Cooking up a storm

I'm a very lucky lady.....life just gets better and better these days. Winter in Seattle has been unusually warm this year, so I got an early start on the garden. Now, let's just see if it grows (which seems to be my challenge). We are traveling nearly every weekend in April--to Disneyland with the family, a wine weekend in Walla Walla, a girls scrapbooking trip to Leavenworth and recently I got back from both Denver and Calgary. I've been working more than usual and I signed up for a 10 week boot camp to get in shape before summer. Or whatever 'shape' means to me. I took an amazing veggie gardening class from Tilth and I am convinced I can color my own hair after attempting a new coat of blue today. Of course, Lee has to help me with this, but he's actually getting good at it. Scary. That sums some of it up. And here are some of the tasty treats I've been concocting.

Shrimp and Tofu Panang Curry, 5 Star, with broccoli. SO much better when you make thai food yourself.
Happy St. Pat's Day to us! Best Guinness Irish Beef Stew and Soda Bread I've ever had, and I made it all from scratch. Kind of impressed myself on this one. I'm trying to live up to my Irish name!
We bought a semi-professional ice cream maker and had a winter ice cream social. I have to say, my salted caramel was a hit. We also had strawberry, vanilla bean, chocolate, pear and rocky road.
Lettuce this year has been awful, but one week this year (one sad little week) the lettuce looked good enough to buy and make a salad. You'll be happy to know the farmer's market started having salad greens this week and I got myself a bag this morning. Thank God!
Baked Chicken with lot of roasted garlic, baby red potatoes and mushrooms.
Chicken enchiladas with homemade guacamole and broccoli.
Always wanted to make Celeriac Salad after having it nearly every day in Provence, France and it was just as good as I remember it. We had it with fried chicken, and it was a nice, crispy and light side.
And finally, spaghetti and Meatballs! These were fabulous, simmered for hours too. The best I've ever done when it comes to adding meatballs. I froze some, as I typically do with my tomato sauces for future quick dinners, and I think I'll make spinach manicotti this week with the leftovers.