I have never seem more baked hame and asparagus in my entire life

what an easter. man oh man, you guys do not disappoint. 
i didn't think we could top the number of holiday parties we catered for christmas in december...until easter got here in march. we had 17 easter parties come in the last five days alone. hello easter bunny, who loves you?? 

i don't think i have ever seen more baked ham and asparagus in my entire life. i was so sick of hearing about it i decided i would make my family eat italian today (holy crap rigatoni bolognese NEVER disappoints).

but back to easter and our kick *ss customers (YOU). catchy. can't thank you enough. day in and day out, you manage to not just drive our business through the roof top, but you also have us smiling each day while we do it. you are so appreciative, so complimentary, so happy to be enjoying a break from your daily grind with a night off in the form of drunken marinated flank steak or a container of chicken fingers - that it just makes all the other crap in my day fall away. seriously, if it were this simple to end all the hostility around the world with good food and smiling service, we would happily deep fry up some chicken fingers & dredge them in our spicy sweet buffalo sauce for anyone we could. 

so thank you. for enjoying our food as much as we enjoy making it. when i came into my shop the other day in a particularly pissy mood there was a little cutie pie at my takeaway case with her nose up against it pointing to the fruit salad. she gave me a little fist bump when i crouched down next to her to say hi. its moments like those that make me grateful i took this shop on. all i need in my day is a little smile and a fist bump from a fruit loving little bunny. 

here's to many more successful days at catchy. check out what we can deliver to your doorstep tomorrow in the rain so you don't have to worry about dinner...
 

what a weekend. a girl could get used to this kind of weather.

what a weekend, a girl could get used to this kind of weather. 
there is just something about sunshine and warm weather that just makes a girl's heart sing. short sleeve shirts, no jackets. riding with the top down in my bug. playing lacrosse outside with my two littlest ones on the hay in my backyard...ahh, life is good. 

add to that sunshine, i am so freakin happy in my new house i am walking around with a perpetual sh*t eating grin. literally all day. smiling. i close the door and think, this could be the smoothest door knob i have ever turned. i lie in my bed and ponder whether i could have picked a better color for my bedroom (i couldn't. it's perfect). and when i brought home a gajillion groceries and proceeded to fill my new pantry, fridge and cupboards with every single staple i have ever wanted to cook with and then take them out 5 minutes later and actually cook with them it was all i could do not to cry. this house is like living in freakin' la-la-land. i may never leave it again. 

but if there is anything that can get me out of it, it's catchy. oh how i love that little shop. i love whipping up tasty new specials (um, can you imagine what a crispy, crunchy, filet of beef & fontina panini with caramelized onions will taste like tomorrow when you order it for lunch? i can. i will be eating it.). oh how i love filling my mini-shot glasses for you with our hot soups: 19 bean & chicken and rice, my chef is seriously gifted in the soup-making department. don't believe me? come in for a quart of apple rutabaga in the case tomorrow. it will change your life. 
so order up some delectable little goodies. let us deliver them STRAIGHT to your doorstep. at your home or office. let us cater your corporate lunch, your Easter dinner, your kids First Communion or Bat Mitzvah. there is literally nothing we can't make better with our tasty food, our outstanding servers & our customer service - it's our pride and joy.
so give us a buzz tomorrow at the shop (201.445.6400) and tell us what will make your day feel like mine did. sometimes you are just a down-home bbq salad away from feeling like you won the lottery.

black board special:
filet of beef tenderloin & fontina panini smothered in
caramelized onions & roasted garlic aioli

in the case: 
** "super" salad: quinoa, avocado, chickpeas, crumbled feta, baby spinach & citrus lime vinaigrette
** wheatberry cape cod: wheatberries, fuji apples, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, gorgonzola & maple
orange vinaigrette
** paleo apple chicken spinach salad: grilled chicken over baby spinach & romaine, fuji apples, walnuts & avocado in a herby lemon vinaigrette
** baja chicken salad: grilled chicken, roasted corn, queso fresca, cherry tomatoes, crispy tortillas & creamy guacamole in a citrus lime vinaigrette
HOT soups
** 19 bean soup (are there seriously 19 beans in there? yes, yes there are) 
** chicken & rice
other soups in the case:
** apple rutabaga
** momma's chicken noodle soup
** chicken & rice
** italian wedding soup with mini chicken meatballs  
    ** 19 bean
sides in the case:
** wild rice pilaf with dried cranberries
** rice noodles with edamame & veggies
** roasted brussels sprouts
** mashed potatoes
dinners: 
** balsamic chicken over grilled vegetables
** (we can't not...it sells out too fast!!)
chicken parm lasagna for two
** shepard's pie made with lamb
** blackened salmon over thai chili rice noodles
& edamame
** drunken marinated flank steak with
mashed potatoes
** pork tenderloin over rice pilaf with
dried cranberries

