Bootie and Bossy Eat, Drink, Knit
by Bootie and Bossy
Bootie and Bossy are two sisters who share a love of cooking and crafting. Please join us in our adventures and misadventures! We'll share our best recipes and make you feel better about your craft projects. Whatever you do, don't knit like my sister! For show notes and more, please visit Bootieandbossy.com
Episodes
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We will always love Dolly Parton
In this time of doom and discord, there's one bright, pink sparkling light that can bring us all together: Dolly Parton. When she died on August 25th, we lost a great spirit, and the whole world mourned her passing with flags hanging at half staff in every American embassy throughout the globe.…
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We're back and Mom's OK!
Okay, it's been a while since our last episode, but don't worry--we were not fighting. There were no fisticuffs. Most importantly, Mom's okay! But it was a grueling couple of months for all of us as Mom fought her way back from a significant health setback. Who knew that you could get a burst...
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Pippa Latour, a Portrait in "Cool and Lonely Courage"
We are back for our second installment on knitting and espionage with Pippa Latour's memoir, The Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines. First a disclaimer: knitting stands out only as the most normal, ordinary thing in the extraordinary life of Pippa Latour, and it plays a…
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The Great Catering Adventure
“Great catering adventure” or act of insanity? It was probably closer to the latter when Bossy offered to cater her son’s film shoot for his senior project on a freezing weekend in February in Philadelphia. Thank God for the help and support of so many people, including sisters-in-law Leslie and...
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What do Knitting and Espionage have in Common?
Knitting and espionage? What could they possibly share? A lot, as we learned from reading Jenny O’Brien’s new romance novel, The Resistance Knitting Club, which was inspired by the true story of how knitting was used by women working for the British Special Operations (SOE) during World War II....
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We Salute the Knitlympians
Breezy Johnson. Maddie Mastro. Deerdra Irwin. Margie Freed. Lucinda Anderson. Maxime Germain. Jaelin Kauf. Jessie Diggins. Julia Kern. Greta Myers. Ben Ogden. Sure, these are all members of the US Olympic Team who competed in the recent games in Cortina, Italy, but did you know that they are also...
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A Dream Afternoon with Keeley Richardson
What is Keeley Richardson's idea of a "dream afternoon"? The founder of the online blog and magazine Puget Sound Woolpack does not hesitate: "You guys know this: sitting and knitting and eating cake, I mean, that is probably my dream afternoon. And if only I could spend every afternoon doing…
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Got Red Wool?
There's a quiet but powerful movement afoot in the knitting community. It started at Needle & Skein, a full-service yarn store in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota. Wanting to do something to protest the presence of ICE in his state, Paul Neary decided to look back in time for inspiration, and he found...
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Will Bootie and Bossy Go on Game of Wool?
First we want to say that we love that there is a British show about knitting. Period. Full stop. And we love that Tom Daley is the host--he is warm, funny and good humored about testing the knitted deck chairs the contestants make with his well-sculpted butt. But knitters that we are, would…
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Your Stash: Inspiration or Albatross?
So it's the New Year. Hooray. And maybe like us you opened up that closet to put back the decorations and thought, "Do we need all of this? What's in these boxes anyway?" Perhaps your thoughts have now turned to your stash--not your drug stash, or a stash of stolen goods, the word's original...
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What's so great about 1950's America?
What's so great about 1950s America? We admit this is a trick question. It might have been great for men, but at least according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, for many women, particularly young mothers, it felt like being "trapped in a squirrel cage"...
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Natasha Darius and the Soul of Spinning
Listen to this episode and you will never look at handspun yarn in quite the same way. A bold claim, we know, but that’s just one of the many things that Natasha Darius taught us in this interview. We met Natasha at Woolworks, Ltd., in Putnam, Connecticut, where she manages the volunteer-run…
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How Knitting Helps Everyone
Let's go back about 85 years. It's November, 1941, and America is about to enter World War II, when once again we will discover that we are a cold-footed, sockless nation. We have been here before. Think Revolutionary War, then the Civil War, and then World War I. But coming out of the Depression...
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Rhinebeck Recap!
What is it about Rhinebeck?! It's hard to believe that a modest gathering of local shepherds and 4-H Clubs to trade fleece and auction small livestock in 1980 is now a booming event attracting 30,000 people from all over the world. We met so many fascinating fiber folks, including Ting who owns a...
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Does Knitting Shut Men Out?
It's the Depression--the Great Depression. The economy is in the toilet, and birth rates, marriage rates, divorce rates are down, but guess what's up? Knitting! This is truly the Renaissance period for knitting according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting....
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50th Episode Giveaway Reminder
Bootie and Bossy are popping in to remind you that the deadline of October 7, 2025 for our 50th episode giveaway is fast approaching! We are giving away two Skellie kits (two winners) from the fabulous www.serialknitters.com All you need to do to enter is to sign up for our newsletter on our...
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A Giveaway because we thought that would be Fun!
We made it to our 50th episode, so what keeps us going? In a word, YOU. From our listeners to invited guests, to family members who helped with tech and made suggestions--to everyone who graced us with their time, support and expertise, we want to say THANK YOU. And that's why we are offering a...
