VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Editor's note: This story is a part of our "Friday Flavor" series.
April Burke works at The Hunt Room inside the Cavalier Resort. "I love my job," she smiled. She is the kitchen supervisor, which means she's in charge of creating the soup of the day.
"When you do soup of the day, you're using scraps of things that you haven't used yet, and you need to get rid of things, so you get to be creative with things," Burke said.
So, she got to work on her creativity. Over the years, people started to take notice.
"People were asking for specific soups," Burke said. That's when she knew she had something. "Eventually, I was like, I need to start writing these recipes down," Burke smiled.
She grabbed a little green journal, her recipe journal. She flipped through the pages, showing recipes, failures, ideas and notes. The pages went on and on and on, "this turned into that, and so on," she nodded while flipping through the tired and worn pages of the little green journal.
That little journal turned into her cookbook, which she titled, "We Love a Soup," because truly, who doesn't love a soup?
"To get these recipes perfect, it did take about three to four years," Burke said. Time that has now turned into a reward, as many are purchasing her work.
"I wanted it to be a page-turner, not just a cookbook," she nodded while flipping through the crisp new cookbook.
Burke tells stories about her grandmother, provides facts about each recipe and explains the health benefits of certain ingredients. "I want people to write in this; I want this to be their book too," she said.
Recipes for soups range from basic to a little more difficult, but Burke said that every recipe is doable. "It's just simmering and roasting; you don't need to be a chef to make these recipes," she said.
The most popular recipe in the book is the Tomato Basil. Burke made a bowl for the 13News Now team, and it was delicious—creamy, flavorful, simple but amazing. You can make the same soup with Burke's cookbook. There are also recipes for sides and desserts, so you can make an entire meal.
"I've been working so hard. I've been doing this for about 14 years now, and this is the first thing that I am doing for me," Burke nodded with pride.
She's also doing it for others in her community. She said the community support and the support from the Cavalier have been incredible.
"The community has just been so supportive," Burke said.
When the cookbook was finished, she said she was shocked when The Hunt Room said they would sell it in their gift shop. Now, boutiques across Hampton Roads are selling it, too!
"I expected to create a fun, cute book that I was passionate about and sell it in our gift shop, and that was it. But it's turned into something much bigger than that, and it's definitely changed my life," Burke added.
We Love a Soup is incredible but Burke said this is just scratching the surface.
"I can continue with this; we can make other things, we can love other things," she laughed.
For now, we will love a soup.
To purchase We Love A Soup, go online or buy it at The Hunt Room Gift Shop. If you are a local shop that would like to sell Burke's cookbook, you can contact her for more information!