Løve-Hansen

Mia Madre (2015), dir. Moretti

Cooked (2016), prod. Gibney & featuring Michael Pollan

Print

John McPhee, Levels of the Game

Guy Lawson, "An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole:  The Story of an Accidentally Pioneering Expedition," The New York Times, March 17, 2016

T.H. White, Letters to a Friend 

Frankie Barnet, An Indoor Kind of Girl

Ben McGrath, "The Wayfarer:  A Solitary Canoeist Meets His Fate," The New Yorker, December 14, 2015

Rowan Jacobsen, "The Essential Oyster:  A Salty Appreciation of Taste & Temptation" 

Ken Forkish, The Elements of Pizza

Greil Marcus, Mystery Train:  Images of America in Rock ’n’ Roll Music [revisited]

Greil Marcus, Invisible Republic:  Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes [revisited]

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Evan Osnos, "The Far-Right Revival:  A Thirty-Year War?," The New Yorker, January 12, 2016

Andrew Marantz, "Trolls For Trump," The New Yorker, October 31, 2016

Travis Lett, Gjelina:  Cooking From Venice, California

Bon Appétit, "Healthy-ish" issue, January 2016

Nancy Singleton Hachisu, Preserving the Japanese Way

Ruth Allman, Alaska Sourdough:  The Real Stuff By a Real Alaskan

Food & Drink

Larrys, Montreal, QC (co-winner:  AEB's Montreal Restaurant of the Year)

Boulangerie Automne, Montreal, QC 

Butterblume, Montreal, QC (co-winner:  AEB's Montreal Restaurant of the Year)

Bar Henrietta, Montreal, QC

Doc Ponds, Stowe, VT

CoVino, Venice, Italy

Enoteca Ferronato, Pordenone, Italy (store + degusteria)

Tortellini di Martina, Pordenone, Italy

Ranzani 13, Bologna, Italy

PizzArtist, Bologna, Italy

Roccati l'Artigiano del Cioccolato, Bologna, Italy

Osteria dell'Orsa, Bologna, Italy

Gelateria Castiglione, Bologna, Italy

Enoteca Storica Faccioli, Bologna, Italy

Mercato Delle Erbe, Bologna, Italy (featuring Banco32)

Deirdre Heekin + Caleb Barber @ La Garagista Wines, Barnard, VT

Backacre Beermakers, Weston, VT

Comforting Tomatoes in Cream with Bread Crumbs and Smoked Salt

Chatham Shellfish Co., Chatham, MA

homemade Zucchini Blossom Pizza

Taste for Grain conference, Montreal, QC, June 13, 2016

Plum Cobbler

Grain Therapy

"The Essential Oyster!:  The Montreal Book Launch," Lawrence, Montreal, December 12, 2016

Colville Bay Oyster Company, Souris River, Prince Edward Island

Nonesuch Oysters, Scarborough River, Maine

Rockin' Cool Times Bar & Grill, Montreal, QC

Miscellany

Cape Cod, July 2016

Italy (Venice/Pordenone/Friuli/Bologna), October 2016

Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Pordenone, Italy

Museo Canova, Possagno, Italy

Villa di Maser (a.k.a. Villa Barbaro), Maser, Italy

Brion Cemetery, San Vito d'Altivole, Italy

Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Bologna, Italy

MSR snowshoes

Yeti coolers

Baking Steel griddles & baking steels

DIY Sashiko

DIY Shibori

3Sixteen

Filson

Fairbanks Museum, St. Johnsbury, VT

Mjölk, Toronto, ON

Christmas in Vermont, 2016

R.I.P.

Leonard Cohen

David Bowie

Prince

Raoul Coutard

Carrie Fisher

Debbie Reynolds

Jim Harrison

Well, it certainly was an eventful year, wasn't it?

All the best in 2017 from your friends at AEB.

aj

Out of the Archives 7: Tastes of Summer 1: AEB Superdawg Redux rev. ed.

