Election day sausage sizzle
So finally, more than three weeks and many hung parliament jokes later, we have an election result. And also belatedly, here are the photos of my sausage sizzle from election day.
On election morning, we went grocery shopping and ignored all temptations to grab a bite to eat while at the shops, saving ourselves for our polling station sausage sizzle. We drove home, put the shopping away, then took a walk to our nearest polling station, a local primary school. As we neared the school, I had a sudden sinking feeling… Here I was, with growling tummy, anticipating a sausage sizzle to satisfy my hunger. But what if there was no sausage sizzle this time around? But I was just being paranoid. As we walked through the school gates, my heart sang (or was it tummy?) when I smelled the wonderful aroma of barbecue smoke, onions and sausages. :D We joined the long line of people waiting to vote. It was torture, smelling it and listening to the sizzle as we waited in line to vote. But I wanted to get the voting out of the way first. After voting, I would relax and enjoy the food.
And when I finally had that bun in a square of paper towel in my hand, it was utterly satisfying – the fresh, soft, chewy bun; the perfectly cooked hot brown sausage, crisp on the outside (especially on the ends, I love the crisp sausage ends!) and springy to the bite; the sweet barbecued onions. I added plenty of tomato sauce and yellow mustard. The sausage sizzle has become a tradition on election day. And this year’s $2 per sausage in a bun (or $3 for sausage in a bun plus a can of soft drink) was a fundraiser for the Year 7 class. Nothing like eating for a good cause! :)
I always enjoy election day. After the sausage sizzle in the morning, the day gets even better with the start of the vote count on TV in the afternoon. Every election, I watch the vote count on TV from the start of counting all the way to the end. In previous years Jac has laughed at me (not unkindly, just amused) – I think for her, watching the vote count unfolding on television is as riveting as watching test cricket. I like watching test cricket but Jac thinks it is terribly boring! This year though, she surprised us both by really getting into the vote count and enjoying it almost as much as I did.
This election was even more fun for me this time because of Twitter. It was great fun tweeting and reading others’ tweets throughout the day while polls were open and later as the count progressed. It was like being at a party on election night, but better – I’m very shy and don’t really like parties, but on Twitter, I didn’t feel as dorky as I usually do in social situations. I smiled and laughed at tweets all day and all night. It was a bit of an anticlimax though, when the TV coverage was over and we still didn’t know who’d won.
It was great to know that the sausage sizzle is a highlight of election day for many other people! Some primary schools had cake stalls as well as a sausage sizzle. One had particularly awesome banana bread, and another even had a secondhand book stall! You know, I think if we ever moved out of our electorate, had to vote at a different polling station and found ourselves at a non-sausage sizzle polling station, I would be tempted to make Jac drive us around to find one that had a sausage sizzle! Obviously there are sausage sizzles throughout the year and we could easily go to Bunnings – and of course we could cook sausages and onions on the barbie at home any time and buy a bag of hot dog buns (which we do from time to time). And we DO eat sausage sizzles when it’s not election day! But for me, there’s something really fun and special about the polling station sausage sizzle. :)
And did you know you could review your polling station? I found out about this on Twitter too! Booth reviews Australian federal election 2010
Also revealed on election night:
Jac and I often vote differently (I’m a swinging voter) but we don’t have political arguments – we respect our differences but agree on key issues.
More sausage sizzle posts
- Dinner – sausage sizzle with mushrooms, chicken kebabs and salad
- Sausage sizzle at home – now THIS is a decent amount of onion! :D
- Sausage sizzle lunch
- Polling booth sausage sizzle – the last state government election (the election we just had was a federal government election)
- Sausage King 2007
- It’s raining burgers, hallelujah! – sausage sizzle burger, oh yeah!