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Bare Female Shoulders, Oh My!
Bare Female Shoulders, Oh My! Flapping through the 1920s in Bootie and Bossy's Episode 49! Why, why, why do men care so much about what women wear? Oh right, because they want to control women, but Irene Castle did not let the condemnation of Pope Pius and other religious leaders stop her from...
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Is knitting an Anti-feminist act?
Let's set the scene: America at the beginning of the 20th Century, and despite their suffocating corsets that created the prized Gibson Girl physique, women are on the move, literally--they are fishing, biking, golfing, playing tennis and riding in those new automobiles. And there's a war raging...
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Fun with Michele Lee Bernstein
How do you eat Cheetos safely while knitting so everything is not covered with a fine neon orange dust? Chopsticks! How do you keep your balls of yarn from doing the Tango in your knitting bag while you are not looking? Yarn bras! How do you get yourself to do the things that you really don't…
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Quiet, Everyday Magic
Here's something we love: Hunter Hammersen's "quiet, everyday magic that's easy to overlook. But it's magic nonetheless." She is talking about her "Noteworthy" pattern for a little pouch that looks like a piece of paper because "paper is magic, and the right piece of paper can change the world."...
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Where is Napoleon's Penis?
Inquiring minds want to know: where is Napolean's penis these days? We will give you a hint: it's not with the rest of his body, but it's a cautionary tale for today's despots that we think should be more widely known. To be clear, the whereabouts of Napolean's penis is not discussed in Anne...
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The Cult of True Womanhood? We think not!
Piety! Purity! Submissiveness! Domesticity! These are the four pillars of the "Cult of True Womanhood" in 19th-Century America according to Anne Macdonald in No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, and we say, "No thanks!" We also say "no thanks" to knitting in covered wagons, the...
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The Value of Everyday Things
If George Washington knew about Debie Frable's Killer Sangria, he probably would have wanted A LOT of it to help him get through the Revolutionary War because boy, is this good stuff! Make it TODAY. But at the time, Washington really just wanted socks--he never had enough socks, as we learned…
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Behind the Scenes with Debie Frable
Behind the scenes at Serial Knitters with Debie Frable in Bootie and Bossy's Episode 42! Ever wonder what goes into hand-dyed yarn? The short answer is A LOT, as we learned from Debie Frable, owner of Serial Knitters Dye House. First there’s the prepping of the yarn—teasing out each tie on the...
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Purls Before Swine
What's worth talking about? Pixar's short "Purl" in Bootie and Bossy's Episode 41! What happens when a pink ball of yarn named Purl starts working at B.R.O. Industries? Find out in Kristen Lester’s Pixar animated short “Purl.” There’s a lot going on in these 8 minutes that’s worth talking about....
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Vengeance Most Fowl
Snow! Rain! Ice! Wind! When the blows of winter buffet us, we need to find joy in small things like bowls of warm, tasty Jamaican Chicken Curry, compliments of Kim Davis of Slaycation fame. Kim might not love cooking, but sometimes the non-cooks have the one tried-and-true recipe that hits all…
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Murder! Vacation! Knitting!
What could murders, vacations and knitting possibly have to do with one another? Kim Davis, one of the hosts of the podcast Slaycation, connects the dots in this episode. The name “Slaycation” says it all: these are true-crime tales of murders that take place on vacation—more reason, as if we...
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Oh Fudge! It's our Valentine's 2025 Bonus
Wondering what to do for Valentine’s Day for all those special Valentines in your life? Bootie and Bossy to the rescue with a recipe for FIVE POUNDS of our Aunt Annie’s homemade fudge, also known as “Overseas Fudge” because it will withstand a military transport plane. And that’s our Aunt Annie,...
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Perfectly Perfect, or not
What is it about Martha Stewart? If you want a good watch while you are playing with your Christmas yarn and pointed sticks, tune in to the Netflix biopic, Martha. Talk about a phoenix. Launching her own I.P.O. in 1999, she became the first self-made woman billionaire in American history. Five...
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Episode 37: How is Ina Garten like a Phoenix?
Want to start out the New Year with a great read? If you are an Ina Garten fan, as we are, her new memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens and this episode are for you! And with the audio version, it’s like Ina is keeping you company while you’re knitting—as Ina would say, “How great is that?” We...
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Christmas Bonus 2024
Let’s set the scene. It’s December, 1946, and it’s beginning to look a lot like a disappointing Christmas at the Fort Hamilton, NY military base. No Christmas tree, no decorations for eight-year-old Mom waiting to disembark with her two sisters and mother for Heidelberg, Germany where they will...
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Episode 36: Shear delight, an interview with Christina Kading
Shear delight is the only way to describe our conversation with the wonderfully talented Christina Kading, who began her career as a second-generation sheep-shearer at the age of 8 ("I was born on top of a sheep!"). What's so hard about sheep shearing, you ask? First there are the kicking animals...
