Winter is here, and all I want to do is eat warm bowls of soups and stews and curl up under a blanket with a great glass of wine while watching Bravo TV (my guilty pleasure) or a cooking show. I could eat soup any time of year if I’m being honest. Want to know a secret? Soup really does taste better the day after it is made. The flavors meld together and intensify each and every time it is reheated.

Over the years I have reworked some recipes from my favorite chefs (Julia Childs and Ina Garten) and adapted them to how I cook and my tastes. I make a recipe once following the author's directions and then the next go around, I make it my own. For me, cooking is about adapting to the ingredients that I have in my refrigerator or what is available at my local market.  

Below are a handful of my favorite soups that you’re definitely going to want to whip up this winter, no matter where you live. 

Hosting a Festive Friendsgiving Feast 

We all know that life is busy, and it is often hard to get together with your friends. Thanksgiving—well, Friendsgiving, specifically—is a special time to celebrate friendships, laugh, and reminisce about all the wonderful memories you created together. Why not bring together some of your lifelong friends as well as new ones and host a festive Friendsgiving feast at your home? It’s easier to do so than you might think, and this is a nice opportunity to get your social group together before December, when calendars seem to fill up left and right!