Yesterday Laura found our very first emu egg out in the pasture. So finally, after 5 years of taking care of emus, we finally have a breeding pair! It was quite the journey to get there, but here we are. We had observed Mel mating with both of the male birds, Sidney in particular lately, […]

Last Thursday, Julia participated in her first barista competition – the Thursday Night Latte Art Throwdown at Durham’s Cocoa Cinnamon, where she works as a barista. Great event – lots of creative energy in the room! Also very interesting to see some the Triangle’s masters of latte art in action. Painting with milk in coffee […]

Gestern habe ich wieder Quark gemacht! Hier in den Staaten is es fast unmöglich im Supermarkt quark zu finden. Zum Glück ist es aber super-einfach Quark selber zu kultivieren. Einfach Milch warm machen (30 Grad Celsius), Starterkultur hineinmischen und dann nach 24 Stunden mit einem Käsetuch die Molke abtropfen lassen. Fertig. Man kann ein paar […]

Last week we discovered mushrooms growing on a pile of horse manure out back. Laura identified the mushrooms as Coprinus comatus, or Shaggy Inky Caps, which are actually quite delicious, but have to be eaten immediately after harvested. So this morning I went out there and picked a bunch of mushrooms and fried them up […]

\ Saturday, Team 11foot8 knocked it out of the ballpark at the Doughman 8 here in Durham, with a 4th place in the annual quadrathlon and fundraising event. Bill Copeland, Craig Young, Gordon Keeler and yours truly were on the team. Gordon Keeler started out with spaghetti and broccoli rabe & Italian sausage from Boot […]

Last Saturday, we had dinner with our neighbors and then we lit a bonfire and had some more drinks. For dinner Laura had made a nice, Togo-inspired stew out of two of their roosters. The roosters had become a bit of problem in their chicken coop; the Rhode Island Red was very tasty while the […]

During the month of January, I took some time of from my beloved beer and explored a variety of flavors of tea. The best place for buying tea around here is A Southern Season – a swanky gourmet food store in Chapel Hill. They sell 2oz and 4oz bags of their loose-leaf tea blends and […]

I am happy to report that for the fifth year running, I successfully completed the Great Beer Quest and acquired my allotment of the Special Release bottles of Sexual Chocolate Stout. Once again, we froze our butts off in 20-degree temperatures camping out on the sidewalk in front of Foothills brewery in Winston Salem, NC. […]

Once again our annual quest for our favorite beer was successful (and chilly). After a late night drive to Winston Salem, Manfred and I had or first taste of this year’s incarnation of Foothills Brewing’s Sexual Chocolate Stout at the brewery. Then we camped out in sub-freezing temperatures on the sidewalk with a hundred or […]

Last Friday we invited some friends over for our Black Friday Party, and, as usual, good times were had by all. When the whole world goes mad and shoppers storm the malls and discount stores, I like to gather some good friends down by the pond, where we light some fires to keep us warm […]

In this year’s edition of the Doughman Quadrathlon race, team Overheight When Flashing finished in 5th place! So for the third time in a row, we finished in the top ten of the Doughman. As far as I know, only two other teams have accomplished this: team Dain’s Place (hell, they OWN the Doughman) and […]

Monday, Laura made this loaf of sourdough bread, which was tasty as it was pretty: Montag hat Laura diesen leckeren Laib Weizensauerbrot gebacken. Weiter unten ist noch ein Bild …

… is Durham, North Carolina, according to the magazine Southern Living: Part of what makes Bull City compelling is the confluence of old and new: Its foodie future is gradually wiping out its tobacco past, yet remnants of the town’s first industry provide a backdrop for its current scene. Both the American Tobacco Historic District […]

For the third time in a row and for the fourth time altogether, I have a team in the annual Doughman race here in Durham. Last weekend was the “guerrilla registration” where you could get a foot in the door of this popular race by guessing the restaurants that participate. The organizers posted clues on their Facebook […]

The Great Beer Quest of 2013 was a complete success, despite the freezing temperatures in Winston Salem last night. A bunch of Footheads camped out in 20-degree (-7 Celcius) temperatures for a chance to acquire four bottles of foothills brewery’s finest beer – the Sexual Chocolate Stout. This year was my 3rd beer quest, and I […]

The Great Beer Quest of 2012 was a smashing success! Just look at these four beauties! Last night at 11PM, I met Oz, Derek and Dan in Hillsborough, they piled into the Beast and we roared over to W/S to Foothills Brewery. We hung out at the release party for the Sexual Chocolate Stout and […]

This afternoon was one of those Durham-is-cool moments. When I got off work and I was waiting for Julia, I saw that they were unloading a truckload of vintage Porsches from a truck parked across the street. One of the cars was an original 1950s Type 550 Porsche Spyder – worth about $1 Million! DSA was just […]

Last Saturday I got up at 2 AM, picked up two fellow Footheads and drove to Winston Salem to get in line for some awesome beer. We got to the Foothills brewery at 4:00 in the AM, and there were already 160 Footheads in line! And still 6 hours to wait for the awesome beer, […]

We are proud to present the 11foot8 Team @Overheight When Flashing@! This intrepid team of athletes will take on the Doughman Race on May 28 – a challenging eating/athletic competition right here in Durham. This race is also a fundraiser for SEEDS – a local nonprofit that builds community gardens and teaches kids to grow […]

We’re in! I registered the 11-foot-8 Doughman team today – Team Overheight When Flashing! We’ll be competing on Saturday May 28th with 75 teams from all over the country in the DOUGHMAN race – the world’s premier Team Relay Quadrathlon, combining competitive eating with a traditional triathlon. Part of the challenge is also to raise […]