Friend's birthday dinner at CarneVino

We visited Mario Batali's steakhouse CarneVino to celebrate the 40th birthday of a friend, along with another couple. The locale at the (relatively) new Palazzo is both good and weird: the place is split between to sections in the lobby. The main section has the bar, and the second section seems like extra tables for (I presume) overflow.

We started with champagne drinks at the bar. The bar area looks impeccable with a great assortment of libations on display, including a very good array of grappa, along with a wall street sized bull sculpture. We chose the american Schramberg Rose. Everyone liked it.

We got seated quickly on the main dining rooms along the left side. The space is decorated in what seems like the typical steak house: Dark wood accents and private gentlemen's room curtains. The space has a very high ceilings that bring out that powerful "masculine" look of most steak houses. The center of the space was occupied by a country style table showcasing all the wines by glass. Our waiter seemed a bit hurried: we had to call him back to the table several times because he'd listen to just one person (as opposed to everyone), then take off. Overall, he was a nice guy, but we'd hoped he took a deep breath and slow down. :)

Our birthday man loves both Batali restaurants and italian wine, so he summoned the sommelier and chose two fantastic (but oh-so-pricey) bottles of wine: a super Tuscan along with an Amarone. Those are two very contrasting wines, but worked out great with our meal selections.

We selected Parpadelle with Porcini and truffle oil for a starter. The rest of the crew went with the capellini and white truffles. Everyone was very happy with the selection. The Parpadelle was rich and tender. The porcini mushrooms were actually fresh, and the flavor was perfect for the strength and intensity of the Amarone.

For dinner, I chose the veal osso bucco with a saffron risotto. My wife opted for the bone-in pork shop. The third couple went all out and selected the porterhouse for two and truffles. the birthday boy chose veal saltimbocca, and his wife made me proud when she selected the bone-in New York strip. Everyone shared bites with the others, so we all had a chance to sample the whole gamut.

My osso bucco was right on the money: tender and rich, with a beautiful lemony background taste provided by the parsley and peel topping on the bone. The risotto was orzo based and surprisingly creamier than I originally thought. The super Tuscan managed not to over-power the dish, which was nice. Out of the others, my two faves were the pork chop and the porterhouse. they were both rich, tender, and just awesome. We skipped dessert and opted for cappuccino. Perfect cap to the dinner.

On the service side of things, the supporting cast was impeccable, but (again), our waiter was not the most attentive. We had to tell him to clear stuff out a few times when it was obvious. At one time, he's struggling to find room on the table for glasses when there are empty cocktail and champagne glasses that need to be cleared off the table! Considering the price they're commanding, you would expect better service.

Then, the bill came: Everyone's jaw dropped just a bit. Even after factoring out the wine selection, the bill was a bit outrageous. Mind you: we are not easily "scared" by dinner bills on special occasions, but this felt a bit too much. This is the first time in the US where I felt like I paid for the chef's name rather than the food. Our birthday boy loves Mario Batali restaurants, but even he must have felt like he paid for a lot of things and not necessarily the food. I felt the same way when I went to Paris, and I made a point of not dining on may places I would have loved to try, but frankly, did not miss at all.

I suspect that at some point, people are going to realize that there are better restaurant deals in Vegas than this one. I could see myself returning to the bar for drinks, but I would look elsewhere for dinner.

Later,

On Wings

One of those things I enjoy very much is chicken wings. I prefer them fried, but baked works just as well. They are messy, but they have tons of flavor. Some believe they're too much hassle, but I honestly don't mind. I think the effort is worth the reward.

This past weekend, we decided to make wings with some Asian flavors. I was intrigued by a Tyler Florence recipe for curry honey butter baked wings that sounded delicious. I initially thought it was madras curry based, but the flavors didn't work as good. The red curry paste is definitely a better match. My only change was to use Agave nectar instead of honey. I also seasoned the wings with salt/pepper/garlic powder before tossing the mix and baking them.

For my own riff, I decided to borrow most of the  flavors of nuoc-cham, and made a sauce using garlic-chili paste, agave nectar, salt, and lime (no fish sauce). I used it as a tossing sauce with fried wings. The results were very good. A nice balance of the Asian sweet/salty/spicy/sour combination with the crispy wings. Highly recommended if you like those flavors!

For the sauce*:

1 teaspoon of Asian garlic chili sauce (I prefer Huy Fong: Amazon)
2-3 teaspoons of agave nectar (you can use honey, but probably use less)
1 teaspoon lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside
Fry the  chicken wings in 350 degree oil for about 8 minutes (more if you like them really crispy) and drain on paper towels.

Toss the wings with the sauce to coat. Serve hot.

Notes:

I make the sauce to taste, meaning that I eye-ball the quantities. I start with the chili paste, add the sweet and taste as I go until I get the desired heat/sweet ratio I want. Once I get there, I add about a 1/2 tsp of lime and taste from there. Once I get the balance I like, I give it a pinch of salt and pepper, and adjust as needed.
The amounts I've  provided are approximate based on what I saw in the bowl.

