North Carolina State Fair 2018 The North Carolina State Fair , Where Nothing Could Be Finer - opens October 11th and runs thru the 21st - in Raleigh North Carolina State Fair - Pre-Fair Interview with Heather Overton, North Carolina State Fair Spokesperson ***************** Historical timeline of the North Carolina State Fair starting in 1850.
Oklahoma Tulsa State Fair 2018 The Oklahoma Tulsa State Fair runs from September 27 thru October 7th this year. They have a new concert stage - The Oklahoma Stage. The concert series is included in the price of admission. When is Senior Citizen Day? Seniors, age 62 and over, receive FREE Gate Admission until 2pm, Tuesday, October 2, as part of the Alltech's Family Fest promotion. However, every day senior citizens (62+) receive a discounted Gate Admission of $6 per person; proper identification required at time of purchase. When are the Oklahoma State Picking & Fiddling Championships? Saturday, September 29, 11am – 9pm: Fiddle Sunday, September 30, 11am – 7:30pm: Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar & String Band Location: Muscogee (Creek) Nation Stage When is the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show? The Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show is Saturday & Sunday, September 29 & 30. It is located it the River Spirit Expo Lower Level, from 10am – 10pm, on Saturday, and 10am – 6pm, on Sunday. Pre-Fair Podcast - with Sarah Thompson - about what is going on this year 2018, at the Tulsa State fair. **************************** Tulsa State Fair promo 2017
The Oklahoma State Fairs is open September 13th-23rd. This is an interview with Scott Munz of the Marketing department. Oklahoma State Fair 2018 Big Fun He has been with the fair for over thirty years and would like to be around he says for another six to eight years. The Fair has grown a lot. One of the things I have not seen before at a state fair is a really cool coupon book with lots of coupons. The coupon book is on sale for $5.00. Get your Tickets ***************** Oklahoma State Fairs - Frequently Asked Questions!
By Kent Whitaker - Three Alternatives to Tailgate Hotdogs! Football season is here! Highschool, College and the National Football League are kicking off. And, when you ask a cookbook writer what the most important part of the game is – you’re probably not going to hear “Defense” or “Offense” when I make my picks. What you may hear me talk about its tailgating! In case you’re not familiar with the term – tailgating is when fans of a sport come early, set up grills, cook some great food, play games, probably consume adult beverages, and then make their way into the event. But, the fun is not only relegated to football, NASCAR and other sporting events. Musician Jimmy Buffet is known for his style of tropical inspired music as well as the daylong parties that take place in the parking lots of his concerts. One of the most popular items to grill are hotdogs when it comes to tailgating. The reason being is that hot dogs are cheap, easy to cook, require only small grills, and can feed a crowd. But, if you get bored with hotdogs there are some alternatives. The bratwurst is a given, tasty and becoming as common as dogs! – so I’m including those meaty links in with hotdogs just for this article. Here’ three great hotdog/bratwurst alternatives for your tailgate this football season. These are great for if you’re grilling at the game or just enjoying it on TV in your back yard. 1. KNOCKWURST Ok, I admit that I tried to throw you off with the bratwurst comments above. But this sausage cousin to the Bratwurst is worth tossing on the grill! The knockwurst combines spices, garlic, veal and pork for a very easy to find sausage selection. The major generic difference between the two is the the knockwurst is often not as spicy as a bratwurst. That makes it amazing for a wide variety of toppings. And, of course bring on the sauerkraut, the grilled onions, and some serious mustard. If you're bold - make up a batch of horseradish infused beer cheese for a drizzle! 2. CHORIZO A crowd favorite with Argentine and Spanish roots! This wonderful link is making serious inroads into the tailgate world. Bold flavor, meaty texture, a wide variety of cooking options make the Chorizo a winner with your grilling guests! You can choose from a slightly spicy version to an "GOOD HEAVENS HAND ME A BEER" version – and everything in between! Grill [...]
Hot Diggity Dog: The Origins, Varieties, and Toppings of Hot Dogs and Sausages - By Kent Whitaker The Great American Grilled hotdog is all grown up! In fact, the classic weenie is not really all that American! Hot dogs, and other sausage style items eaten on a fluffy bun, have international roots! And, hot dogs vary as you travel across the country! Consumers have demanded specialized “dogs” for regional tastes. There’s the famous Chicago Dog, the Fenway Frank and even versions for West Virginia, Tennessee and more. Granted, a good amount of the difference is what toppings you put on your dog but don’t forget… you can have bratwursts, sausages, Chorizo’s and many other varieties. The options are endless as differences in consumer tastes change as you travel from the East coast to the South, the Midwest, Southwest on out to California. Even professional sports venues, such as tracks in NASCAR, baseball and football stadiums cater to their local cliental. Chefs and menu planners at these venues are always looking for ways to impress their customers with new takes on hot dogs, bratwursts, and sausages. Martinsville Speedway caused a stir in the world of NASCAR when news spread about a change in suppliers for their famous “Martinsville Hot Dog.” Fenway Park, a baseball stadium in Major League Baseball, has long been known for their “Fenway Frank.” Don’t forget the menu options when you start including food trucks, specialized restaurants, and of course on back yard grills. Some Dog Gone History! Before I start naming regional versions of links served up on a bun I think some information about the history of the hot dog is in order. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDASC) the history of the term “hot dog” is not clear. Legends about the name are far ranging. Here’s the official explanation from the pros! The name “hot dog” is often attributed to cartoonist who observed the carts selling “red hot dachshund dogs” on the New York Polo grounds and was unable to spell dachshund, so he printed “hot dogs” instead. However, this cartoon has not been found, prompting many historians to question the legend’s accuracy. The immigrant vendors of the time also brought their dachshund dogs, prompting their carts to be called dog wagons. Possessing good humor, these vendors were known to tease that their sausages were made from their dachshunds. Certainly, this was nothing more than a friendly joke, but this may be where the term “hot dog” [...]