miscellaneous kick *ss kids & grown up food:
** veal & ricotta meatballs
** sunday sauce
** panko crusted chicken fingers with honey mustard
** buffalo chicken fingers with bleu cheese dip
desserts:
** catchy. crumb cake
** dark chocolate pudding cake
** crunchified chocolate chip heath bar potato chip & pretzel cookies
** chocolate babka
** "crack" bark: white chocolate pretzel bark
** vanilla amaretto pudding cake
text your order to 917.721.9217 or call 201.445.6400 tomorrow between 11am-7pm and order up your lunch or dinner! 
 

a little story about catchy....

so it's early morning and i can't sleep. i figure i may as well be productive so i'm up working out & watching one of my all time favorite movies, CHEF with jon faveau (the man's a genius, he wrote, produced and starred in it. ahh, to be so talented). for those of you who haven't seen it, watch it IMMEDIATELY on netflix. 
it dawned on me, while watching it for the 38th time, why i love it so much. here's a guy  who has had an epic fail. i mean EPIC. in public. and it's videoed and tweeted and retweeted everywhere documenting his disaster for the world to see. but he doesn't give up. he doesn't roll over and die. he certainly doesn't play the victim and whine about it. he regroups and with some serious humility and his hat in his hand, he finds a way to get back on the horse and continue doing what he is most passionate about. and fall in love all over again with is ex-wife sofia vergara (my favorite part of course). best part.
while watching him pump out dozens and dozens of cuban sandwiches from his food truck with his son & best friend, i realized why i am so in love with the movie. i have been where the main character has been. we probably all have in some way, shape or form, and rather than roll over and die (which is what most of us want to do at the time), we come up for kicking. we refocus, we take a deep breath, and then we get back in the game. 
catchy. is everything i have ever wanted. it's a bright, happy, energetic little place where people can come to get a break from the stress of their day, get a smile from the girl behind the counter and hear my peppy chef matt in the back yelling "order up!" once he has completed his task and made you a salad or sandwich that is gonna take you to nirvana for at least 8-10 minutes while you scarf it down. 
for me it's the place where, like in the movie CHEF, a smile comes to my face the instant i walk through the door. the colors, the smells, the people pulling lunch and dinner from the takeout case with their little ones twirled through their legs, the phone ringing off the hook: the chaos. i love it all. even when there is a problem i love it. it is what i have always, ALWAYS wanted to do and there is something that makes me feel so lucky that i had the faith to jump off the bridge and know that my parachute would open. that all you people, my closest friends and you total strangers who have now become friends, that come through those doors every day would keep the lights on and the heat on (well, sort of, this freakin heating system needs some serious help). 
so thank you for that. thank you for helping make catchy. a success in the first three months we have been open. i love it here and i hope you do to. keep coming. keep telling your friends and neighbors and anyone else you think could use a break from their life, a smile and a great meal. see you soon.
- erin
 
 

i saw stars. shazam that baby hurt.

so at present, i'm rockin' a fly little goose egg on my forehead with a nice little cut down the middle. nothing like a little bloodshed to make your evening shine. gotta love kids. sometimes i wish i had a baker's dozen.

so it was nearing 7pm at the shop, and my chef Dave brought over a dozen FRESH chicken piccata dinners, a few more lasagna bolognese's and a heap of parsnip cauliflower soups for me to load into the case for tomorrow. at the same time, my cute little bunny Frankie (who was helping me close up the shop) inquired about whether she could have some fruit salad. who could say no to a kid who asks for fruit salad over the glass jar of Sour Patch Kids?? after giving her the green light, she promptly whipped open the left door of the case...straight...into my head. 
 CRACK. 

 holy hannah i saw stars. shazam that baby hurt. but is there anything worse than when you witness a parent get injured by there child and they tee off on the poor kid? so i pulled up my big girl undies, brushed it off and told her mom's don't feel pain (they do), and we went on our merry way home.

growing up my mom was like wonder woman to me. she ran a household with five hungry, demanding, dirt-laden kids (three boys and two tomboy girls...lotta laundry) with one hand tied behind her back. was never, ever sick and hardly complained about my dad who she SO could have unloaded on many a time (the man was a boar for the first thirty years of their marriage, thankfully age has softened the fella but still, we never heard an unkind word). 

