Chicken coops plans

Four Square to host benefit

DURHAM — Four Square Restaurant in will host a celebration dinner to benefit the Goathouse Refuge, Chatham County’s non-profit, no-kill animal sanctuary, Sunday. Guests will be treated to a typical Oktoberfest buffet dinner in the historic Bartlett Mangum House in Durham.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell will arrive at 3:30 p.m. to “tap the keg” and kick off the autumnal festivities. Dinner will be an array of homemade dishes, including the essential sausages and sauerkraut. The event will feature refreshing cask-conditioned beer brewed especially for the occasion by Triangle Brewing Company in Durham to compliment the fabulous German food and music.

Guests may enjoy the “all you can eat” buffet and music for $35 per person with advance reservations or $40 at the door.

The Oktoberfest benefit dinner will include three beer vouchers. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Four Square Restaurant at (919) 401-9877. Four Square Restaurant is located at 2701 Chapel Hill Rd, Durham, NC 27707. For more information about Four Square Restaurant, visit http://www.foursquarerestaurant.com.

Lee brothers at The Regulator

DURHAM — Matt and Ted Lee will discuss and sign copies of their new book, “The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor,” at the Regulator Bookshop Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Watts Grocery will pair with The Regulator on this event, offering seasonal samplings (some from recipes in the book): sweet potato and okra fritters with garlic butter dip, cocktail eggs with pimento and country ham, shrimp pate with housemade crackers, and ginger lemonade.

The Lee Brothers offer dishes that are quick and easy but have every bit as much Southern soul as the long-simmered, the slow-smoked, and the deep-fried: dishes like Pork Tenderloin with Fig Gravy, Skillet Green Beans with Orange, and Buttermilk Pudding Cakes with Mashed Raspberries.

‘Lost Art’ focuses on rare used meat

PITTSBORO — The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, in association with Herons in The Umstead Hotel and Spa, will host a cooking clinic, “The Lost Art of Last Cuts,” Nov. 13 at The Umstead in Cary. This clinic will highlight the use of underutilized parts from rare breeds of livestock in traditional cooking, and is an exclusive opportunity to learn a lost art and sample some of America’s rarest domesticated breeds.

Two nationally-renowned chefs will teach consumers how to creatively use parts from rare breed rabbits and Hog Island sheep in a way that delights the palate, reduces waste and adds value to underutilized cuts.

Chef Scott Crawford of Herons restaurant in The Umstead Hotel in Cary and Chef Bret Jennings of Elaine’s on Franklin restaurant in Chapel Hill will lead the clinic. The class will be followed by a three-course seated lunch at The Umstead Hotel featuring dishes inspired by the morning’s clinic alongside local, farm-fresh ingredients. Producers who provided the rare breed products will also be in attendance to discuss their farms, products and their efforts to conserve rare breeds.

Registration cost is $125 which includes the cooking demonstration and seated lunch. Space is limited. The clinic will be held at Herons in The Umstead Hotel from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To register, visit www.albc-usa.org or call (919) 542-5704.

Learn how to keep chickens

Longtime chicken-keeper Bob Davis will teach a class in chicken-keeping in Room 159, Kilgore Hall, N.C. State University. Classes will be held Oct. 31 at 10 a.m., Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. or Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.

A fee of $5 per person will be requested. (No pre-registration required.)

Chickens produce eggs, make wonderful pets, and provide an earth connection for their humans. Davis will discuss sources of birds, housing, feeding, and health.

Bob will present the ‘Chicken Keeping 101′ talk on three separate dates and times. It is the same talk each time, so visitors need only attend one.

Free parking is available in the Brooks Lot on the corner of Brooks and Hillsborough. Kilgore Hall is directly across Hillsborough Street from the parking lot (bamboo structures in front).

Gingerbread competition open

HILLSBOROUGH — Registration is now open for the 2009 Hillsborough Gingerbread House Competition. The competition is open to anyone who wishes to participate. There will be first and second place prizes awarded in three categories (adult professional, adult amateur and youth ages 5 to 15). Prizes include cash, tickets to the 23rd annual Historic Hillsborough Candlelight Tour on Dec. 6, gift cards and riding in the Hillsborough Christmas Parade on Dec. 5.

The entries will be judged by overall appearance, originality and creativity, difficulty and precision.

Entry forms must be submitted to the Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce via fax at (919) 732-4566 or mail to the chamber office at 102 N. Churton St. Hillsborough, NC 27278 no later than Nov. 20. You may download an entry form at www.candlelighttour.com or call the chamber at (919) 732-8156.

The competition is limited to the first 30 entries, accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Gingerbread House Contest entries must be delivered to the Burwell School Historic Site at 319 N. Churton St., Hillsborough, on Dec. 4 between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.