Hands on with Rosetta Stone

For the past month, a few other dealnews staffers and I decided to learn Italian using different methods for a feature. Louis Ramirez got Pimsleur, I got Rosetta Stone online, and Jeff Somogyi used whatever free stuff he could find online, which I imagine was mostly podcasts.

Anyways, we were to use the systems as recommended for 30 days, after which we would take a test to determine which method worked the best.

You can find the results posted over on dealnews, but I thought I'd take a moment to expand on my experience with Rosetta Stone.

1. Rosetta Stone is brilliant!

Seriously. It's probably the best language learning software out there. It was a simple as logging into the Rosetta Stone website, testing the mic, and plugging away. The image-based instruction, matched with the complete immersion in Italian, proved to be the most effective method of learning a language I've encountered to date. (In the past, I've attempted - at varying degrees of fail - to learn French, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, and Danish.) Despite my slow progress through my Rosetta Stone courses - due to an unusually hectic month, not to any troubles with the coursework - I feel like I made decent strides into learning the language. And sure, "Le donne nuotano" and "la bicicletta e verde" may not come up in my life any time soon, but these phrases stuck in my head, along with dozens more. In fact, I can even understand them. And pronounce them with what I surmount to be a generic Italian accent. Result!

2. Rosetta Stone is friggin expensive!

Sure, I probably should have looked at the sticker at sometime during the learning experience, but it completely slipped my mind. I didn't learn about Rosetta Stone's exorbitant fees until after the test was all said and done. After my experience with the Italian program, I had the inkling to sign up for the French version so I could brush up on a language I knew somewhat conversationally back in the day. But at $199 for a six-month subscription, I quickly gave up on that idea. I really like the software and the method of instruction, but the price is a bit prohibitive. That said, if you've got the time on your hands, you could probably fly through the three lessons of a language in that time period; for comparison, to buy the retail-boxed version of all three lessons would cost $549 directly from Rosetta Stone. But it's frankly just a bit too dear for me.

Anyways, what I came out of this experience with was an appreciation for the methodology of Rosetta Stone's instruction. For those looking to seriously learn a language, I can see Rosetta Stone as being a wonderful tool in preparation for serious coursework in the pursuit of said language. It doesn't prepare you for a long weekend in a foreign land - I didn't learn what "bathroom" or "hotel room with two beds" are in Italian. What it does give you is a solid foundation for learning a language of your choice, and they currently offer 31 languages to choose from. So, while your $199 might not allow you to, say, order another beer in Farsi*, it will set you up with a solid understanding of the basics of that language.


* I don't know how to write it in arabic script, but it's something like "Mon bishtar ahjool mee-choum". Don't ask me why I know that.

The best $75 meal in the country

I'm sure you're asking yourself, "how can a $75 meal be considered a bargain?" I would've asked the same question myself before this past Saturday night at 10:10 pm. It was at that precise time, after which having just enjoyed a five hour and 20 minute meal at the Basement Bistro in Earlton, NY, that I realized that I had just enjoyed the best meal of my life.

Suddenly, $75 didn't seem like an expensive meal. After a five hour meal with Chef Damon Baehrel - owner, host, chef, waiter, sommelier, farmer, cheesemaker, butcher, dishwasher, carpenter, etc. - at the helm, I found myself wondering how he could possibly serve so much for such little money.

How does he do it? Chef Baehrel debunks the old adage by being not only a Jack of All Trades, but also a master of all of them. It's not just that he grows his own produce on the grounds surrounding his restaurant, and organically at that, but he also makes his own cheeses (from locally-sourced organic milk), bakes his own breads (with wheat from a local grain mill), cures his own charcuterie (from meat raised specifically for him in an organic, sustainable fashion), churns his own butter, and so on. Besides mastering traditional methods, his techniques - all self-taught - would be right at home on the menus of cutting-edge restaurants like wd~50 in NYC and Alinea in Chicago. That spinach powder adorning the stuffed heirloom tomato? Chef Baehrel dried the spinach and pulverized it into a fine dust himself. He's currently curing tomato "bacon" that he'll be serving beginning in January. Wylie Dufresne and Grant Achatz could learn a thing or two from this guy.

Another aspect of the Basement Bistro that helps keeps the cost down is its location. Although it's not an actual "bistro", it is located in a basement. A basement in a run-of-the-mill suburban-style house. (Which, by the way, was also built by Chef Baehrel.) The dining room was remodeled a half-dozen years ago, but it's still pretty basic by most standards. But its stripped-down atmosphere only goes to further the allure of this place - not only are you eating an incredible meal, you're eating that meal in some guy's basement.

