“Top Chef” contestant Edward Lee is coming to Fearrington Village to promote his cookbook, “Smoke & Pickles.”

At 6 p.m. June 5, Fearrington is hosting a barbecue picnic dinner with Lee as a special guest. This is part of McIntyre’s Books’ “Books and Cooks” series of events.

Lee is the chef and owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Ky, a three-time finalist for best chef in the Southeast from the James Beard Foundation and was a contestant on the 2012 season of Bravo’s “Top Chef.” Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen will introduce Lee at the event.

Tickets cost $85 for the meal, a tasting of beer and an autographed copy of Lee’s book.

The event’s menu includes recipes from Lee’s cookbook: pulled lamb barbecue, lime beef salad, adobo-fried chicken and waffles, pork ribs and sauerkraut with horseradish, rice bowl with tuna, pork rinds and jalapeno remoulade sides, green tomato kimchi, soft grits, bourbon ginger glazed carrots, fried green tomato and cilantro relish, bacon candy and curried cashews, fried pickles, kimchi poutine, whiskey ginger cake with pear salad and a coconut rice pudding brulee.

Call 919-542-3030 to reserve tickets.

So many things to do this weekend beyond the 24-hour celebration of the new N.C.  Museum of Natural Sciences. If the weather cooperates, here are a few ideas:

• This Saturday is the annual Cuegrass festival outside The Pit restaurant in downtown Raleigh. It's from noon-6 p.m. It costs $5. For details, go to http://cuegrass.com
• Chatham County's Briar Chapel is hosting an Earth Day celebration from 3-5 p.m. Sunday with children's activities and a food truck rodeo. The food trucks will include Chirba Chirba Dumpling, Baguettaboutit, Will & Pop's and The Parlour. (There's also a 5K in the morning if you feel so inclined. It benefits the Abundance Foundation. For more information, go HERE.)
• SEEDS' annual pie social and skills share auction also is Sunday afternoon. Read my earlier post HERE.
• The next Triangle Foodie Tweetup is April 25 at Fearrington Village. The cost is $5 for Chef Colin Bedford's take on hot dogs, sliders and more. (They do seem to outdo themselves every time they host these events.) It's cash bar. Tickets are available HERE.

And I also wanted to mention these special dinners at Triangle restaurants:

Beasley's Chicken + Honey is doing soft shell crab dinners on Monday: You get  soft shell crabs, family-style sides and three glasses of spring wine for $35. They are doing seatings at 6 and 8 p.m. To make a reservation, call (919) 322-0127.

Chapel Hill's Jujube restaurant has two wine dinners:

• 7 p.m. April 26, a five-course dinner featuring Argentine wines costs $45 per person.
• 7 p.m. May 8, a five-course dinner with Austrian wine pairings costs $50 per person.

To see the full menus, go HERE. To make a reservation, call (919) 960-0555.
 

Here's your chance to shuck oysters and drink beer with Southern food writer John T. Edge, who runs the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi.

The group has a new cookbook, "The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook." McIntyre's Books at Fearrington is hosting Edge and local contributors, chef Bill Smith and cooking instructor Sheri Castle for a book event 5-7 p.m. Dec. 3.

It costs $45 to come for the book event/oyster roast and receive a copy of the new book, or $25 just to eat and mingle. To get tickets, go to http://sfaatmcintyres.eventbrite.com/

The Southern Foodways Alliance is a nonprofit dedicted to preserving and celebrating Southern food traditions.
 

Don't forget: Fearrington House is hosting a reception  followed by two panels on publishing tomorrow night. The event coincides with Kim Sunee's Floating Island Writers' Workshop in Chapel Hill.

There will be a cocktail reception from 4-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12 before the two publishing panels. The reception costs $35. For tickets, go to http://mcintyresbooks.eventbrite.com

The panels, one starts at 5:30 p.m and the other starts at 6:30 p.m., include these speakers: Sunee, Frances Mayes, auther of "Under the Tuscan Sun"; Sara Foster, cookbook author and owner of Foster's Market, Sheri Castle, a cooking instructor with a forthcoming cookbook, "The New Southern Garden Cookbook";  Rica Allannic, cookbook editor for Clarkson Potter who worked with chef Andrea Reusing of Lantern on her forthcoming cookbook; Reusing; Lynn Andriani, a senior editor at Publishers' Weekly; and me, as food writer for the N&O and a member of the James Beard Foundation book awards committee. 

