Chef Jimmy Crippen, owner of Crippen's Country Inn and Restaurant in Blowing Rock, has brought his Iron Chef-style cooking competition to the Triangle starting June 11.

Crippen is the force behind the annual Fire on the Rock competition, which started seven years ago in Blowing Rock. This year, Crippen teamed up with the N.C. Department of Agriculture's Got to Be N.C. campaign to take the competition statewide. So now there are four contests across the state: Fire on the Rock in Blowing Rock, Fire on the Dock in Wrightsville Beach, Fire in the Triangle in Raleigh and Fire in the Triad in Greensboro.

Sixteen chefs have signed up for the Triangle contest starting June 11 with Four Square's Shane Ingram going up against The Twisted Fork's Adam Jones. The complete list of pairings was announced today at a press conference in North Raleigh.

Here's how it works: Two chefs with the help of two sous chefs each prepare three courses for about 100 people using a secret N.C. ingredient that is only revealed on the day of the competition. The chefs, whose cell phones are confiscated, have about six hours to plan their menus and cook their courses. That evening, the diners and a panel of guest judges will choose the winning dishes, not knowing which chef cooked which course. The winning chef moves onto the next round. The overall winner takes home $2,000, while the runner-up wins $500.

The public can buy tickets to the dinners. The cost is $49 excluding beverage, tax and tip for the preliminary rounds, and $59 for the semifinal and final rounds. Go HERE to purchase tickets. All events start at 6:30 p.m. at Rocky Top Hospitality's catering event space, 1705 E. Millbrook Road, Raleigh, which is the original Michael Dean's location.

The preliminary contests are these:

• June 11: Shane Ingram of Four Square in Durham vs. Adam Jones of The Twisted Fork in Raleigh. 
• June 12: Adam Rose of Il Palio in Chapel Hill vs. Josh DeCarolis of Jujube in Chapel Hill.
• June 13: Ryan Payne of Weathervane at Southern Season in Chapel Hill vs. Chris Harris of Fork and Barrel in Raleigh.
• June 18: Scott James of The Midtown Grille in Raleigh vs. Matthew Hannon of Ashten's Restaurant & Pub in Southern Pines.
• June 19: John Childers of Herons at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary vs. Chad McIntyre of Market Restaurant in Raleigh.
• June 20: Reto von Weissenfluh of Mia Francesca Trattoria in Raleigh vs. Serge Falcoz-Vigne of 518 West Italian Café in Raleigh.
• June 25: Michael Lee of Sono in Raleigh vs. Dean Wendel of Flights at the Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel.
• June 26: Christopher Hill of The Oxford in Raleigh vs. Jimmy Reale of Chapel Hill Country Club in Chapel Hill.

The quarterfinals will be July 9-10 and July 16-17. The semifinals will be July 23-24. The final competition will be July 31.

A portion of  ticket sales will be donated to N.C.'s Office of the State Fire Marshal to support local fire fighters because cooking is the number one cause of house fires.

Grab your cell phone and start making dinner reservations, Triangle Restaurant Week returns starting Monday, Jan. 23.

This twice-yearly event means dozens of restaurants from Batistella's in downtown Raleigh to the Fairview Dining Room at the Washington Duke Inn are offering great meal deals. All of the participating restaurants offer a $20 or $30 dinner special. Some offer a $15 lunch special.

For example, Flights restaurant at the Renaissance Raleigh Hotel at North Hills is offering a three-course dinner for $30. Among the entree options: a fried French hen with cheesy agnolotti, fried green tomatoes and truffled honey; salmon with granola, bacon potato, leeks and asparagus; beef short ribs with grits, chard, tamarind sauce and Carolina Nut Brown onions; or a sorghum-brined pork chop with cornbread pudding, sweet potato, parsnip and apple. (That granola intrigues me!)

Triangle Restaurant Week goes until Jan. 29. To see a complete list of participating restaurants, their Triangle Restaurant Week specials and the cost, go to www.blvd.tv/trw/.
 

At this time, approximately 100 of Raleigh-Durham International Airport's 400 daily flights have been canceled for today.

In anticipation of Hurricane Irene, some airlines at Raleigh-Durham International Airport have begun canceling flights. American Airlines and American Eagle have canceled all flights scheduled for Saturday, August 27. American Airlines will resume operations on Sunday at 10 a.m. Here's more information:

Laura Wearn of Charlotte led wire-to-wire in winning her first major championship title by four strokes over defending champion Katherine Perry of Cary at the 61st N.C. Women's Amateur Championship in Gastonia.

Wearn's final round 74 was the highest round she shot throughout the N.C. Women's Golf Association www.ncwga.com event, which was played Tuesday through Thursday at the 6,024-yard, par-36-36--72 Gaston Country Club layout.

Lori Beth Adams of Burlington was third, followed by Corrine Carr of Pinehurst in a tie for fourth. Courtney Rouse of Holly Springs was seventh, and Wendell's Ashley Denton shared ninth.

Bargain-hunters could get a steal on an international flight Thursday, if they are lucky in an online auction from Lufthansa.

Starting at 9 a.m., the airline will auction off flights from the U.S. to Germany and other European destinations. The starting bid is 1 Euro, or $1.47.

The flights are for travel Christmas Day through April 30, 2010.

In addition, 72 flights from Germany to Europe, Asia and Africa will be auctioned off starting at 4 a.m.

Bidders who wish to participate in the auctions must use their Lufthansa.com profile sername and password to log in. Customers can create a free profile at Lufthansa.com. For more information on the auction, see this Web site.