The final measure in place to keep the price down is the payroll. Or lack thereof, I should say. One of the most impressive features of the Basement Bistro is that it's pretty much a solitary undertaking. Besides some help from his wife on the business side of things, and a former culinary intern who has transitioned to a part-time reservationist, Chef Baehrel is doing it all by himself. And he has been, while also running a catering company, cooking classes, and restaurant consulting outfit, for the past 18 years. The man must never sleep. (And on certain nights, he doesn't. When we walked out at 10:10 pm this past Saturday night, he began preparing for a party of 20 that would be joining him at 11 pm. He suspected that he'd maybe get an hour nap in before he had to start making the bread the next morning at 6 am.)

I could go on and on about what makes this place so special. And perhaps I will upon subsequent vists. (The menu changes daily, but I'm shooting for quarterly pilgrimages.) But at this time I'm just going to let the food speak for itself. I won't critique each course - there were far too many highs and nothing, and I mean nothing, that wasn't at least very good. Most dishes, in fact, leaned towards magnificent, or revelatory, or just simply jaw-dropping. (My dining companions, which consisted of my wife and my two amazing friends Mark and Cris who introduced me to this place, didn't quite get it when I said that a dish was "slap yo' mama" good, but I can surmount that a few of you out there will understand what I'm talking about.) I apologize if I didn't catch everything perfectly - it's incredibly hard to write when you're trying to take in all of what Chef Baehrel is saying, and even harder when a plate of his food is staring up at you.

So, without further ado, here's a pictorial journey through a meal at the Basement Bistro.

Entrance from the road:

Entrance to the restaurant:


Bread:
Housemade bread: A focaccia-style bread made with basil flowers, and a sort of "everything bread" made with homemade onion powder, among other things. Served with freshly-churned butter and olive oil imported from a customer's olive farm in Greece.

First Course:
Charcuterie (all cured in-house, clockwise from top):
Goose "salami" Icelandic lamb cured with coriander
Grass-fed beef brasaola
Kurobuta (Berkshire) pork "speck"
Small bites (from top):
Nasturtium flower, coated in rice flour and baked, served on a sunchoke puree*
Baby green beans wrapped in lamb prosciutto with heirloom carrot puree
Heirloom tomato with swiss chard and spinach powder

Cheeses (all made in-house, clockwise from top):
Blue cheese with sage
Camembert-style cheese
(unknown variety with fried parsley)
Earlton cheese (chef's own recipe)
Goat chevre with apple and nectarine confit

* It should be noted that most of his purees and sauces use a rutabaga stock at various reductions instead of cream or butter. It's amazing how much of a creamy texture this method gives a sauce without adding extra fat
Second Course:
Savory Cones: Parsley-oil "cones" with pureed purple bush beans, green eggplant, and green sunflower seeds

Third Course:
Salmon "BLT": Peachwood-smoked salmon, basil, heirloom tomato, lavender and marjoram aioli

Fourth Course:
Seafood course* (from left to right):
Peekytoe crab with squash blossom puree and cauliflower powder
Oyster poached in tomato water with heirloom carrot salad and squash seeds
Salt and pepper prawn with saffron cabbage "slaw"

* All seafood is provided by a vendor from Maine, who makes the Basement Bistro the first stop on the way to New York City
Fifth Course:
Puffball "Soup": Puffball mushroom puree with applewood smoked corn, watermelon radish flower

Sixth Course:
Frozen duo*:
Wild pink current sorbet
Oven-roasted peach gelato

* Instead of using sugar or another sweetener, he uses unripened grape juice to sweeten his frozen confections

Seventh Course:
Bronze basil ice cream served atop an apple cucumber, with celery root slaw, icicle radish salad, beet powder, heirloom tomato powder, fried basil leaf

Eighth Course:
Meat course (from left to right):
Sous-vide pork sirloin wrapped in venison bacon, silver shallot, delicato/buttercup squash puree, kohlrabi puree
Boiled "Kobe" (Wagyu) eye round, heirloom carrot and onions, pureed potatoes with swiss chard stems, candied swiss chard stem
Olive oil-cured duck confit with sumac, sea salt, butter turnip and wild burdock puree

Ninth Course:
Gamay Noir grape granita

Tenth Course:

Cheese plate:
Roquefort-style blue cheese
unknown "fluffy" cheese
Maplewood-smoked pecorino-style cheese
Apples, grapes, plums, nectarines, air-dried and fresh blueberries

Chocolate "pudding": Tempered Valrhona chocolate with skim milk and blackberry

Eleventh Course:

Mulberry and blackberry sorbet

If you have any questions about the particulars of this meal, please feel free to ask in the comments and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

Update: The price of this meal is now $235. Also, the restaurant has been renamed Damon Baehrel at the Basement Bistro.

