How do you plan to spend election night?

Politics & Elections
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On Election night in 2016, I was on a spiritual growth retreat in the Costa Rican jungle, attempting to elevate the consciousness of the world. It didn’t work.:grinning:

The retreat center I was at had no TV or phones. But they had robust WiFi because while we’re supposed to “unplug” there’s a reason we can afford to be at this rather luxurious place, and we all need our internet.

So after our evening meditation, most of us congregated at the bar, which specialized in local craft beers and organic wines and the strongest WiFi. Like most people, I just thought I’d hang around for an hour or so to watch Hillary win, then go back to my room to sleep.

At first it went just as expected, until it didn’t. I went back to my room, got antsy, then went back to the bar, which was full of hippies and yogis - both American and Canadian refreshing their laptops in disbelief. The bar was supposed to close at 10 but it wasn’t something that could be closed, It was in a big pavilion that was open on all sides. So at around midnight they cut the WiFi for long enough to run everyone out so the local staff could mop the floors and go home. I went to my room and tried to sleep.

At about 3AM I woke up. I made the mistake of picking up my tablet and I saw the news alert. I couldn’t get back to sleep.

I’ll be in the US this year. Yes, I did vote absentee in 2016 even though it was a PITA in NY back then. But sometimes I think of how close I came to not voting/that year -onerous absentee ballot process, deep blue state and we KNEW she was going to win- and I punch myself for even thinking about not voting in 2016.

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My recollection from that fateful Tuesday four years ago is that I was taking a bus from work to a bar to meet with some friends, and starting to listen in on CNN on my phone. It was probably about 4:15 or so Pacific time, so most polls even on the east coast were open, meaning that they weren’t reporting any meaningful results yet. But they were reporting that many more voters than expected in exit polls were answering that they had voted for change. At that point, I got a feeling of dread that hasn’t really gone away since.

This time, I’ll call in to a zoom meeting with the same friends - probably a little later in the evening - and hope for better results.

I thought I’d just chime in here, as a Washingtonian, that we generally know the outcome of about half of races on Tuesday night, 90% by Wednesday night, an a couple may drag on a few days beyond that. But we’re also a state where you can mail your ballot up until election day and have it count, so the county may not even have some ballots until late in the week of election day.

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SAA
Same
As
Always
:face_with_monocle:

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Thank you

126

Yup. I am never making chicken Provencal on election night ever again.

BTW, in case anybody is curious about how the medieval cooking project went:

Blancmange (chicken and rice in almond milk with a little sugar, ginger and white pepper): Really kind of nice! I thought it would be super-bland, but it turns out the spices give it a little heat, and you can see how this would have worked really well as medieval comfort food.

Pease porridge (basically, split peas with thyme, savory, and parsley): Meh. But since the point was to convey to my students just how monotonous your diet likely would have been if you were a peasant, it served its purpose.

“Compost” (root vegetables in a sort of vinegar-honey-wine marinade with spices and currants): Weird. Not sure I cared for it, but one of my students said she liked it, and again, it was pretty useful for illustrating what sort of thing Chaucer is talking about when he writes about sharp and poynyant sauces.

“Fine cakes” (basically, cookies flavored with rosewater). Not quite period – it was a sixteenth-century recipe, but I wanted something that could plausibly be like the “cake” the Pardoner insists on having in a tavern before he tells his tale. These were very nice, although the rosewater makes them weirdly perfumey.

Chicken and onion stew, from this recipe: OMG. I decided to make this at the last minute, thinking “what the heck, I’ve already got everything in this recipe in the house and I need an excuse to open a bottle of wine,” but it was definitely a standout. I think it ended up being more Indian-curry-like than it was really meant to be (because I am a lazy cook and browned the chicken and onions together), but whatever, it was really REALLY good and I would totally make this again even if I weren’t engaged in a historical-cooking project.

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I never want another 24(ish)-hour period like this last one. :scream:

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New answer to the question “how do you plan to spend election night?”:

Which one?

– not planning on staying up as late tonight, though. I hope. Ought to stop watching Pennsylvania.