Five steps to hosting a soup exchange party

Soup party gang 2012: Pauline, Anna, Katie, Arleen, Rachl, AJ, Chris, Gail

I just hosted my second annual soup party. Wisconsin is so weird. Last year we had our soup exchange in March and we wound up spending a lot of time outside on the deck; the temp was in the 60s (or so). This year we met again in March...but there was hardly enough room for my friends to park their cars around the plowed-up piles of snow.

So it goes in our beloved state.

No whether the weather, I'm always ready for soup. I never get sick of it...probably because there are so many different kinds. If you're sick of brothy soup, you can make one thick enough to walk across and vice versa. If you're sick of vegetable soup, you can make meat soup and vice versa. If you're sick of creamy soup, you can make a brothy one and vice versa...on and on.

A friend told me about a Christmas cookie exchange she goes to every year. The participants are VERY strict about the rules. If you bring three dozen, you leave with three dozen. If you bring six dozen, you leave with six dozen. No variation.

My cooking friends are much more loosey-goosey in giving out their soup. As Chris says, "It's just SOUP."

Last year we had eight cooks who attended the gathering, with soups featured from nine cooks (one couldn't make it but sent her soup along). See the photo above. This year we had only six cooks, so we had less variety in soups. (Photo is at the end of this blog post.)

This year we had more variety in age: the youngest was 28 and the oldest was 78. Last year the youngest was 27 and the oldest was 64.

The age difference is part of the fun. I've noticed that young and old take turns shocking each other. There are a LOT of laughs.

I went to my first soup exchange in 2010, where we snacked on cheese and crackers, drank wine, and chatted before doing the exchange.

At the two  exchanges I hosted, I chose to serve a simple supper first: vegetarian chili and cornbread. We also had tea, coffee, strawberry shortcake, and some wine.

Someone suggested doing a "best soup" tasting and judging, but we can't quite figure out the logistics, with all the talking, laughing, eating and imbibing we have to do. I think my friends are a little too relaxed for a juried event.

Here's how we do the exchange: