The good news is, I’ll have some fun material later this week. Several bloggers and I are working to plan a gathering at Miya’s Sushi tomorrow evening. Haven’t heard of Miya’s? Shame on you. It could be one of the most inventive and exciting sushi restaurants in the entire world.

Stay tuned…

Look at this thing.

Sometimes, you go out to lunch and get served a lobster roll that’s bigger than your head.

I’m not kidding. I wish I had something smaller in the photo to show scale. Like, a regular-sized lobster roll on a hot dog bun.

And I didn’t even have to go to the shoreline. This behemoth is served at Maine Fish Market , a hugely popular seafood restaurant in in East Windsor. The furnishings and decor might be straight out of the ’70s (literally) but the fish is fresh, delicious and plentiful.

The meat was tender and sweet, tossed with just the right amount of cold mayonnaise and a little bit of paprika. No celery, just how I like it. Just a few shreds of lettuce nestled into the bun. Can I even call that a bun? It was more like a full baguette.  As it was, I cut the roll in half and ate the lobster meat out of it.

I shared my lobster experience with Facebook friends this afternoon, and thus started the Great Lobster Roll Debate. You see, until I moved to Connecticut, I’d never had a “hot” lobster roll. In the Nutmeg State, restaurants default to these, with the meat bathed in butter and nestled on a toasted roll or bun. The concept was completely foreign to someone who’d grown up eating cold “lobster salad” sandwiches. Mayo, sometimes celery, lettuce – on a split-top hot dog bun.

First comment, from a Connecticut-raised grad school friend: “Panera is now selling lobster roll sandwiches and I rolled my eyes at them because it wasn’t a real lobster roll…It had mayo.”

Second comment, from a Worcester-born Assumption College friend: “A lobster roll without mayo? Fascinating. Sounds tasty.”

Third comment, from a Boston-area raised college friend: “I didn’t know they had lobster rolls without mayo either!”

Now that I’ve had both, I can say they’re equally tasty. The hot version has the butter advantage, enhancing the flavor of the lobster meat and soaking into the bread. (When the meat is gone, it’s like an extra bonus.) But there’s something about the temperature contrast when you’re eating cold lobster salad stuffed into a warm, toasted roll.

I think I’ll have to take the “northern New England” road on this issue, with the conclusion that dude, there really is no bad way to eat lobster. Except maybe the McLobster sandwich.

At the end of last year, Courant rock critic Eric Danton gave me a copy of his 2009  Listen Dammit compilation. On it was perhaps one of the most entertaining songs I’ve ever heard: Das Racist’s “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” an ode to the fast-food chains that share store facades.

It’s a hilarious game of “who’s on first” (or rather, “where you at, dog?”) Yet in some ways this simple, amusing ditty is a social commentary on bad fast-food and its adverse health effects (sample lyrics: “I’m at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell…wait a minute, I’ve got that taco smell” and “I’m at the Pizza Hut, I’ve got that pizza gut, I’ve got that pizza butt…”

Then there’s “Chicken and Meat,” where the rapid-fire rhymes reference, among a tidal wave of pop-culture name-drops: “people eating bacon all across the nation.” In the video, the rap duo Himanshu Suri and Victor Vazquez wander the streets gnawing on fried chicken.

“Harold and Kumar” fans will like “Rainbow in the Dark,” which begins with the lyrics “…I’m at the White Castle, tiny-ass hamburgers, tiny-ass cheeseburgers, tiny-ass chicken sandwiches, it’s outlandish, kid…” The song goes on to name-check pizza, Big Macs, Gruyere, Roquefort and ‘cave-aged cheese.’

Das Racist plays its alma mater, Wesleyan University, next Fri., Feb. 12 and then again at Yale University on Feb. 27.

I missed the first airing of Food Network’s “Worst Cooks In America,” so I caught a rerun last night. I’m not normally a fan of chef-competition shows, surprising as that might seem.  I don’t watch “Top Chef” or “Chopped” or “Food Network Star.” But I figured this one might be worth a laugh. And it was – some of the contestants’ dishes were so abysmal that I fancied myself a regular Julia Child in comparison.

Some of the utter WTF entries: peanut-butter encrusted cod, boiled chicken coated in some kind of tomato sauce and melted swiss, sweet potato/ ground turkey meatloaf and some freakishly scary hollowed-out turnip and rice dish. We were howling with laughter. These were the kind of ‘cooks’ that would mutilate Kraft Easy Mac, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

After judges Anne Burrell and Beau MacMillan narrowed the field of 24 contestants down to 12 and split them into teams, they instructed the hapless chefs to complete exact replicas of two recipes: a shrimp caccuccio with littleneck clams and poached tiger prawns with clams, bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. We were giddy with schadenfreude, wondering just how bad it could get.

