Episode 28: Another interview with Liss!
Whatever you do, don't knit like my sister!
"The beginning is more than half the whole and sheds its light on all the rest"--Aristotle
"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces--just good food from fresh ingredients."
--Julia Child
That early memory, as I think about it now, was perhaps the origin point for a strong mental association between Christmas and knitted sweaters. When we were little, we had the sweaters that Grandma Klein knitted for us, sweaters that were often wider than they were long--sweaters that seemed tailored to fit someone like Grandma herself–but sweaters knitted with love and a deep regard for thrift and the hand-made. --excerpt from a letter Bossy wrote in 2011
Happy Holidays!! Aunt Betty's famous dinner rolls and great small knits, plus memories of Christmas Joys
“I am no longer accepting the things I can not change. I am changing the things I can not accept.”—Angela Davis
"Life is like a marshmallow; easy to chew but hard to swallow."--Francis Bacon
“Almost every recipe ever made – French, Italian, English, Indian – begins with chopping onions. That's the foundational act of all cooking. So every night I find myself chopping onions at six o'clock and it's both life-giving and monotonous, providing and draining."--Adam Gopnik
"Here comes Janet with her damn brownies."--Janet
"My recipes are inspired mainly by traditional Ecuadorian dishes that I grew up eating in Ecuador. However, my love of food – and therefore the recipes posted here – go beyond Ecuador and include anything from Latin America, my mom’s spicy New Mexican cooking, my grandmother’s homemade Southwestern dishes and Texas style BBQ, my husband’s (and his family’s) delicious French food, new dishes introduced by my amazing group of international friends, and of course the great variety of seafood, vegetables and fruits available in the Pacific Northwest."--Layla Pujol (from her blog Laylita.com)
"In all my decades of staying busy, I had always presumed that my head was fully in charge of everything, including telling my hands what to do. It hadn't ever really occurred to me to let things flow the opposite way. But that's what knitting did. It reversed the flow. It buckled my churning brain into the back seat and allowed my hands to drive the car for a while. It detoured me away from my anxiety, just enough to provide some relief. Any time I picked up those needles, I'd feel the rearrangement, my fingers doing the work, my mind trailing behind." Page 34 of The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama.
"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything."
- William Shakespeare
"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry"
--Robert Burns
"Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
―Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
"We will all profit from a more diverse, inclusive society, understanding, accommodating, even celebrating our differences, while pulling together for the common good.”
–Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The greatest illusion is to think that life is at all possible without illusion --Bart Giamatti
Kia whakairia te tapu
Kia wātea ai te ara
Kia turuki whakataha ai
Kia turuki whakataha ai
Haumi e. Hui e. Tāiki e!
Restrictions are moved aside so the pathway is clear to return to everyday activities. Join! Gather! Unite!--Maori invocation
We have salted sweet hours,
Made the years rewind,
Eaten all the ripened heart of life,
And made a luscious pickle of the rind.
--Isak Dinesen
"Tis a Fearful Thing
"Tis a fearful thing
To love what death can touch.
A fearful thing
To love, to hope, to dream, to be--
To be,
And oh, to lose.
A thing for fools, this,
And a holy thing,
A holy thing to love.
For your life has lived in me,
Your laugh once lifted me,
Your word was gift to me.
To remember this brings painful joy.
'Tis a human thing, love,
A holy thing, to love
What death has touched.
--Yehuda Halevi
"Don't eat too much cheese; it's very fattening." --Mita
We present Fanny's (aka Bootie's mother in law) recipe for ratatouille. This delicious vegetable dish always reminds Bootie of relaxing summer visits to Fanny's house in the country. See the recipe page for more details. Bootie and Bossy discuss the bittersweet transition of our children's moves to college (Will they have enough deodorant for the after life? Will they use the right pan? Will they ever find the Better than Bouillon?). As usual, knitting gets us through the emotional roller coaster. We give updates on our latest projects (ah, the joy of Fall knitting!) and adventures.
"A party without cake is really just a meeting." --Julia Child
Bootie and Bossy each thought they had the best ginger snap recipe. It turns out that their recipes are virtually identical! Bootie's came from her wonderful friend, Mary Ellen Haley, who is well known for her delicious baking. Bossy's came from Marion Cunningham's cookbook, The Breakfast Book. Bossy has been luring her coworkers into attending meetings with these cookies, along with the accompanied lemon curd, for many years. One of her coworkers said he goes to bed dreaming of them. The recipe for the lemon curd comes from Ina Garten who ingeniously has you peeling the lemons for the zest and then pulverizing the peels with sugar. This method may use a few more bowls than we would like but it's so easy. You can find the recipe here. Bootie recounts her knitting get together with Marie Greene, the author of the most wonderful book, The Joy of Yarn. Got yarn? Marie to the rescue with wonderful tips about how to rediscover the joy in the stash you already own, plus gorgeous patterns to use it up!
Episode 20: We are no longer Rhinebeck virgins!