Wait for it ...

Variety (via New York Magazine) reports that the excellent How I Met Your Mother has been picked up for syndication ... in 2010. It will air on Fox affiliates in NYC, LA, and Chicago, and CBS other stations in five more major markets. Several cable outlets have also put in bids, including ABC Family, Comedy Central, and Spike.

Esquire E Ink cover

I just picked up the October 2008 issue of Esquire magazine, the one with the controversial E Ink cover. Whether you like the idea or are against it, it is kind of cool.

Here's the cover of the magazine:




And here's the inside cover, which is an ad for the Ford Flex:



You can find higher definition versions of the cover and ad here and here, respectively.

Do's and don'ts of J'Ouvert Brooklyn

Every Labor Day, the West Indian Day parade - also known as Carnival - turns Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn into a sea of feathers, soca, and jerk chicken. It attracts upwards of three million people and is one of the premier parties in the United States.

Little known, however, is another parade that begins a little earlier in the morning - at 2 am to be precise. It's called J'Ouvert (from the French jour ouvert, or day open), and it's a somewhat smaller, more intimate affair. Unlike the million watt sound systems of Carnival, J'Ouvert is limited to steel drum "floats" - ragtag collections of pushcarts pulled along by U-Haul vans. It's a fantastic party, and because of the smaller size, everyone is encouraged to march along with the bands. (More on that later.)

Anyways, little is found on the web regarding this party, so I thought I'd share some do's and don'ts for enjoying J'Ouvert.

DO NOT: Show up at 2 am. It'll probably be a ghost town. There's a big Dimanche Gras party that goes until 2 am, and then people take their time getting situated. It's a West Indian party, and everyone is on Caribbean time. Get there at 4:30 am and you'll be fine. That's when things started moving last night.

DO: Start at the Grand Army Plaza side of Flatbush Avenue, at the Brooklyn Public Library. The bands get set up on Flatbush between Eastern Parkway and Empire Boulevard. It then travels down Empire until Nostrand Avenue, where it takes a right and continues on to Linden Boulevard.

DO NOT: Wear nice clothes. You will get dirty. There's baby powder. And sparkles. And lots of paint - most of which doesn't seem to be water soluble. Unless you're quick, you'll get hit with one or more of these objects.

DO: Bring something to drink. There's nothing around on this stretch of Flatbush, and there was only one person selling bottles of water along the route in the wee hours. If you're going to dance, you'll want water. And perhaps something else. Remember, clear "liquids" are for clear bottles only. For beverages of mixed elements, I'd consider a SIGG. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, and of course I would never suggest breaking the law. Even if it is only a $25 fine these days.

DO NOT: Go to this parade if you're not prepared to take part in the celebration. You may find yourself being warned to "Dance or go home" by a very large Haitian woman in a skimpy French maid's outfit. That was the point last night where I decided that I was done taking pictures and should start dancing. Large Haitian/French maids are very persuasive.

DO: Find your favorite band early, and get as close as you can. While El Dorado - City of Gold seemed to be very popular, I was more impressed with a non-descript band of probably 30 or so steel pan players. Take the time before the parade starts moving to see all of the bands strutting their stuff, and stick to the one that seems to suit your taste. And be prepared to like the song that they're currently playing - it's likely that they'll only play that and perhaps one other tune.

DO NOT: Start after Empire Boulevard. It seems that once you get to Bedford Avenue, foot traffic is one-way only - away from the parade. If you leave the cordoned-off area, you won't be able to get back in. Well, at least easily.

DO: Grab some food from the food vendors set up along Empire. I had a fantastic bake and saltfish from a Trinidadian/Guyanese vendor near Rogers Avenue. There's lots of places serving corn soup, and by 6 am there was jerk chicken being thrown on makeshift grills constructed from oil drums. If you're not a fan of street food (even though you should be), Hammond's Bakery and Jerk Center on Nostrand is open all night for all of your jerk needs.

Got any other tips? Please post them in the comments.

Artichoke flowers - the new puppies?

Yesterday morning, while at the Union Square Greenmarket (aka farmer's market) in NYC, I picked up an artichoke flower for my wife. During my walk through the market to the subway entrance, and my subsequent subway ride back to Brooklyn, no fewer than two dozen people stopped me to ask what I was carrying.

By the time I returned home, I became convinced of this fact - an artichoke flower may perhaps be the cheapest and quickest way to meet someone in the city. Men and women of all ages stopped me to inquire about my purchase, which cost all of $5. In NYC, this attention is typically doled out upon only one other object - puppies, the cutest of which can cost upwards of $5,000. So, for 1/10 of 1% of the cost of a canine, I received the same amount of attention as the bearer of a cockapoo or puggle.

So, to all those people looking to meet other people, I suggest skipping the walking, the plastic bags, and the shredded shoes, and just pick up an artichoke flower. Hermits, shut-ins, and other socially-averse types, on the other hand, might want to steer clear.

Yo La La! est très fantastique

I may not be "the music guy" in the dealnews offices, but it's probably safe to say that I have one of the most eclectic collections of the lot. One of the more peculiar styles that I happen to fancy is French hip-hop. I don't know why I like it as much as I do - I do have francophone-leaning tendencies (I support the French national team in international soccer over the US team), and I guess my last name could be construed as French (many people try to French it up as "kahn-TRAY" - it's "hacked" Lithuanian, people!) - but I just really dig it.

Back in the 90s I started listening to MC Solaar, but that was pretty much it until a trip to Montréal back in 2000 introduced me to the poppy, tacky, and wonderful stylings of Yannick. (And apparently it wasn't just me, some productions of Jersey Boys start with an even tackier rendition of Yannick's "C'est Soirées-Là", which samples heavily from The Four Seasons' "Oh, What A Night".) This track was the catalyst that sent me deeper into French hip-hop, where I discovered deepr, more interesting artists like Oxmo Puccino, Kool Shen, and 113.

While it was relatively easy to find new artists by using the French iTunes store's singles chart for rap and R&B, I pretty much knew that I was only getting access to the most popular - and not necessarily the best - artists.

So, while futzing around this weekend, I happened upon an excellent podcast called Yo La La! While the commentary is heavily accented, it's in English and well produced. The host curates each show into different topics (religion in hip hop, women in rap, Swiss artists, etc.) and spins more underground artists - 90% of who I've never even heard of. It's "monthly", but there's only been three editions this year. However, there are 36 podcasts available dating back to 2005, and if you're not familiar with the style, then most of these tracks will be new to you. For a starter, I'd check out podcast #32, which focuses on Franco-American collaborations and features tracks from IAM, Suprême NTM, and Guru. Don't worry if you don't understand French - the beats and the flow are still catchy no matter what language you speak. Profitez-en!

(If you want to subscribe to this podcast, paste this URL into your iTunes account or wherever better podcasts are listened to: http://www.yolala.org/yolala.xml .)

Street meat showdown in midtown Manhattan

Those who know me personally are aware that I'm a huge fan of street meat, both here in my home in New York City and around the world. When done well, it can be an inexpensive, delicious, and filling meal - be it at the taco trucks of Woodside, the Uigher kebab vendors in Flushing, or the Red Hook Ballfields for some ceviche or baleadas.

While Latin American and Asian vendors tend to dominate the outer boroughs, the keystones of the Manhattan street meat scene are the aptly named "lamb over rice" and "chicken over rice". Served up by Indians, Pakastanis, Israelis, Greeks, Trinidadians, and more, this platter generally consists of just a few staples: Grilled chicken or lamb; rice; a small salad; and a choice of several sauces - white, green, red, and hot, to name a few. (As for what each sauce contains, I have no idea - each of their flavor profiles can be summed up by their description - the white sauce tastes like "white", the hot sauce tastes "hot", etc.)

My wife works in midtown, and as such I've had the fortune to sample a few of these vendors. Each of us has our favorites - I tend to go for the more Caribbean spiced version from the Trini Pak Boyz on 44th, where my wife prefers the Kwik Meal cart on 46th and 6th. However, we've sampled little outside of those two carts, and certainly not as scientifically as in Midtown LUNCH's excellent Street-Meat-Palooza: A 13 Cart Chicken/Lamb Over Rice Showdown. A team of 20 street meat fans sampled 13 vendors and rated them on the individual components and overall package.

My favorite cart came in 7th, while my wife's came in 5th. All I know is that next time I'm in midtown for lunch, we'll both be making a trek up to 53rd and 6th.

Street-Meat-Palooza: A 13 Cart Chicken/Lamb Over Rice Showdown (Midtown Lunch via Eater.com)

What would Alanis say?