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Episode 35: Our country is spatchcocked but there's still Rhinebeck
We're back--we hope you missed us! And we brought scissors, and we are not afraid to use them in spatchcocking a turkey for Thanksgiving. "Spatchcocking?" You may well ask. It's not just a word for removing the spine of the turkey to make for a wonderfully evenly roasted bird in half the…
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Episode 34: Abundance
Whether you have an abundance of tomatoes in your garden like Bossy, or bought them on sale at the market like Bootie, you will love this super simple and amazingly delicious recipe. It's great for those back to school nights when you need something fast. And if you prep everything in the morning...
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Episode 33: Chicken Fun
Our recipe for this episode is perfect for busy back to school nights: Pineapple Marinated chicken breasts! It's super easy, tasty and you'll probably have everything you need in your larder except the chicken and the fresh pineapple. The leftovers are fantastic too! Bossy first discovered the...
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Episode 32: Made with Love
Our recipe for this episode is a summer classic: Gazpacho! Bossy has been making this recipe for many years, as evidenced by all the splatters in her cookbook. It meets all of our criteria: makes a lot, uses one pot, and you have most of the ingredients in your larder. And it's versatile! It's...
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Episode 31: Looking forward and looking back
Here comes Janet with her damn four bean salad! This is the first recipe our mom (Hi Mom!) included in the recipe book she gave to us. It's perfect for the summer when you don't feel like cooking or if your kitchen is under renovation like Bootie's. We made it a little more gourmet by using fresh...
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Episode 30: Cruising right along
We have made it to episode 30 and you guessed it, time for another cocktail! This one is from Laylita.com. The melon sangria is a combination of delicious summer melons (your future self will thank you for balling up the melons and making melon ice cubes to have on hand), grappa, honey, and...
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Episode 29: Banana Bread and project updates
Mom's banana bread has been a staple in Bootie's household for forever. And now it's even better with the addition of a little buttermilk, nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut. If you want to take it over the top (pun intended), you can add a crumble or cream cheese frosting. It's so good! Bootie…
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Episode 28: Another interview with Liss!
Our beautiful sister, Melissa generously agreed to come back on because we need more vegetables in our repertoire! Melissa discovered this recipe for roasted tomatoes on NPR and if anyone know who deserves the credit, let us know. The recipe is as simple as it gets--throw a couple of cans of…
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Episode 27: Chicken Tortilla Soup and KAL
Even though we are not in her demographic, Bossy and Bootie very much enjoy the food porn on Tieghan Gerard's website, Half-Baked Harvest. We tried the chicken tortilla soup and it is a winner, winner, chicken dinner. It's perfect for those nights when you need a little comfort food because you...
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Episode 26: Granola: It's not just for Hippies!
The recipe for this episode is Bossy's homemade granola. It's the perfect blend of healthy grains and delicious fruits. Bootie and the rest of the family look forward to receiving the granola every year in her Xmas and birthday packages and now that she knows how easy it is to make, Bootie looks...
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Episode 25: Get better fast Mom, so you can enjoy this cocktail !
Whelp, Mom is in the hospital again, so it's time for another cocktail! Update: she's out of the hospital and in a rehab where she is making excellent progress! So cheers to that! Bootie first learned about the Bobby Burns cocktail from Darcy Cameron, the owner of Shibui yarn on her blog, Shibui...
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Match-Liss Tales of Online Dating by Melissa Klein
Melissa reads the chapter "Imperfect Hearts and Roses for Valentine's Day" from her memoire, Match-Liss Tales of Online Dating by Melissa Klein
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Episode 24: Liss!
For this episode, we interviewed Melissa Klein, who has recently written a memoire about online dating. Melissa is a commercial artist, muralist, illustrator, logo designer, author, and standup comedian who works in a wide range of styles and mediums to reflect her client's vision. And she's our...
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Episode 23: Comfort
It's snowing in colonial Massachusetts and threatening to snow (mostly large drifts of paranoia) out in the Pacific Northwest so we offer Ina's Winter Minestrone to warm the cockles of your soul, and your belly. It meets all of our criteria: one pot, it makes a lot, and uses mostly ingredients...
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Christmas Bonus 2023
Bossy reads a letter she wrote to Bootie the year she gave Bootie her family creche. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! "I just learned from Mom that Aunt Betty made our family creche when she was hospitalized and struggling with a deep depression. I know that was a very dark period in her…
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Episode 22: The Thankful Room of the Child
In this episode, Bossy shares her recipe for a delicious cranberry cocktail, using your leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving (or if you already ate it, Bootie recommends a recipe). Bootie is immortalizing her aunts and mom in gnome form while Bossy is upcycling one of her father in law's...
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Episode 21 The Room of the Child
We had many (ok, one) requests for our corn bread recipe that goes with the Portuguese Bean Soup from Episode 19. So, our recipes for this episode are corn bread! In terms of knitting, the merits of shawls versus ponchos are discussed. No rats were harmed in the making of this podcast. Ok, maybe...
About this show
Bootie and Bossy are two sisters who share a love of cooking and crafting. Please join us in our adventures and misadventures! We'll share our best recipes and make you feel better about your craft projects. Whatever you do, don't knit like my sister! For show notes and more, please visit Bootieandbossy.com
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Bootie and Bossy