"Take the Risk." --Adella Colvin of Lolabean Yarn
Bootie and Bossy took the risk and made their way to Rhinebeck for the sheep and wool festival! It was a pure delight. We met several knitting celebrities, fondled much yarn, but what we truly delighted in was the inspiring stories we heard and projects we saw. And oh yeah, we did bask in the glow of the compliments we received for our own knitted wear. We plan to go back next year!
Our recipe for this episode is a hearty soup that is perfect for "sweater weather" AND evokes fond memories of our trips to Kauai. The soup is called Portuguese Bean Soup from the Cookbook, Tasting Paradise by Karen Bacon. We would always stop at the Koke'e Lodge and order this after hiking around Waimea Canyon (after visiting the KMart, recycling stations, and all the other "fun" activities our parents planned for us during our visits). Did you know that Kauai is home to the wettest place on Earth? Mount Waialeale receives over 400 inches of rain a year! This is making Bootie and Bossy very grateful that they only see 40 or so inches a year.
"Inside every person is the room of the child." --German proverb
"A cocktail is not meant to be a melange. At its best, a cocktail should be crisp, elegant, sincere--and limited to two ingredients." --Richard from the novel Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
“There’s something about, you know, when your life is sort of falling apart you need to create a purpose in it for yourself. And if that purpose is quite small, it doesn’t matter. It’s important. It’s something tangible.” From Visible Mending by Samantha Moore
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 from your larder. Bootie and Bossy do a deep dive into all the many poignant moments in the brilliant short animation Visible Mending by Samantha Moore.
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 sister!! Here is Melissa reading the complete chapter (she read an excerpt during the podcast) entitled Imperfect Hearts and Roses for Valentine's Day:
And speaking of drinks, Bootie and Bossy thoroughly enjoyed A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. There were so many gems in this book. We loved how he highlighted the fascinating details about beer, wine, distilled drinks, tea, coffee and Coca-Cola while putting them in the context of larger and broader historical trends. Some things that stood out for us:
The British Navy got some of its strength due to the grog (named after Admiral Vernon who wore a suit made of grogram, a coarse fabric strengthened with wood gum) the sailors drank. The drink contained rum, sugar and lime juice. The lime juice prevented scurvy. Unfortunately, the French were drinking brandy which contains very little vitamin C and thus the sailors fell victim to the maritime disease. That grog gave the British Navy the edge against the French and lead to British Imperial domination . . . hooray?
Who knew so much of American history depended on alcohol? The Pilgrims ran out of beer and that's why they wound up in Plymouth! The Whiskey Rebellion--why is that not a movie? George Washington was a big time distiller and seems to have largely bought his votes with alcohol.
And for you tea drinkers out there, apparently the tannins in tea prevent dysentery, cholera, and typhoid. You're welcome.
And one of the big messages: beer, wine, and alcohol made unsafe water pure, so drink up because it's good for you (ok, this may only be true if you don't have access to safe drinking water but let's not sweat the details).
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!
The cocktail is called the Bobby Burns, aka Robert Burns, or Rabbie. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and an early promoter of the Romantic movement. When he wasn't farming and writing poetry, he was quite busy fathering children (12!). His birthday is celebrated on January 25th, and many toast him with this cocktail. In addition to writing the New Year's classic, "Auld Lang Syne", he wrote this gem, "The Answer" (can't you just here the Scottish brogue?):
Ev’n thena wish (I mind its power)
A wish, that to my latest hour
Shall strongly heave my breast;
That I for poor auld Scotland’s sake
Some useful plan, or book could make,
Or sing a sang at least.
And speaking of drinks, Bootie and Bossy thoroughly enjoyed A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. There were so many gems in this book. We loved how he highlighted the fascinating details about beer, wine, distilled drinks, tea, coffee and Coca-Cola while putting them in the context of larger and broader historical trends.
Bootie and Bossy discuss their knitted projects, including Bootie's latest finished object, the Taos poncho by Marie Greene.
For Bossy's granola, you don't have to respect the proportions (unlike Nana's Ratatouille) but you do need to respect the process. When knitting, gauge swatching is part of the process and it must be respected. As much as we would like to skip this step, we have learned the hard way that as Patty Lyons says in her book, Knitting Bag of Tricks, "If you don't have time to swatch, save time to rip out your sweater." Patty Lyon is such a believer in swatching that she has an entire chapter devoted to it. We highly recommend her book for the many pearls of wisdom, not just the swatching advice.
Bootie and Bossy discuss a wonderful video on the Moth Radio that captures the highs and lows of what happens when you don't swatch.
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 diced tomatoes in a pyrex, along with a bunch of cilantro, olive oil, salt and pepper, then run around panic cleaning for before your guests arrive. Melissa also shared her recipe for baked polenta--a total game changer. Melissa describes some of her current projects.
Bootie and Bossy discuss their mostly failed efforts at spring cleaning (anybody else storing a large box of dirt in their basement?). As promised, you will feel better about your own efforts.
