Phi and Heather take us on a food journey, taking a bite from several food vendors at the 2023 Oklahoma State Fair. While our stomachs can only handle so much food, we did visit Cutie Pies Concession, Mountain View Meat Company, Cotton Candyland, B-Ray’s BBQ, Cookie Dough Monsters, Smokin’ Coals Barbecue Sauce, The Express Food Trucks, and A Latte Love Coffeehouse.
Catch more food adventures with Phi on Take A Bite with Phi streaming on Oklahoma’s first streaming service, The Show Starts Now.
Covering an impressive 25,000 square feet, FunBox is a playground of gigantic proportions. Here, you’ll find thrilling features like the Temple Tower, Marshmallow Mountain, and more, all designed for kids and kids-at-heart to bounce their hearts out.
FunBox operates for a limited time each year, typically during the fall and spring. In 2023, they will be open every weekend in Norman outside Sooner Mall, concluding on November 26th. Given Oklahoma’s unpredictable weather, FunBox takes safety seriously. They close their doors during extreme heat and inclement weather conditions, ensuring that your visit is enjoyable and secure. So, before planning your trip, it’s always a good idea to check the weather forecast. During the off-season, the park takes a well-deserved break and returns to delight visitors when the weather is nice again.
The journey of FunBox is a story of family, creativity, and a commitment to fostering fun and togetherness. It’s an enchanting place where you can let your inner child run free and where you’ll create cherished memories with friends and family. Bouncing your way through FunBox is an adventure you will want to experience! Learn more and get your tickets at FunBox.com.
You can watch the latest episode of Uncovering Oklahoma early by subscribing to The Show Starts Now, an Oklahoma-based streaming service. Your subscription there will help me continue this series and create more content. Special thanks to my superstar supporters on Patreon: Revovle Productions, The Keller-Kenton Family, and Christopher Lloyd.
On Saturday, I brought my Lumix S1H camera to Scissortail Park during their Farmer’s Market to take fun, artistic photos. In this gallery batch, I’m sharing my experimental macro photographs of bees on flowers. I took a ton of photos, hoping to get the focus and action just right. These are the best from the photo session.
Enjoy and have a great week!
Bri guest hosts this episode as we visit five restaurants for International Bacon Day in Oklahoma City.
Following a two-day process, the Pork Belly Burnt Ends are trimmed, seasoned, and cooked for three to four hours on a thousand-gallon smoker to impart smoke flavor and color. They then cool the pork belly overnight, portion it out, and toss it in a Chipotle glaze they make in-house. Finally, they returned the meat to the smoker to caramelize the sauce and get more color and smoke flavor. You can only get this on Thursdays, and they do sell out quickly, but they also offer beef ribs on Saturdays and pastrami brisket on Fridays. Everything they do is the old-school, traditional low and slow way, and they’re open Thursday-Saturday from 11 a.m. until they sell out or 6 p.m.
S&B’s Burger Joint is a bacon lover’s paradise, with bacon offerings all over its menu. The Porker, a classic-style burger, is loaded with bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and more bacon. The quarterly special we tried during our visit was their bacon cheese fries tossed on the flat top with freshly grated cheese until it’s a big, gooey, cheesy mess of bacon and fries. The peanut butter bacon sweet potato fries are a customer favorite, with the peanut butter and sweet potato fries being a perfect combo and the bacon adding the ideal amount of flavor and crispiness. Half the menu is covered in bacon so any bacon lover will be in heaven at S&B’s Burger Joint.
Hall’s Pizza Kitchen has a secret menu item that any bacon lover would appreciate – their bacon jam and pepperoni pizza—loaded with the savory and smoky bacon jam that uses the sugars of a secret ingredient to add a slightly sweet flavor. While the bacon jam pizza is not traditionally on their menu, guests can request the topping anytime. However, the Bacon Jam + Pimento is on their starter menu, which includes their wood-fired flatbread with proprietary crust season, making it a mouth-watering experience. The creaminess of the jalapeno pimento cheese and a little bit of spice from the jalapeno perfectly complement the bacon jam on top. So, if you’re a bacon lover and want to try something unique, Hall’s Pizza Kitchen is the place to be. And remember to check out their incredible rooftop for a casual pizza night with friends.