I've become a big fan of downforeveryoneorjustme.com in the past few weeks. My connection bugs out every once in a while, and I never know if it's just me or not. However, this morning I tried Amazon.com, which was acting wonky for me. What did I get?

Ironic, huh?

With my freeze ray I will stop ...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - Act I is out and it's brilliant. Is there anything NPH can't do?

And in case you're tempted by the iTunes store, which charges $1.99 for this 14 minute clip, it's available for free on Hulu.

Looking forward to Thursday when Act II debuts ...

Beating Microsoft's XP ban

Every where I look, people are having problems with Vista. My parents' computer has had a malfunctioning Internet Explorer for months. (They've been using FireFox, but certain tools they use require IE.) Even my co-workers at dealnews, who are a rather tech savvy lot, are having issues - one just recently lost an afternoon to a bug with Vista, FireFox, and our custom back end. And that's just the tip of the iceberg - the Internet is full of horror stories, gripes, and general disgust with Vista.

With all of these issues, you'd assume that you'd still be able to order a system with a stable, tried-and-true operating system such as Windows XP Home. (While XP definitely has its share of issues, most of them are known and are easily fixable.) However, on June 30, Microsoft essentially killed off XP Home, ending its sale through computer manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Several loopholes exist, such as the availability of XP Home on UMPCs such as the ASUS Eee PC, and the "downgrade rights" included with the purchase of Vista Business or Ultimate. But for those people who need something more powerful than a subnotebook, or can't bear the thought of spending $150 or more to upgrade from Vista Home Basic to Vista Business or Ultimate, just to downgrade it to XP Professional, there isn't much of an option.

Or so I thought ...

I'm in the market for a beater computer for my Huntsville office and I've had nothing but good luck with Dell so far. While checking out a deal on its site recently, I ended up in the Dell Outlet. There - staring right at me - was an Inspiron system with XP Home pre-installed. Sure, it was a factory-refurb, but it still had a one-year Dell warranty. After a little digging around, I discovered a treasure trove of XP Home and Pro systems, with prices starting at $229. Of course, that miserly sum scored a miserly system, however - Sempron, 512MB RAM - the dregs, essentially. But there were loads of decent systems, too, with prices heading north of the $2k mark. I'll definitely be able to find something at a decent price point and put off the dreaded Vista upgrade for a few years to come.

As of the time of this post, there were 47 Inspiron desktops available with XP Home, as well as 114 Dimension desktops with XP Professional. So, if you're looking to score a new(ish) system with XP, it's worth taking a gander at Dell Outlet.

Real radio returns to NYC.

Commercial radio has been dead in NYC for years. WNYU, NYU's radio station, has some decent shows, and Vin Scelsa's Saturday night show on WFUV (from Fordham's University) has been a standby for years, but commercial radio has just been sad ever since WLIR went Spanish back in 2004. (And it had been pretty meh in the years leading up to that.)

That's been the sad state of affairs until now.

At The Kooks show this past Tuesday night at Terminal 5, their set was introduced by MTV's old 120 Minutes host, Matt Pinfield. It turns out that he's the new weekday morning DJ at 101.9 XRP. And despite belonging to the massive Emmis radio network, they're actually playing some decent music. Most "modern rock" stations will play The Clash, but I caught "The Magnificent Seven" and "Train in Vain", not "Rock the Casbah" or "Should I Stay or Should I Go". And while they're spinning Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, and other classic rock mainstays, I also caught tracks by The Kooks, Social Distortion, The Raconteurs, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Frank Zappa, New York Dolls, and Supergrass. Other than Matt Pinfield, the DJs are of the "just out of a BJ undergrad degree at Newhouse" variety, but they're relatively banter-free and ignorable.

I typically listen to Virgin Radio out of London, UK, via iTunes, but their playlist is limited and tends to get old quickly. (And I really miss Afternoon Tea with Suggs.) It's nice to have a US station - broadcast over the airwaves, no less - that I want to listen to.

Higher-def videos on YouTube

I'm woefully late to the game on this one, but my friends and dealnews colleagues were even later. None of us knew about this simple hack for watching YouTube videos in higher definition. Simply add the code &fmt=18 after the URL; if it's available in higher def, you'll be able to watch the video at a resolution of 480x360 instead of the standard 320x240. (Click here to see side-by-side shots of Weezer's Pork and Beans video in both standard definition and higher def.) The sound also seems crisper (and louder) than in the standard videos.

To view Weezer's excellent Pork and Beans video in higher-definition, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI&fmt=18