 it's a mom's job to pretend sh*t doesn't hurt. either physically or emotionally, they just don't unload that stuff on their kids (or at least the really good ones don't...i'm not sure i fall into that category) and they certainly don't make them feel ashamed for whacking them one in the forehead (or the nards like mine have done many a time to my husband). it's a rough, trying, thankless job most days and sometimes a glass of wine and a late night dinner when everyone has gone to sleep is all a hardworking mama (or papa) dreams of when the days seem endless.

enter: catchy. (this is how that makes me feel): 

you deserve a container of something spectacular. be it our skinny chicken & avocado caesar (yup. it's back) or our mind-altering parsnip cauliflower soup or a pot roast over mashed potatoes that i swear to the lord above will make your mouth water (mine is salivating just imagining it...it's my mom's recipe, badass). so zip off a reply and reserve your chow. let us know if you want to pop into the store or have us deliver to you at a particular time. anything we can do to make a mom's (or dad's) day a little easier is just literally EXACTLY what we are here for over at catchy. we started out as mom's night off! on thursdays and have graduated to giving you a break any day or night of the week. give us a whistle...call, text or email...you won't be sorry
 

for every shit, there are twelve good people.

so two things need to be said tonight and then i'll let you get back to your must see tv.

the first? for every shit, there are twelve good people. after leaving the town hall yesterday i walked out into the sunshine and stood for a moment trying to figure out my options. $519 for a water bill that wasn't mine. i could be angry and bitter, play the victim and just pay the damn bill i wasn't responsible for, or i could ask for what i need. 

i picked up the phone and dialed the previous owner's number wondering how poor my odds were of this working out in my favor. he picked up on the first ring. suffice is to say, there are classy people in this world who step up to the plate and own up to their responsibilities and their are shits. this man was not a shit. hours later i got a call confirming my water had not been turned off because the bill had been paid in full. i asked for my need and my need was met. for today, life is good.

and the second thing? in the four short weeks since announcing we are opening our storefront, we have systematically broken every single previous week's record in food sales. last week we sold 272 dinners, soups & salads - 36 more than the week before. we are closing in on that record already tonight.

you wanna be a part of something cool? order up. because beef brisket isn't something i can make more of tomorrow at 10:30 when orders start rolling in. that baby is going in the oven at 5:30am and when it's sold out, it's sold out. 

order now, we have loaves of pumpkin bread (freeze it for thanksgiving!), creamy tomato & orzo or italian wedding, autumn salad or kale & quinoa. too many choices to name so just keep reading and order now. every dollar bill is going right into that shiny new storefront
 

shut the front door. SHUT IT.

there is so much to discuss i seriously don't know where to start. 
* mom's night off! menu for this thursday night (it's so FRICKIN' good you won't be able to decide)
* thanksgiving. (YES!?! we are offering thanksgiving goodies like soups, sides, appetizers & breads oh, & the sickest desserts you've ever tasted)
* "catchy." our new cafe opening in LITERALLY 22 days (that's three weeks from TUESDAY people!!). 

shut the front door. SHUT IT.

 so all i have been doing is obsessing about food the past two weeks. takeaway a week of mom's night off! and i become like a caged animal. i need to feed people. and i need to feed them soon. we have been working around the clock (and i mean AROUND the clock - who knew how dark the backyard of my rental is at 4am when i am staring at it and pacing my living room?). we've got our cafe menus going to print this week, thanksgiving menus for all you wise folk not wanting to put themselves through the trouble of whipping your own potatoes or baking your own pumpkin breads and in the rest of our free time we've been dreaming up new appetizers for your holiday parties (can you say port wine figs & goat cheese in phyllo?). i literally can not WAIT until those doors swing open on "catchy." and we can serve you up the freshest baja chicken salad EVER. 

but in the meantime, enjoy these 22 days. use them wisely. workout. save your money. ignore your friends. because once december 1st rolls around, you & your girlfriends are gonna have FULL access to our freshest, crispest salads, our crunchiest buffalo chicken fingers dripping with honey bbq buffalo sauce and sandwiches the likes of which you won't be able to turn away (um, what? tarragon chicken salad with crunchy red grapes & toasted walnuts? yup, we did). 

so save those calories. you're gonna need them. because when you pop into "catchy." and grab a few salads & quarts of soup from our takeout case for the night (ANY & EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK) and maybe a few bags of pretzel bark & a loaf of pumpkin bread for good measure, know that you deserve all those special treats, after all, it's the holiday season. 
 order up for thursday. last mom's night off! was record breaking and i'm not down with disappointment.
 