New State Burgers & Spirits takes the art of cutting bacon seriously. Their thick bacon is cut in-house with precision to ensure every piece is uniform in size so every customer can enjoy the same quality of bacon with their burger. The thick bacon is juicy and big, which can change how the burger tastes and chews, so they also offer regular bacon for those who prefer a classic feel. While New State was awarded Yelp’s Best Cheeseburger in Oklahoma last year, don’t pass up on the Brussels sprouts. The bacon lardons on their fried Brussels sprouts are chunky and thick, giving you the whole bacon experience. They also offer chicken and non-meat options like Beyond and Black Bean and aim to accommodate all kinds of people and their preferences.
Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse is a traditional chop house that offers a unique and creative way to explore bacon. They have a complimentary snack for their bar guests called the bar bacon, which is crispy and perfect to pair with cocktails, beer, or wine. In addition to that, they have a popular starter called Bacon Elevated, which offers five different flavors of bacon: jalapeno, peppered, espresso, traditional smoked, and candied bourbon. Each flavor offers a unique taste that complements the smoky flavor of the bacon. Broadway 10 also provides a traditional chop house experience where they cut all their primals, fins, feathers, and shells in-house and grill them over a hardwood grill with pecan hickory and oak.
With social media not being the best way to connect, I want to let you all know I have an email newsletter with weekly updates on the videos I’ve released and my upcoming events/shows you can attend. Subscribe for free today!
You can watch the latest episode of Uncovering Oklahoma early by subscribing to The Show Starts Now, an Oklahoma-based streaming service. Your subscription there will help me continue this series and create more content. Special thanks to my superstar supporters on Patreon: Revovle Productions, The Keller-Kenton Family, and Christopher Lloyd.
Drew Hendricks, a Regional Engagement Principal at the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), has embarked on a dynamic career journey that spans military service, academia, entrepreneurship, and technology. His unique blend of experiences has equipped him with a holistic perspective on the complex landscape of defense innovation and entrepreneurship growth.
Hendricks’ path began when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after high school. Over his 14-year military career, he undertook diverse roles, from combat correspondent to marketing director for the recruiting command. Transitioning from active duty, Hendricks pursued higher education in advertising at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to collaborate with various business ventures, and he later earned an MBA from the University of Southern California.
At NSIN, a program operating with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Hendricks fosters connections between academia, venture companies, and the Department of Defense (DoD). One of NSIN’s flagship programs is the Venture portfolio, which develops and executes programs and services to facilitate access to emerging technology as it engages the talents of fast-moving innovators and non-traditional problem-solvers. The Venture Portfolio works directly with dual-use early-stage ventures emerging from both the academic and venture communities with solutions addressing Department of Defense problems.
“NSIN’s whole goal is to increase the speed of innovation and technological development within current and existing industries for national security,” said Hendricks. “Right now, locked up in someone’s brain somewhere, maybe even in Oklahoma, is a solution we need. But what happens is the DoD doesn’t go around asking, ‘What do you have? Show us what you got.'”
Hendricks emphasized businesses should rely on more than just DoD contracts for sustainability. Hendricks said companies thrive by catering to broader markets, which can ultimately enhance their stability and innovation. NSIN aims to work with small companies early on and encourage them to maintain versatility rather than being exclusively dependent on defense contracts. This approach aligns with the organization’s preference for engaging with companies poised for success in multiple sectors.
“Oklahoma has a unique blend of capabilities that can address complex problems,” Hendricks said. “We want the DoD to know we’re here and ready to contribute. I want to help you, but I want to help you if you do something to solve a problem.”
NSIN Challenges hosts competitive prize competitions on a specific topic or technology vertical. The open challenges allow early to mid-stage companies, even if they do not have SAM numbers, to pitch solutions to potential U.S. Department of Defense mission partners and industry subject matter experts for evaluation.
“When I tell people it’s not that you need to be a solve everything on that list telling you if you have that capability, you should apply,” said Hendricks. “What ends up happening is you apply to the mass challenge, and then your venture gets accepted based on some of its stuff, you work with that DoD mission partner and other mission partners to figure out whether or not you have a product market fit. And then you pitch to that group.”
Drew Hendricks will speak more about the National Security Innovation Network to Oklahoma Venture Forum Power Lunch members on Wednesday, September 13, 2023. The event will be held at Metro Tech Spring Lake Campus in Oklahoma City from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and will be open to members and guests both in-person and virtually via ZOOM.
Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén