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For several years, each August, I would tell you about the upcoming Taste of the Nation, the annual food and wine fundraising bash, and I would write, each time, that I hoped it would be the last year for the event. My reasoning was that if the goal of the benefit -- to eradicate childhood hunger -- could finally be attained, there would be no reason to have another one.

As it turns out, last year's was the last Taste of the Nation, but unfortunately not for the reason I had hoped. Childhood hunger, especially in Central Florida, is still a grave problem.

And it's still one worth fighting. So instead of TOTN, Taste! Central Florida is the new name of the event. It will take place on Saturday, Aug. 19, from 6:45-10 p.m.

Just about everything is the same as previous years: It's still being held at the Orlando World Center Marriott; it still features a bountiful bevy of the area's best restaurants serving samplings in the walkabout plan; and it still benefits Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida. And just as in years past, all proceeds go to the cause.

What's different this year is that it is truly a local fundraiser. In previous years, Taste of the Nation was a function of a national organization called Share Our Strength. While Second Harvest and the Coalition for the Homeless did indeed benefit from the tickets you purchased, some of the proceeds also went to the national organization.

So this year, all of the money stays right here.

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Progressive Dinner at Walt Disney Swan Dolphin

I had a fun time recently taking part in a progressive dinner of sorts that had me and some other media members visiting the premium restaurants at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. We had been invited by the two hotels' PR team as a way of reacquainting ourselves with some restaurants we may not have visited in a while.

It had been a long while since I had been in Kimonos, the elegant sushi bar in the Swan where we started our evening. In fact, it occurred to me that the last time I did a full review of Kimonos I liked the food but I took management to task for not offering a nonsmoking section.

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Mlounge exterior

Even if you're a regular visitor to Ivanhoe Row, you'll get a whole new perspective of the surrounding neighborhood from M Lounge, a new bar that officially opened over the weekend.

That's because it's a rooftop bar, sitting atop a newly remodeled two-story building on North Orange Avenue.

It's all quite open, as you would expect a rooftop to be. And even though it's only three floors up, it offers a comparative towering vantage of Antique Row, the residential area and downtown Orlando in the not so distant distance.

It's especially lovely at sunset, as when I visited a couple of weeks ago.

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lemonshark exterior

Sometimes when a food fad starts trending, we scratch our heads in befuddlement of what all the fuss is about. (I'm looking at you, cupcakes.)

But occasionally, you'll happen upon someone who is doing the current food a la mode in such a way as to produce an aha moment, where you say, "OK, now I get it."

If you've been wondering about the surge in restaurants offering the Hawaiian raw fish bowls, your eureka! is waiting for you at LemonShark Poke on Restaurant Row.

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