Now here’s where I call shenanigans. How are 12 people who are so self-admittedly terrible in the kitchen going to handle a recipe with such complex ingredients and steps? One female contestant from Arizona even shared that she’d never eaten seafood. Shellfish is one of the hardest ingredients to cook properly, in my opinion. I’ve rubberized many a shrimp in my day. And I’ve never even attempted to cook fresh clams, mostly out of fear.

Not only that, the contestants cooking for MacMillan had to blanch and shock leaves of bok choy – a delicate process involving a dip in boiling, then freezing water. Seems like a procedure that might throw anyone without significant kitchen experience.

But then Burrell complimented several of her contestants on their “beautifully cooked shrimp” and “nicely seasoned sauce,” and we were left scratching our heads. Did some magic transformation happen overnight? Or were we just the victims of creative editing? Perfectly cooked shellfish just doesn’t happen by accident, as you know if you’ve ever eaten an overdone shrimp in a restaurant dish. How did this crew jump from ‘burned macaroni and cheese’ to ‘trattoria sous chef’?

Plausibility aside, the show was entertaining, if mostly for Beau MacMillan’s snarky remarks delivered with a trace of a Massachusetts accent (he’s originally from Plymouth.) He minced no words, at one point telling a contestant that he’d rather “throw the dish out the window” than taste it.

Not sure if we’ll keep tuning in, but it wasn’t the worst way to kill an hour before bedtime on a Wednesday night.

Like most of you, I’ll be eating and opening presents more than I’ll be blogging this week, so I wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday.

We started a lively discussion about fruitcake on the Fun With Carbs Facebook page. (Become a fan if you haven’t already!) A divisive topic for sure. The word ‘nutmeats’ was used. And when I posted the same question on Twitter, I immediately received a notification that ‘Fruit Cake’ was now following me.

But perhaps the best Christmas-classic video I’ve seen this season (except for Charlie Brown Christmas, of course) was the above clip from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Christmas special. (Originally noticed on Eat Me Daily.) This one’s for my 80s friends…

Merry Christmas! What will you be eating and drinking this holiday?

My former colleague Sandy Csizmar, a web producer at the Hartford Courant, received a delicious surprise this weekend when her husband, John, took her on an impromptu road trip to Sonic Drive-In in upstate New York. As New Englanders are pretty obsessed with Sonic, Sandy was stoked to finally try it out. She was nice enough to share her experience with us all…

“For all of you in Connecticut who have been Sonic-deprived for so many years, you may have heard the rumors that at least one Sonic will be opening soon in our great state.  In a stroke of brilliance, my husband decided we needed a day trip to the nearest Sonic – a 75-minute ride to Wappingers Falls, NY.  And it was worth every minute of the drive.

I had no idea where we were going, so when I saw the glowing red letters  looming ahead, my stomach growled with happiness.  I’d never tried Sonic before.  I immediately posted where I was eating to Facebook and Fun With Carbs maven Leeanne Griffin responded quickly with “Their burgers are great!”  But there were so many other choices.

We pulled up to one of the many drive-in parking spots and drooled over the menu for several minutes, before deciding on a Sonic Cheeseburger for me, a Super Sonic (double) Cheeseburger for John, an order of cheese tots (tater tots covered in melted cheese – they have fries too, but we wanted to try some unique things) and the Frito chili cheese pie, basically chili nachos made with Fritos.  To order, you press a button on the menu board, someone takes your order and then you can pay by credit card using a card swipe right on the board, or pay your carhop with cash when they deliver your food.

The tater tots were very good – a nice change from french fries.  The Frito pie was delicious though the chili was a little too spicy for my taste.  But the burgers were heavenly.  A decent-sized beef patty on a tasty bun with crisp, cold lettuce and tomato, chopped onions, pickle slices, ketchup, mustard and mayo, all wrapped in white paper to make it easier to eat.  Everything was brought out quickly, hot and fresh, by our roller-skating carhop.  I think Greater Hartford has some of the best burger joints in the country, but without a Sonic, we just aren’t complete.

And for those who have seen the Sonic commercials, the drinks are THAT good.  We shared a peanut butter fudge shake, a thick concoction that tasted a lot more like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup than I’d have expected, and a cherry limeade, with fresh lime wedges.  Both were delicious and refreshing.

But here’s how much we really liked Sonic.  We did some Christmas shopping in the area, caught the movie “2012″ at a local theater, then decided to go through the drive-thru for another quick snack for the ride home.

We ordered onion rings to share, a blue coconut slushy and a cranberry iced tea.  The onion rings were good, but the batter had a different flavor – sweet and a bit like yellow cake batter.  We liked ‘em though.  The blue coconut slushy was tasty, but didn’t have enough coconut flavor.  I especially loved the cranberry iced tea, which used unsweetened tea making it very refreshing.

