This one was Cindy’s brain child and what a great idea.  Taken from the traditional Holiday “Cookie Exchange”, this one is much easier on the figure and nothing is better than soup, in my humble opinion.

Here is an excerpt from Cindy’s email invitation laying the groundwork for the exchange:

“I believe we agreed that we wanted to exchange 4 cups per serving.  We will package the soup in ziplock bags and freeze (if possible) unless you just get it done that day… Anything goes!

We need to bring our soup in a cooler, then when you get here we will exchange and it will stay cold until we get home.”

There were 6 cooks invited and 4 of us lucky “significant others” that got to tag along and enjoy the tasting. One of cooks could not make it, so 5 soups were presented that evening.

Cindy continues:

“We will need six bags all together. One bag to exchange with each of the above and one to share that evening.  Please bring a crockpot in which to keep your soup hot for that night…….bring copies of your recipe and a wine that would accompany your soup! That way we will be able to sample 6 wines and 6 soups–sounds “souper”  don’t you think?”

Each soup chef made a selection from the variety of Polish Pottery bowls or tureens we had brought for the occasion from which to serve their soup and we had eight Polish Pottery wine cups to use for sampling the wine chosen to complement the individual’s soup.  The wine cups were the perfect size for the sampling and it was nice not to deal with stemware during the tasting.

The menu for the evening:

Soup #1  -  Jan’s Mom’s Gazpacho             wine selection: 2008 Borsao (Borja, Spain)

Soup #2 -   Potato-Leek Soup ala Tretton              wine selection: 2008 Loosen Bros Riesling (German)

Soup #3 -   Calvertized Turkey Stew in a Bread Bowl             wine selection: 2008 Clos du Bois Chardonnay (California)

Soup #4 -   Neighborly Chicken and Cheese Soup with Green Chiles             wine selection: 2007 Ridge California Zinfandel

Soup # 5 -   Mabel’s Potato Soup              wine selection: 2008 Yellow Tail Pinot Noir

Stay tuned for pictures and recipes………….

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