my kids are so disappointed in me...

so halloween is coming this way on saturday and if you are anything like me, you have left everything, and i mean, everything to the last minute. costumes for the kiddos? um, noooo. candy for the witch bucket we ply with full size kit kats? that's a hard negative. decorations? jack'o lanterns? ghosting? nix, nay & nient. i am just a bag of funlessness crap this year. 

my kids are so disappointed in me. not only do i bark no at them every time they ask if we can go buy some Drac fangs at five below to ghost their buddies (because er, we have completely run out of money building this house), but add that to the fact that i'm so tuckered out trying to get this new storefront up and running, that i have just fallen of the face of the map in planning our typical halloween ghoulishness. no money plus no time equals absolutely no fun at ALL. something needs to change.

i like to tell myself that i'm a good mom. that i have been such an all-in, hands-on, attentive momma all their lives that it's okay if i'm a bucket of sh*t for a few months. i've been in the trenches. i breastfed. i walked the hallways at 3am when they were babes. i have wiped more ass & boogers than two or three moms put together (my kids are irrationally bad and cleaning their noses and butt cheeks). so i'm going with the "good enough" principle temporarily while i the whole new work-life situation balanced. 

maybe i'm just making myself feel better (who wouldn't? did you know i had my 13 year old buy my 5 year old's halloween costumes and evidently my kindergartner will be wearing a trench coat, sunglasses and stick-on mustache as a secret agent...what 5 year old doesn't want to be elsa or anna? a secret-friggin' agent? weirdo). but this whole "good enough" theory is a big one. i can't pick up my kids every single day of their lives. i can't make it to every soccer, field hockey & football game. i don't feed my kids organic everything (anything, oops! shut up, i give them organic milk), but what's wrong with a little help from friends? carpools. luna bars. a sleepover every once in a while so i can sleep in for a morning. nothing wrong with that.
so don't bake your own pumpkin bread. don't simmer your own soup or sunday gravy or meatballs. don't make your own chili for all those halloween folks you think will be popping by this saturday night. just order *ssloads of food this thursday from us so you spend your thursday night racing to party city for the last minute face paint you (i) forgot to get for billy's special ops costume. and thank you mrs. o'grady for dropping off the little native american girl's costume for frankie and making my life a living JOY for a night. this week is on me. order up some soup so i can save you a day at the stove!

houston, we have a storefront...

the dream has finally come true...

houston, we have a  storefront!

after ten years in the catering business, The Catch-y Caterer has ourselves a storefront in hohokus! this past thursday we were approved to take over the space formally known as Kevin's Thyme Cafe on 614 Maple Avenue. right in the heart of hohokus! wahoooo! party time!

if all goes according to plan (which we all know in my life never happens), we will be launching catchy. (name changer/game changer. all lower case. period at the end. short and sweet, we dig.) and attempting to open in early december. the newly named storefront will be a sit-down cafe with loads and loads of takeout (a la mom's night off! style...but just EVERY NIGHT) while simultaneously doing as much catering as physically possible by my rock-star, kick *ss new team of seven full time chefs. seven. can you dig it? i can, haven't been able to sleep for the past three weeks out of sheer exhilaration and excitement.  

while my builders get in there to tear up floors, install new lighting and slap some newly painted bead board all over the joint, we will be booking all the parties you can send our way (have to afford this place somehow, right?). we will use the next six or seven week to gear up for what will be the sickest, my most mind-blowing lunch menu you can possibly imagine (can we say sandwiches like our veal & ricotta meatballs with homemade ricotta & sunday sauce? the baja chicken salad with roasted corn WHENEVER YOU WANT TO ORDER IT? or our buffalo chicken finger wrap with homemade blue cheese dressing and grated carrots...I mean REALLY? get in early people, because we will only have six tables).

what's the plan for catchy.?? our plan is to have lunch for the ladies (and your hubbies on your days off) from 11:30-3pm and at 3pm, watch out! we will be open for your kids to buzz on over after school on their bikes, drop some baskets of chicken fingers and (as long as they behave themselves) give the a place to unwind and chill out. mom's gotta come pick them up by closing time at 5pm and while you're there, grab your takeout quarts of soup, fresh salads & dinners - we will have CURBSIDE PICK UP all day. will be needing your cell phone numbers & credit cards on file to make your lives EASY. 'cause really, that's what catchy. is all about. making your lives as simple and seamless as possible.

so keep it in mind and in the meantime, check out this week's menu. it's sick. it's killer. and if last week was any indication (our biggest selling week EVERRRR), it won't be around long.