The original version of this post first appeared in July 2013.  It appears here as part of an ongoing series that explores the back catalogue at "...an endless banquet" in search of timely classics.  Summertime is peak hot dog season at AEB.  We always have packs of our favourite hot dogs on-hand in case we need to prepare a simple lunch or dinner for a group--something that happens with some frequency at the Milk House in Vermont.  And since establishing a foothold in the Green Mountain State, our hot dog game has undergone a transformation.  Read all about it below...

That was then:

We'll take AEB Superdawgs pretty much any way we can get 'em.  But, let's face it, they're particularly good on a real hot dog bun, and if you happen to be passing through the Mid-Atlantic region sometime soon, you might want to keep your eyes open Martin's hot dog-style potato rolls.  They're easy to spot--they come in those distinctive neo-Fraktur Pennsylvania Dutch-style bags.

fig. a:  De Stijl

We swear by their classic potato rolls for hamburgers and chopped pork sandwiches, but their hot dog rolls are pretty choice, too.  I mean, just look at those dawgs!

fig. b:  double-dawgged

Pictured:

Hebrew National kosher all-beef franks
finely chopped yellow onion (buried)
chopped cherry tomatoes
finely chopped half-sour pickles
pickled corn
Keen's hot mustard
Hellmann's mayonnaise
celery salt

Total prep time:  about 10-15 minutes.

And this is now:

Since we first ran this post a few years ago, lots has changed:  namely, we've been spending a lot more time in Vermont, and, consequently, our AEB Superdawgs have gotten Green Mountain-ized.  

Don't get me wrong, I still like good, old-fashioned hot dogs from Hebrew National, Vienna Beef, and other time-honoured producers in the East and Midwest, but I love some of the decidedly non-Kosher, humanely sourced, and artisanally produced hot dogs I can find in Vermont.  And the fact that potato rolls are abundant in Vermont is an added bonus.  Martin's potato rolls don't seem to travel east of Lake Champlain, but potato rolls from Vermont Bread Co. and others are a mainstay at local supermarkets, co-ops, and grocery stores.

Our two absolute favourite hot dogs these days are both bacon hot dogs:  Vermont Smoke & Cure's uncured bacon hot dogs and North Country Smokehouse's delicatessen franks.  North Country Smokehouse's home is in New Hampshire, but they're located just across the Connecticut River in Claremont, NH, and they're amazing line of bacons, hams, and sausages can be found widely in Vermont.  Vermont Smoke & Cure was founded in South Barre, VT in the early '60s, but moved to a larger, more modern production facility in Hinesburg, VT just a few years ago.  Both companies produce supremely good hot dogs.  Hot dogs that are juicy, snappy, and absolutely bursting with flavour (thank you, bacon!).  Hot dogs that'll bring a tear to a true hot dog lover's eye, as long as she or he can stand the thought of a bacon dog.

fig. c:  double bacon-dawgged

Pictured:

Vermont Smoke & Cure uncured bacon hot dogs
finely chopped vidalia onion (buried)
sauerkraut
relish
spicy mustard
Hellmann's mayonnaise

When it comes to preparing my AEB superdawgs, I go about doing so two different ways, depending on my mood and/or weather conditions.  I either fire up the Weber barbecue and grill them gently (both Vermont Smoke & Cure's bacon hot dogs and North Country's delicatessen franks are fully cooked, they just need to be heated before serving) over charcoal, or I put a pat of butter in a cast-iron skillet and sauté/roast them carefully.  

I also make sure to toast my potato rolls.  And I usually do so with a bit of butter in a skillet.

Either way, total prep time is short:  about 10-15 minutes, plus the time it takes to get your barbecue going, if you're using charcoal.

If you're passing through Vermont and you're looking to pick up some quality bacon hot dogs for yourself, good sources include Healthy Living (South Burlington), Onion River Co-op (Burlington), Hunger Mountain Co-op (Montpelier), Sterling Market (Johnson), and Hannaford Supermarkets (various locations).  While North Country's line of bacons, hams, and sausages are often in stock at these locations, their delicatessen franks are much harder to find--so you might have to pay them a visit in Claremont, or drop them a line.

Summer is definitely here, people (just feel that sun!).  Make the most of it.  Keep things simple, but, for the love of Dawg, keep 'em tasty.

aj