By MARIA BARTON
Copy Editor
 

Well, spice it up, live it up, and get creative! Make eating at Commons an exciting experience.

If you need some new ideas, upperclass Commons-goers know all about the art of food concocting.

Everyone seems to add some personal flavor to their frozen yogurt with tasty toppings such as melted peanut-butter (Student staffers Tamara Backer '98 and Anne Fazio

`98 say that "it tastes just like Friendly's"), Golden Grahams cereal (especially in chocolate frozen yogurt, says Maggie Merrill '98), Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, granola (especially in vanilla frozen yogurt), strawberry jam, strawberries, syrups (like praline and amaretto), hot cocoa, and marshmallows.

The best frozen yogurt concoction I've ever seen and tasted in Commons is Sara Wolverton '98's blend of vanilla frozen yogurt with hot coffee and lots of marshmallows.

It could be a common concensus that bagels are the staple of Commons existence, so here are some examples of how one can spice up the basic bagel with more than just butter or cream cheese.

Senior Allie Langlois recently made a bagel sandwich consisting of crunchy peanut butter, honey, California raisins and banana slices.

Kristin Olson '99 makes bagel sandwiches with just peanut butter and bananas.

Ruth Mills '98 makes a bagel sandwich with cheese, hummus, cucumbers and tomato.

And then there is applesauce. Merrill sometimes makes her own apple crisp by mixing applesauce and Grapenuts, or granola, with cinnamon and brown sugar, and then microwaving it. Paul Blume '98 makes a more simple concoction of applesauce with cinnamon.

A certain football player explained that one of his favorite concoctions is cinnamon toast- toast with melted butter and sprinkled cinnamon. One senior mentioned that he liked to make a kind of tomato salad, in which he melts mozzarella cheese on top of tomato slices and then adds olive oil.

There is also the famous, traditional Bates Commons Concoction of Rice Krispie Treats. To make this dessert, you need a big bowl so that everyone at the table can dig in.

First, fill the bowl with marshmallows and melt them in the microwave. When the marshmallows are melted, add Rice Krispie cereal and mix it all together. It tastes best when you also put in lots of butter. These treats can also be made with Fruity Pebbles cereal instead of Rice Krispies.

In asking about Commons Concoctions, I learned that some foods are social and some aren't.

Blume informed a table of women the other day that there are "only certain kinds of food that you can carry with you if you want to make social stops at other tables." Blume and his friends have decided that these foods include cold or hot drinks, ice cream cones, and dry cereal, because these foods don't require silverware or a napkin.

For the person with simpler needs, there are also some basic additions like putting ketchup on your eggs in the morning, raisins in your salad, and marshmallows in your hot chocolate. You can also mix your sodas or juices for additional flavor.

Good luck and enjoy.