There’s something inherently silly about the Segway. The electric personal transporter was, after all, the vehicle of choice of the arrogant older brother and failed magician G.O.B. Bluth in the TV series “Arrested Development.” And it made ironic headlines in 2010 when the millionaire owner of the Segway company plummeted off a cliff to his death — on a Segway.... Read more

An eclectic cache of books inside a rainbow-colored cabinet offers relief from the tedium of waiting for a train at the Amtrak station in Essex Junction. “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” promises the Dr. Seuss exhortation painted on the door of this outdoor literary dispensary. “Take a Book, Return a Book,” urges another sign nailed to the frame of the handmade structure with a cedar-shingle roof.... Read more

The fluid the ultrasound technician squeezed over my upper abdomen was warm and sticky. As she glided the transducer near my ribs, a picture began to form on the screen near my head.

Of foie gras, I thought. Clearly, it was terminal. My liver looked like foie gras.

The technician assured me that in fact my liver looked normal, not like I had been force-fed. I was mildly surprised, given that, as a food writer, I had spent the past five years practically funneling food down my gullet.... Read more

Diane St. Clair has the best butter deal going in Vermont — perhaps anywhere. For the last decade, the owner of the cheekily named Animal Farm in Orwell (think George) has been producing farmstead butter — meaning made by hand — from a small herd of Jersey cows.... Read more

First a food truck stop, now a dinner crawl. Burlington is once again taking a cue from larger cities with the introduction of Dishcrawl Burlington .... Read more

Necessity was indeed the mother of invention in the birth of the Northeast Kingdom Tasting Center

With only 800 square feet in which to manufacture her Eden Ice Cider, Eleanor Leger had outgrown her basement. Expanding on her own property didn’t seem like a viable option, and Leger was ready for a larger tasting room, too. “When we get calls from tourists, I need to clean my kitchen,” she jokes of her current home-based setup.... Read more

The same question has been on a lot of diners’ minds lately at Rustic Roots: “What the hell is fennel bacon?”

The short answer is that it’s Canadian bacon coated in dried, ground peas. The longer answer is that the comparatively low-fat cured meat — and other specialties like it — is what brought chef-owner Mike Orfan to Vermont.... Read more

So many records, so little time. Seven Days gets more album submissions than we know what to do with. And, given the ease of record making these days, it’s difficult to keep up. Still, we try to get to every local release that comes across the music desk, no matter how obscure.

To that end, here are four Vermont recordings that likely flew under the radar of the average Vermont music fan. In some cases, they represent the outermost boundaries of local music. Others simply slipped through the cracks. But each deserves a listen.

Dick Japhet, Karma

Vermont landscapes are traditionally rendered in a fairly monochromatic palette — shades of green — with an iconic red or white barn. Anne Cady’s Vermont has undulating hills that look like creamy pink sherbet or multicolored patchwork quilts. A barn might be blue with an orange roof, while a stand of purple trees resembles gumdrops. Magenta trees lean in the wind at the edge of an orange field. Cady’s landscapes don’t look real, yet they are recognizably Vermont. The forms and colors are ostentatious and captivating.... Read more

Staging Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep requires a glorious integration of costumer, director, actors, set designer, props master, sound designer and a full crew of backstage quick-change artists. Two actors play eight roles, in many instances carrying on offstage conversations that make four of them present at once. It’s a showcase of theatrical collaboration, with every exit, entrance and special effect timed to perfection.... Read more