By Kent Whitaker - Three Amazing Grilled Fruit Hacks for Spring and Summer Nothing seems to beat the wide variety of fruit that comes into markets during Spring. Everything from fresh picked strawberries to apricots and even Kiwi! Then, the flavors keep coming as peaches, oranges and even bananas at their peak flood into grocery stores and produce stands. So, it stands to reason that grilling gurus across the land should add some of these tasty fruit flavors to our recipe collection! It could be a simple as a quick-and-easy fruit flavored infused sauce to grilling a couple of slices of your favorite fruit. Here’s three spring & summer grilled fruit hacks~ Grilled Coconut Rum Bananas I have a buddy that’s a rum expert! He knows classic rums, white, dark, brands, history and even enjoys the new fruit flavored rums that are gaining in popularity. He suggested using some coconut flavored rum for a Caribbean inspired recipe! This recipe hack is inspired from Cuban and Caribbean style grilled plantains. Slice the banana lengthwise and keep them in their peals, brush with melted butter or use butter flavored non-stick spray. In a small bowl, combine some coconut rum, melted butter and little bit of honey. Grill the sliced banana – in their peels – over medium high heat. Fee free to use foil or a grilling griddle. The banana will start to cook and pull away from the peel around the edges. Baste evenly with your rum mixture. Remove from the peel and serve with your favorite ice cream topped with toasted coconut shavings. Grilled Fruit Cobbler Chances are that you probably have a favorite cobbler recipe. Don’t worry if it’s a quick-and-easy recipe or one that requires more than just dumping a few ingredients in a baking dish. Both will work on a covered grill. Basically, all you’re doing is using your covered grill like an oven. You can use foil pans, cake pans or even cast iron – but, I would avoid using glass baking dishes! Make your recipe, cover with foil, cook on an upper rack in a covered grill, and rotate the pan as needed to ensure even cooking. The last few minutes you can uncover, baste the crust with butter and sprinkle with sugar and allow the edges to become golden brown. Grilled Peaches and Cream I live in East Tennessee just a few feet away from Georgia, Alabama and a day drive through the mountains to South Carolina. Why am I telling [...]
Indoor Grilling Basics with Flavor! -want to grill but cannot - learn how to grill indoors in the winter
Artificial Intelligence on Farms, Now it’s making practical Advances A long time ago, back in kindergarten or grade one, each student might have been given a tiny little flower pot, a tablespoon or so of soil, and a seed of some description. It became their job to grow a plant. The teacher helped them put soil in the pot, put the seed at the right depth, and then they would put their names of the pots and water them each day until something grew. Bean sprouts are fast, edible, and give satisfaction to kids. Most people experienced something like this at some point and it dwells in their mind as “how food is grown”. That is changing now. The World By the year 2050 our population might be over 9 billion people. Back in the year 1600 C.E. the population of the entire world was just a little over 0.5 billion. It wasn’t until 1800 C.E. that we probably broke through the billion barrier. That was the first time we probably heard the cry “Earth cannot sustain any more people. We can’t grow food for a billion mouths!” Obviously that was not true, since we have continued to grow to our current 7.6 billion—and there has never been a shortage of food. Yes, people have starved to death all over our planet, but never because there wasn’t enough food—we have always had a problem of distribution, getting excess production in one area to somewhere else with a severe lack. At every turn where we thought we had reached a limit, we found new ways of growing more food, with fewer resources, and even less human-powered interaction. We are unlikely to ever be defeated on that front. Long before we run out of the capability to produce sufficient food we will become smart enough to reduce our population to appropriate levels. Artificial Intelligence on Farms When people think of artificial intelligence nowadays they probably imagine C3PO and R2D2. Those movie creations were portrayed as considerably more advanced than what we have currently achieved. Nevertheless we’ve made some terrific progress. A company called BOWERY has moved farming indoors. Their crops are stacked one atop the other, lighted, fed, monitored, and diagnosed by sophisticated computer programs. Their crops are largely grown hydroponically, without soil, in trays that travel throughout the complex by conveyor. The sterile facility requires no pesticides to maintain the health of their plants. Faster than a human could ever do so, the Artificial Intelligence program is learning [...]
