For the first time in Sausagefest history we had to deal with some rainy weather. But, we had positive things happened that helped us deal with the weather.
First, we had Spontaneous Tent Erection (STE, for you medical types) and that saved us from:
A. Electrocuting Irv and his musical equipment
B. Kept our sausage serving buffet dry
Many thanks to our friends who brought the extra tents. May your STE powers stay with you forever.
Second, several people walked up to me and said. “It never rains at Sausagefest.” Proving that a positive attitude can overcome obvious empirical evidence to the contrary. I think the wine and beer consumption helped bolster that ignore-the-weather attitude.
Here are some of the measures of our misbegotten behavior:
• For the first time ever we had more sausages consumed and tasted than wine. We sampled 31 different sausages and drained 28 bottles of wine.
• We had at a minimum 86 people in attendance – documented by photographic and other CSI (Criminal Sausage Investigations) evidence.
• We had the first sausages on the grill by 4:30 PM and the lights in the wine bar went off at 1:30 AM Sunday morning. Rain was coming down pretty good but at this time of the party no one noticed.
• We had two people take headers into terra firma. No injuries to report on either.
• The beer consumption was dramatically up. We had a variety of type flight micro-brews and our recycle bins were overflowing with that evidence.
The Winners of Sausagefest 2011:
Best Theme for Sausagefest 2011: Osama Bin Sausage - Marc Zider
Best Home Made Sausage
• Kielbasa - Ed Grabowski (welcome back to the Winner Circle, Ed!!!)
Best Store Bought Sausage
• Philly Cheese Steak Brats, from Mariano’s - entered by the Wippman’s and Duffey’s
Best Italian Sausage: (two way tie)
• Sanagan Meat Market, Toronto, Canada – entered by Mr. Fuld
• Fausto’s, Arlington Hts, Ill – entered by the Kleiva’s
Best Sausage & Vegetable Pairing
• Italian-Mexican Sausage & Pepper, Paulina Market – entered by Rohrbach-Klott
Sausage en Croute
• Sausage Torte – home made – entered by Mr. McClure (second year in a row).
Creativity Award
• Piggy’s in a Blanket – entered by Lawrence (a first time winner from Champaign, Ill)
Best Home Made Desert
• Almond Cake – entered by Sue McClure
Best Store Bought Desert
• Fruit Torte – Mariano’s, Arlington Hts, Ill., entered by the Wippman’s.
Best Red Wine
• Parusso, Barolo, 1998 Honorable Mentions: 2008 Turley, Old Vines, 2008 Scott Harvey Zinfandel (Amador County Mountain Selection), 2007 Opolo Vineyards, Petite Sirah (Paso Robles)
Thanks to many people, including; Irv Pavlik (great music again), Steve Chastain and JoAnn (wonderful sausage support for the kitchen), Edward Spengler (the Chef), Leslie Holfeldt (tent erection expert), Kate Kleiva (event operations and live posts to Twitter), Mike Vargas (beer tent manager), Kristen Kleiva (event planning), Dr. Graan (wine sommelier).
Sausagefest 15 is Saturday, September 1, 2012 – start making plans to be there.
Also, that will mark the 2nd Annual Sausage Day in America. Please mark your personal bucket list as this past Saturday was the inaugural Sausage Day in America. If you attended, you were part of the elite few who were there to witness a new American holiday. Spread the word – or just tell them about Sausagefest.com.
The Sausagefest Declaration: Quit Demeaning Sausage Making
It’s fine if MSNBC and FOX have a war of words over whose leading us to Armageddon. Given recent history there’s ample proof neither political party could even lead us to Armageddon successfully – so color us doubtful.
But, the never ending heat wave across the whole country, too much television (who wants go outside?), and political hyperbole around the deficit is a toxic cocktail that’s been slipped into our drinking supply.
Have you noticed how Boehner and Pelosi are looking like each other more and more and Bachman Turner Overdrive is running for President?
I think these noxious cocktails are especially affecting the media folks who want to give us the inside scoop on Washington deal making. Or, maybe its just sloppy rhetorical skills, which seems more likely.
I won’t go through the laundry list of media people and elected officials who have uttered these mean spirited and demeaning remarks, but the utterance goes like this:
“The last two weeks in talks with the leadership from both sides of the aisle has worn me out from the sausage making process. It was ugly, perverse and disgusting.”
This analogy of politics to sausage making gets attributed to Otto Von Bismarck. There’s not a lot of evidence that he actually said it, but it gives a speaker citing this a thin veneer of authority to dismiss politics and sausage making at the same time.
While analogies are useful for communicating, they are not logic proofs. All analogies limp – they’re good to clarify a point or idea but only if they remain reasonable. It is time for us realize that sausage making today is not the sausage making of Bismarck’s day.
While the politics and the avarice of Bismarck’s day are no better than in 2011, sausage making has actually made significant progress. If you talk to any sausage maker you would know this. I’m in the process of writing a book about sausage makers in America. I hear this in my conversations with sausage makers. Quality ingredients, hard work and attention to detail are damn important. If you don’t get the weight, meat portions, temperature, pH, curing agents and seasonings right you have an un-edible meat experiment.
Unlike our political leaders professional sausage makers have to pass health inspections by state, local or federal inspectors. How many politicians could pass a health inspection?
Sausage maker’s 1 vs. Politicians 0
Ingredients in the sausage have to be plainly labeled and poor ingredients won’t make for a good product or happy customer. When’s the last time a politician labeled their personal ingredients? ( I will admit that thanks to the Federal government, we did get to see the ingredients that made up Rod Blagovich. )
Sausage makers 2 vs. Politicians 0
You can find sausage makers in your hometown who have shops on Main Street. They’re accountable to their customers everyday. Amazingly, you can sample stuff before you buy it and only buy as much as you want. And, these folks are often there six days a week or seven and you never see them on television. You might even want to invite them to your cookout. Do you really want an elected official anywhere near where you’re eating?
Sausage makers 3 vs. Politicians 0
The facts are in and sausages and sausage making is not comparable to the US political process. Its fine with me if a commentator looks down their nose at politicians or their process, but denigrating sausage making has to stop.
Here’s a simple proposal. Let’s finally divorce politics from sausage making.
We’re declaring the Saturday of Labor Day weekend Sausage Day in America – forever more. This year September 3rd is the inaugural Sausage Day in America and the Labor Day holiday wraps around it perfectly like a bun around a hot dog.
To honor this new blue collar event there are three requirements:
• No one talks politics this day - why ruin a holiday?
• Go to your local sausage shop and buy some great sausage – and enjoy a sausage without the political BS.
• Spread the good news.
(Sorry if I’m denigrating bulls, but you get the idea.)
First, we had Spontaneous Tent Erection (STE, for you medical types) and that saved us from:
The Winners of Sausagefest 2011:
Creativity Award
Have you noticed how Boehner and Pelosi are looking like each other more and more and Bachman Turner Overdrive is running for President?