If you use honey, warm it up a bit so it flows and blends better. Also, use less initial quantity since honey tends to be sweeter than agave nectar.


I hope you like them as much as I did.

Follow-up on transcoding HD-PVR .wtv files from Windows 7 MCE

After some more finagling, I finally found a setting that does the trick for me:

If you recall on the previous post, I mentioned that whenever I tried to transcode a .wtv file directly, the expression encoder GUI would not display an image preview. In addition to the lack of a preview (and thus, lack of editing), the resulting files would always have the sound out of sync.This led me in the direction of de-muxing the media using graphstudio, re-muxing into a .ts file, then using the .ts file as the source. This approach yielded bad results in expression studio. The resulting file would not have any sound, even though the imported .ts file would be detected as having a sound track, and it would play the sound track fine on VLC. The only workable setting I had was transcoding using handbrake. It did the job well, except that handbrake has no cutting capability.

I have Expression encoder 4 now set up to use the ffdshow decoders and the haali media splitter, and I disabled the AC3 filter. This conflagration proved to be the correct one for me. Not only can I see the video in the preview window, but I actually produce wmv files with WMA pro 5.1 channel surround! I'd say try installing MS Expression encoder 4, ffdshow and haali media splitter. That alone is probably enough to get the job done.

I must also mention that I wound up installing the HD-PVR bundled total media extreme during my testing, but no other filters or codecs show up on the expression encoder options, so I presume the installation has no effect in my success.

I still feel this approach is overkill for what I really want (rescale the video and mux into a different container), but it is a workable solution. I'll report if I find something better... :)

HD-PVR: Setting the cap quality under Windows MCE

I forgot to post this update a while back,

If the default quality settings are not to your liking, there's a way to change them, but you need GraphStudio or another DirectShow filter tool.

The easiest way to get to the correct spot is to use a .wtv file to load the filter graph. Then, right-click on the PVR module to get to the properties, and change it to the bitrate you want. Click OK to save, and that's it.

Windows 7 MCE + HD-PVR + transcode = Neverending frustration

Recently, I decided to make some upgrades to my HTPC portfolio, and as always with these things, the experience has been painful. The story always goes about the same with these things: if you want to do something slightly out of the predetermined storyline, your're simply fucked and SOL.

I got myself a shiny new HD-PVR from Hauppauge. The device is an HD capture device that relies on the component video outputs of whatever you wish to capture. it captures video as AVHCD (H.264) and audio as AC3. I'm using it at the moment as a supplement to my TV company's DVR because the damn thing has a tiny drive (120G) in relative terms for HD content, which is all I care about.

The device does the trick as advertised, but when you want to make it work under the umbrella of Windows Media Center, there are a few hoops you need to jump through. There's a beta set of drivers on the Hauppauge website that works fine for me. My one major issue with it is that the resulting file (1080 with AC3) seems to be a little too much for my HTPC to handle (although it's supposed to have enough video ans CPU horsepower to support blu-ray video, but I digress), and I would love to rescale the captured file down to 720p. This is where my deviation from the norm happens, and this is where I get severely punished for it...

When the HD-PVR is connected to MCE, the captured files are saved in the MS-only wtv container format. This container format along with the video codec makes working with the recorded files almost impossible. Most of the usual suspects (Handbrake, Avisynth, Avidemux) do not understand that container type. There's another ms format, but the conversion is only permitted when the recording compression is MPEG2. Since the HD-PVR does not record in MPEG2, I cannot convert to the other, friendlier format...

lots of googling and forum reads pointed to some alternatives: Microsoft Live movie maker and Expression encoder.

Live Movie Maker is a pretty simple app to use, but the default encoding profiles are very limited. The latest beta version from Live wave 4 allows you to define your own profiles, which is very nice. However, the application only allows the use of the windows media codec 9, which means only stereo sound, and only WMV files. Another thing that turns people off is the fact that the installation drags some other components of the windows Live bundle that honestly have nothing to do with the movie maker.

I gave it a try anyways, but the deal killer was sound severely lagging the video. Scratch that one...

I read on some AVS forums that Expression encoder supports the container and the compression format, and the commercial version ($50) allows you to save as mp4, and it also supports windows media audio codec pro 10, which can save 5.1 and 7.1 audio. I downloaded the free version 4 and gave it a try. The UI is very polished and it allows a little more editing control than Movie Maker.

The problem with Expression encoder 4 is that the source video can be loaded, and encoded, but the source video does not show on the preview window. This makes any kind of editing impossible. The closest thing one can do is to play the original, note the cut points by hand, and enter them in the clips property window. If you've ever done any kind of video editing, you know this is a futile exercise. one of my encoding attempts using 5.1 produced a file that had no sound when I played it back on my PC. The media property window showed the Windows Media 5.1 as I expected, but I got nothing. I didn't bother to check it on the MCE system because my PC is has a 5.1 setup, and the original plays correctly.

