My name is Catherine, and I’m obsessed with feeding people. I come by this honestly – just about all the women on both sides of my family (and some of the men, too) are chronic over-caterers. If you tell us we don’t need to bring anything, we will interpret this to mean that we should just bring a few biscuits, or some homemade confectionery, or maybe a tray of pizza. You know, not real food. Just a little something to add to the table. I also need to feed everyone. Yes, even you. And all the food has to be delicious, no matter how many dietary requirements I am catering to. If the allergy-friendly food isn’t so good that the people without allergies are fighting over it, I’m not doing my job properly.
I live in Coburg, which is an excellent place to be if you love cooking and eating Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food. If you work at any food business around Sydney Road and have ever had a woman come bouncing up to you at the counter talking really really fast about how exciting these ingredients are and what she is going to make for dinner and did you know you can make blue chocolate ganache and tomorrow she’s going to make 250 cupcakes for a wedding, that was probably me. Hello! (If it wasn’t me, that’s even better news, because that means there are two mad cooks running around the Moreland region telling everyone what we are planning to cook next, and sooner or later we will meet each other, join forces and fill the world with extremely good food).
The downside of this obsession is my constant fear that I have not cooked enough food. This has actually never occurred, but it would be so world-endingly bad if it did that I still panic about the possibility whenever I have people around. Usually, this results in me making even more food, just to be on the safe side. I am, in fact, capable of simultaneously worrying that I haven’t provided enough food and wondering how on earth I’m going to fit all that food onto my three-metre-long kitchen table…
I also have a truly incredible number of cookbooks. I don’t dare count them, actually. I’m too embarrassed. So you can expect to see cookbook reviews here on a regular basis. You can also expect recipes, enthusiastic babbling about farmers’ markets, bragging about my latest cakes and feasts, mad cackling over culinary science experiments, and occasional attempts to set the kitchen on fire or inflict permanent injury on myself.
If this sounds like your sort of thing, fantastic! Come on in and make yourself comfortable.
I promise there will be enough food.
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Can’t wait to watch your blog grow. Good luck.
Thank you!
*raises hand* I’m also in Moreland.
And I know of at least one other person who would join our Moreland Over-Caterers League should we ever form one.
So do I! I suspect that we could do some pretty serious overcatering between the four of us…
great blog – have finally added you to my blog reader so I can keep up – look forward to catching up on a few older posts as well as seeing how the blog develops – and am pleased you are into farmers markets – shame there isn’t a local one, though we are a bit spoiled for food stores in coburg
Thanks, Johanna! And good to see you here (I’ve got your blog on Google reader, too). I agree with you on the Farmers’ Markets, though the Showgrounds don’t take long to get to. But I don’t think Coburgers like our selves have much to complain about when it comes to food…
Hi Catherine, as someone who regularly attends event’s where your concern over the possible lack of food might occur, i laughed out loud when I saw this heading.
loving the blog
I can honestly say you have never once in the 10 or so years I’ve know you has there ever been a lack of food at your house. This includes when dropping in out of the blue without phoning ahead. Add to this that the quality of food is always superb, you are the ultimate caterer.
Thanks, Elise! It seemed the appropriate heading for the ‘About this blog’ page…
I’m also a chronic over-caterer! If there isn’t enough food left to feed everyone again the next day, then there simply isn’t enough food!
I love to cook….I love to eat. Sadly, my family are not as adventurous in the food department as I am so many great ideas stay as mere ideas.
Hi Andrea,
Always good to meet another over-caterer! And I completely agree with your definition of ‘enough food’. Leftovers – significant leftovers – are an absolute requirement for any proper party.
I have the opposite problem to you, incidentally – Andrew is happy to eat any weird thing I come up with, but won’t touch anything meat-and-three-veg-ish. On the whole, this is great, because it gives me free rein to experiment, but on a Wednesday night when I’m tired, it can get old…