Carnival season ends Tuesday with Mardi Gras, and for the past eight days, partygoers have taken over the French Quarter in New Orleans, reveling in beads, booze and well, that other five-letter b-word.

For those of us looking for a way to celebrate Fat Tuesday from the comfort of our homes or the lameness of our offices, have no fear. There is a cure to the “I’m-Not-in-New-Orleans” blues and it’s called the King Cake.

The popular pastry is rich to the taste buds but it’s also rich in history, explains Arthur Hardy, the self-proclaimed "World’s Foremost Authority on Mardi Gras."

Hardy says the exact history is not certain, but like many things in New Orleans, the King Cake is believed to have originated in France as part of the Feast of the Epiphany, a celebration for the three wise men who visited Christ twelve days after Christmas.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• A dessert with breakfast a day may keep the pounds at bay. - New York Times

• When in Portland, do Fat Tuesday as the Swedes do - with semlor. - NPR

• "Oscars of the Food World" Watch: The 2012 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists are... - The Official James Beard Foundation Blog

• Prince Charles and Marion Nestle - two great minds on the future of food. - The Atlantic

• Sommeliers! They're just like us! Converse with them, please. - Serious Eats

While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

It's the best kind of sticky situation - February 21 is National Sticky Bun Day!

Dessert for breakfast is never something we've shied away from, but it's even better when a celebrated pastry can double as the beginning and end of your day.

Little pieces of leavened dough are lovingly rolled with brown sugar and cinnamon tucked inside, then placed together tightly on a baking pan. The collective becomes a flat loaf of pull-apart goodness.
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