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• Reviewers are surprisingly pleased with the service and selection at chain favorites like Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, and T.G.I. Friday's
• Young, energetic Danish chefs return home after culinary school, and bring with them a unique, fresh perspective
  
• One author marks her trials and triumphs in birthday cake making over the years, including the dreaded Barbie cake (at right)
  
• On the hunt for a Chicken Canzanese recipe, circa 1969
• The taco truck controversy marches on
• A quintessential mint julep recipe, perfect for Derby-goers

Have you met the breakfast blogger? Or, more accurately, the breakfast bloggers? They are a trio of bloggers who report primarily on what they consider to be the best meal of the day, both on foods that they have cooked and on some of the restaurants they've eaten at. While breakfast foods both sweet and savory are appealing, there is nothing like getting the day started with a sugar rush. This is a piece of Danish french toast, where a Danish pastry was used instead of plain bread as the base, demonstrating that almost any bread item can be "frenched." Step by step directions are here.

The traditional King Cake is a ring of rich pastry, similar to brioche or Danish pastry, which is filled with a rich filling, like cream cheese, marzipan or a buttery cinnamon mixture. The cake is frosted with brightly colored icing: purple to represent justice, green to represent faith, and gold to represent power. King Cakes are served some time between Epiphany and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras and can be eaten with breakfast or as a dessert.

This Danish is... literally... six inches across. It's the most decadent thing for breakfast within a good 17-mile radius, scented with cinnamon and butter, dotted with crumb topping crumbles, sparkling with icing and swirled with raspberry jam. These delectable pastries, in a variety of flavors and many studded with whole blueberries or sliced local peaches, are baked fresh every day by Bowers Bakery in Portland. Just wait until you see the height of this ultra-yummy pastry.