"potlucks" news and stories

Having attended a small liberal arts college, I've seen my share of vegan potlucks. The other night, at a dinner party thrown by some students and alums, I had a helping of some fairly tame looking black beans that turned out to be palate-peelingly spicy. I said as much to someone else at the party and they replied, "Yeah, they're hippie hot." That comment served to stir up a question I've always pondered at potlucks and dinners throughout the years: why is it that vegan and vegetarian potluck offerings are often very heavily seasoned? Is it just me? Please tell me that there are others out there that have experienced this. Is it perhaps that some inexperienced vegan cooks fear that their food will be bland and sometimes overcompensate with spices? I don't know. I have nothing against vegan cooking on the whole. Truth be told, a friend from college makes better vegan baked goods than some of the non-vegan bakers I know. They made me a believer. I'm not suggesting that all vegans are hippies either. I'm just wondering if other folks have had similar experiences with spicy silken tofu quiche and such.

Last night I called my husband on the way home from dropping off our babysitter. "What should we bring to the party?" I asked. We were doing potluck with some of my best mama friends, plus hubbies and kids. I knew there would be brie en croute (Olivia's specialty) so my husband's first suggestion was off the table. I thought a minute, back to the snack I'd eaten in the midst of shopping at Bar Pastiche.

Tapas, I thought.

So I stopped at my fave Italian market and ordered a range of Spanish and Italian cured meats - jamon serrano, mortadella and a new kind of salami suggested by the woman standing behind me in line (sorry for taking most of it!), and a jar full of pitted green olives. I had Oregonzola at home and, once we arrived at the party, quickly shoved some blue cheese into the olives. My husband set the lovely meats out on a platter with the olives and extra crumbled blue cheese, making dirty martinis with some of the extra olives. Cured meats, blue cheese stuffed olives, and a nice pink Spanish wine - salty and refreshing and delicious, a total hit. What do you bring at the last minute?