So you want to be a published writer?

Fearrington House is hosting a reception followed by two panels on publishing to coincide with Kim Sunee's Floating Island Writers' Workshop in Chapel Hill next week.

On Tuesday, there will be a cocktail reception from 4-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12 14 before the two publishing panels. The reception costs $35. For tickets, go to http://mcintyresbooks.eventbrite.com

The panels, one starts at 5:30 p.m and the other starts at 6:30 p.m., include these speakers: Sunee, Frances Mayes, auther of "Under the Tuscan Sun"; Sara Foster, cookbook author and owner of Foster's Market, Sheri Castle, a cooking instructor with a forthcoming cookbook, "The New Southern Garden Cookbook";  Rica Allannic, cookbook editor for Clarkson Potter who worked with chef Andrea Reusing of Lantern on her forthcoming cookbook; Reusing; Lynn Andriani, a senior editor at Publishers' Weekly; and me, as food writer for the N&O and a member of the James Beard Foundation book awards committee. 

Panels will be moderated by Keebe Fitch, founder of McIntyre's Bookstore.

Last chance to get your tickets for the Triangle Foodie Tweetup tomorrow night at Fearrington's new beer garden, The Roost.

It's a cash bar and appetizers made by the capable chefs at Fearrington House. Tickets cost about $6 (a reasonable fee to make sure folks show up than to cover food costs.) 

The event is being co-hosted by Johanna Kramer, aka @durhamfoodie, myself, the folks @FearringtonNC, the Independent's food editor Amber Nimocks (@ambernim), Edible Piedmont's publisher Fred Thompson (@fredthompsonNC) and N&O Sunday Dinner columnist and cookbook author Debbie Moose (@DebbieMoose).

Click HERE for more information and to buy tickets. 

So far, I've set aside these cookbooks that you can win by tweeting about the event:

"Molto Gusto," by Mario Batali, "In the Green Kitchen," by Alice Waters and "The Kansas City Barbecue Society Cookbook," by Ardie Davis, Chef Paul Kirk and Carolyn Wells, and "Sur La Table's Eating Local," by Janet Fletcher.

We've had almost 80 folks buy tickets for the Triangle Foodie Tweetup on Wednesday, May 19 at Fearrington's new beer garden, The Roost.

The event is being co-hosted by Johanna Kramer, aka @durhamfoodie, myself, the folks @FearringtonNC, the Independent's food editor Amber Nimocks (@ambernim), Edible Piedmont's publisher Fred Thompson (@fredthompsonNC), and N&O's Sunday Dinner columnist and cookbook author Debbie Moose (@DebbieMoose).

Click HERE for more information and to buy tickets. 

So far, I've set aside these cookbooks that you can win by tweeting about the event:

"Molto Gusto," by Mario Batali, "In the Green Kitchen," by Alice Waters and "The Kansas City Barbecue Society Cookbook," by Ardie Davis, Chef Paul Kirk and Carolyn Wells, and "Sur La Table's Eating Local," by Janet Fletcher.

The developer behind Fearrington in Chatham County is, for the first time, offering buyers set floor plans instead of custom built homes.

Fitch Creations launched a new 20-acre neighborhood in February called Knolls. Buyers can choose from four different model homes to put on the one of the neighborhood's 28 lots.

Greg Fitch, vice president of Fitch Creations, said the change came after the company noticed that buyers had become less interested in going through the process of building a custom home.

He attributed the reluctance to the fact that some builders and developers in Chatham and elsewhere didn't live up to their promises in recent years.

"I think people heard horror stories," Fitch said. "They had assumed previously that a builder or developer couldn't go bankrupt. But in fact they can."

Offering models instead of custom homes also allows Fitch to offer more affordable homes.

Prices for the four models range from $319,000 to $355,555, or between $400,000 and $440,000 when you factor in the cost of the lot.

In the past, Fearrington custom homes had been in the $600,000 to $700,000 range.

The theme: Bebop & Brews in the Barn

The time: tonight, starting with a reception at 6pm, followed by dinner at 7.

The place: the barn at Fearrington Village.

The goods: a three course dinner prepared by Fearrington House executive chef Colin Bedford, paired with brews from the award-winning North Coast Brewing Co. (including Brother Thelonius Abbey Ale).

The tunes: live performance by Durham's Grammy-nominated John Brown Quintet.

The price: $85. Call 542-2121 for reservations.