Tonight our dining hall, commons, was host to the most exciting culinary event of the Bates Calendar, Harvest Dinner! The Harvest dinner is always the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break (yup, we get the WHOLE week off) and is a makeshift thanksgiving dinner with even more food than we have at my very large family gatherings. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good turkey dinner, and this one in particular really hits the spot. At this point, we’ve been eating the regular commons food (as amazing as it may be) for about two months straight. Anyone would need a break from that, and the Harvest Dinner is the perfect way to splurge with some real strawberries and fancy cheese – the kinds of specialties you won’t find on any college campus. This year’s menu included the thanksgiving staples as well as my personal favorite, lobster mac and cheese. Totally unexpected and yet out of this world. Other tasty treats included creamy clam chowder and tofu and squash for the vegetarians, as well as homemade pies and gelato for dessert. As you can imagine, the walk into commons is much easier than the walk out. Probably because everyone is about ten pounds heavier. I’ve learned that the key is to wear pants with stretchy waists on these nights and to tie my hair back for optimal food consumption.
After the main meal, we slowly and painfully make our way to the gray cage for the desserts, only to put us that much further over the edge. I don’t believe in saving room for dessert, and yet I still eat it…the resulting feeling usually makes me never want to eat again. At least until omelettes the next morning. While in the gray cage there is also usually a picture taking center that goes with the theme (this year’s was Fall in Maine). It is also where the trashion show takes place. The trashion show is just what it sounds like, a display of clothes made out of trash. The creations, all made by students and with recyclable materials, are worn by models down the runway and judged by a panel of faculty, staff and students. The creations are pretty incredible. My track captain, Dana, won last year’s category of Most Fashionable. Here are a couple pictures of her incredible design and the rest of the finalists…