With three rumored possibilities so far for a Sonic in Connecticut – Wallingford, as listed on careerbuilder.com, on the Berlin Turnpike, in the old Krispy Kreme building in Milford – I think we’ll have one by early next year.  But after my first (and second) experience, I vote for all three!  Find Sonic of Connecticut on Facebook to find out the latest news.”

At my parents’ house Thursday, we had cheese and crackers and amazing shrimp cocktail before heading into the main event of turkey; stuffing made with sausage, apples, onion and celery; sweet squash with brown sugar and butter; luxurious homemade mashed potatoes; my grandfather’s decadent Morton’s Steakhouse creamed spinach recipe and flaky rolls. Oh, and Ocean Spray cranberry log, as we call it, sliced up into manageable pieces. Dessert was our choice of Junior’s caramel apple cheesecake, a Milky Way mousse cake, pumpkin pie and gourmet cupcakes created by my aunt’s friend, a baker in Worcester.

Dinner at the in-laws was decidedly more healthy, but the turkey was perfect. My mother-in-law said she stuffed the turkey’s cavity with fresh oranges and bell peppers. While I couldn’t taste those flavors in the meat, I wonder if it added to its moistness. The white meat was fabulous. Wine selections: Beaujolais for the Griffin meal, Hobnob Pinot Noir at the Zielonkas.

Your turn: what did you eat on Thanksgiving? Did any dish particularly stand out to you? Any turkey techniques you want to share?

Local Burger is a little gem on the main street of Northampton. On weekends, it’s open until about 3 a.m., serving burgers, fries, wings, onion rings, milkshakes and hot dogs to hungry college students and barhoppers. All of the burgers are made with locally-sourced produce (grass-fed beef from a farm in Easthampton, dry-aged beef on weekends from Brimfield, MA) and the fries are hand-cut and cooked in peanut oil. Everything’s cooked to order, so you wait a bit. But one bite and you’ll wonder why you ever went to Denny’s at 2 a.m., or waited in line for a questionable ‘street-meat’ hot dog on Worthington Street in Springfield.

Grass-fed burger with bacon, American cheese, sauteed onions and fries

The burger was delicious, if a little dry (my fault for asking for ‘no pink.’) The fries were of the salty, crispy skin-on variety, truly addictive.

Our friends ordered fried pickles with what looked like a cornmeal breading (I like pickles about as much as I like mushrooms, so I didn’t sample) and chicken fingers coated in, of all things, crushed Captain Crunch cereal. Served with a honey barbecue dipping sauce, the combo was almost too sweet.

Another friend ordered buffalo wings, and judging by the big pile of clean-stripped bones, he liked them a lot.

Mostly, we were impressed by the bright, clean interior, the friendly service and the fact that such good late-night food now exists in Northampton. Our friend summed it up best in this sentence:

“Local Burger. Making me want to get drunk more in Northampton since 2009…”

Local Burger and Fries on Urbanspoon

Coolio launches cookbook, dubs himself ‘Ghetto Gourmet’

Rapper Coolio has entered the ‘celebrity chef’ fray, releasing a cookbook “Cooking with Coolio” that features such recipes as Chicken Lettuce Blunts and Cold Shrimpin’.  (Thank you, THANK YOU, Boston.com, for posting the extended interview on your blog.) Among the best quotes:

“I am the Ghetto Gourmet, and my style of cooking is ghetto fusion. Instead of saying African-American and Asian, I say Blasian. Instead of saying urban and Italian, I say Ghettalian.”

“Salt was more expensive back in the day. We used to use salt to trade. You could trade for [darn] gold, for silk, you could trade spices for women.”

“You can cook some Kobe beef and I can cook some beef straight out of Compton, and you’d be hard pressed to make your [stuff] taste better than mine. My [stuff] is going to fall off the bone.”

Chicago Sun-Times publishes White Castle stuffing recipe

Somewhere in New Jersey, Harold and Kumar rejoice. and get REALLY high.

Bacon-flavored envelopes

From the brilliant minds of J&D’s, who also created Bacon Salt, Baconnaise, Bacon Pop (popcorn) and Bacon Ranch dressing. We were big fans of bacon-product hilarity in the Courant newsroom.  I just want to know why I didn’t discover these envelopes before I sent out all my wedding thank-you notes Tuesday…

The menu looks similar to the original Bar Americain, with the addition of this appetizer: ”crispy Connecticut oysters with creme fraiche chowder and bacon relish.” LOCAL YUM.

Flay opened Bobby’s Burger Palace at the casino in July. More here.