More googling and forum reads yielded some other options:

A) 3 steps,

1. Dump the video and audio streams using GraphStudio.
2. Put them back together (MUX) using TsMuxer as a transport stream (.ts) file
3. Transcode using handbrake or some other editor that understands .ts files.

As kludgey as this sounds, it is remarkably simple. It requires some level of understanding most people don't have, but could easily acquire. I'll post a recipe for this later.

This yields a file with all the right things in it. Handbrake is more than happy to process the file. This is, however, a 3-step process, and does not allow for any video cuts other than at the beginning and end.

B) Install a media splitter that understands .ts files, so Expression Encoder can load the file. for this, I used the haali media splitter and the AC3 filter for the audio decoding. I also installed ffdshow, but I thing you can skip that step.

Remember how I mentioned earlier that Expression Encoder does not show the video preview when working with the .wtv file? It it more than happy to show it to me using this method! That is one of the more frustrating aspects of this endeavor. The video and audio are identical to the .wtv file, but they're inside a different container. That's it! how come the MS container does not work in an MS product???? Shenanigans!!!!

This approach worked exactly once for me. Every subsequent attempt always ends the same way: the job fails after a little while. I now cannot seek through the imported video without locking up Expression Encoder. I probably made the fatal sin of uninstalling the software and re-installing it... These codecs are so sensitive that one false move, and you're fucked... :(

So for now, my only available compromise is option A, and living with the uncut original. Cutting out commercials is really not that big of a deal for me because I'm not really interested in archiving the recordings. The main motivation for me was saving space.

I also heard of Format Factory. I will give it a shot and update.

Do you know of any .ts or .wtv editors that understand the HD-PVR format and don't cost an arm and a leg? If you've read this far, you know I'm not shy to try something free that's not too convoluted :)

Later,

Sammy's at the Longwood: What happened?

If you've lived in the Boston area for a long while, and had to spend any time around the medical area, you remember Sammy's kebab cart on Francis street, just in front of the Brigham and Women's hospital. The food was the student's best friend. It was delicious and relatively cheap.

Many many years later, I found myself in the area and now Sammy's has grown into a proper place in the Longwood food court behind Dana Farber.

With good memories and a better appreciation for middle-eastern food, I head over and order some of my favorites: Lamb Shawarma , Mujedara, and Falafel with tahini sauce.

Having tasted all three, I can deduce one of two possibilities: Either my taste for middle eastern food has evolved, or Sammy's has gone down at terminal velocity.

Having tasted both dry and wet versions of Mujedara (from Byblos and Cafe Barada, respectively), Sammy's was neither. While present, I could not taste any of the key ingredients in the dish (lentils and onions), but instead I tasted the cucumber dressing they put on top of it for some reason. I like the dressing, mind you, but not on this dish. It over-powered everything else, so I ended up discarding the vast majority of it. My favorite type is the wet type, and from Cafe Barada in Cambridge. It is creamy, and the lentil flavor is just perfect.

The two key characteristics of Falafel that I love are the crunchy outside and the moist inside. Sammy's was the exact antithesis: soggy and dry. Here again, my recommendation is Cafe Barada. They make then in the traditional dual half-moon shape (think very large skittles). They are crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Some other shops make them crispy, but usually kind of greasy. Barada's are very light and I think just lovely.

The Shawarma tasted like stewed lamb strips rather than the slow roasted goodness I am used to. The Lamb tasted overcooked (not in a good way) and while edible, it was definitely not what I consider good. The best one I've had so far is actually from a Greek place in Newton called Farm grille. Try them and see for yourself. They're non-traditional by the fact that theirs is actual sliced lamb rather than the usual meatloaf-like base.

I admit: this might be the traditional case of reality not living up to the memory. It was a let-down and I will adjust my expectations next time. I think for a "joint", the place is good. Just don't expect it to become your benchmark for middle eastern food.

Later,

Living with a 3G microcell: an update.

A quick update on the Micro cell:

As many others have mentioned in the AT&T forums, the micro cell is not all that... If you happen to have some coverage (no matter how small) around your place, your phone will happily attempt to hand-off the call from your micro-cell to the macro-cell, causing your call to be dropped. No warning, no (good) reason. The micro cell can accept a hand-off from a macro cell, but the opposite is not true.

This makes for an extremely annoying and disappointing user experience. Supposedly, Cisco (the manufacturers of the micro cell) are working on a fix, but for now it's still on a "coming soon" stage.

One of the suggestions is to get a new SIM card for the phone, which I haven't done just yet. I will update once I do that. Knowing that I coughed up 150 bux for a beta product is not a good feeling, but that's one of the perils of early adoption...

Later,