TGIFood is going to be looking after you this winter. To kick off, here's a quintet of ideas for fireside suppers.

How was that?! Down here in Cape town's leafy northern suburbs, there was barely a pause from the rain in four days. We all burrowed in, and now it feels like that summer we were still enjoying not long ago is a distant memory.

The wetness and relentlessness of it all turned my mind to finding a handful of recipes for you designed for a winter's day. Not just soups, or only stews. Rather, a bit of this and a bit of that.

I have for you some hearty, warming things to make this weekend: a hot soup full of chunky vegetables and "goodness". That thing - you know - that is best described by a word that has little clear meaning to it, yet just means something. Goodness. Oh, and it has barley in it too, for an extra kick of winter warmth.

I also have a pair of stews for you: an oxtail stew with bacon, rosemary and orange, and a drunken Irish stew, packed with meat and goodness... nah, scratch that. Guinness! That's what gives this stew that extra something, and not in modest proportions either.

But we're missing something: a good, meaty curry. Your fourth meaty...