Chicken Francese

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make my family one of their favorite meals, Chicken Francese. What is that you ask? Well basically, it’s lemon chicken with butter. It’s my version of an Italian classic. Since I don’t do recipes (click here) I decided while I was making it to take pictures along the way. Unfortunately I got this idea when I was already into the process, but here it goes.

First you start off with a package of chicken breast. (See below) You have to slice the breast thinly (but not too thin) in preparation for cooking. In a bowl crack an egg and add milk, salt and pepper. On a plate place flour (season flour with salt and pepper). Place chicken breast in bowl and let soak in refrigerator for half hour. Heat oil in frying pan on low setting.

Dip individual chicken breast into flour and place in pan. (See below)When chicken is cooked to light golden brown (See below)
Remove and place on paper towels to drain off some of the grease (See below)In rectangular pan place pats of butter (See below)
Place chicken in the pan and place pats of butter on top of chicken (See below)
Place slices of lemon on top of the individual breasts. (See below) Squeeze lemon juice – from real lemons of course - on chicken and around the chicken until the bottom of the pan is covered about a quarter inch (give or take a quarter inch).
Place chicken in oven 350 degree oven (see below) for about 20 minutes. You want to make sure the juices don’t dry up. I made angel hair pasta with broccoli as a side (See below) Set table (wow, one package of chicken makes a big pan) (See below)

See how nice it looks on a plate (See below)

Enjoy!

© Nadine Z. 2007

Doctor’s Appointment

I had a doctor’s appointment today. I have some minor issues that I wanted to address. I don’t like going to the doctors…why? I work at a doctor’s office going to one as a patient is not fun. Upon his entrance he shakes my hand and asks how I’m doing. So I tell him the problems I’m having and his answer is that it appears that I have too much stress in my life. Hum…thank you for your professional opinion.

The funny thing about stress is that I try to remove it from my life but the more I try the more I’m spinning my wheels. Let’s see what some options are:

1. I could ignore it. That never works because it comes out in other ways – acid reflux, etc.

2. I could have a melt down. Nay, I love life too much and would miss it if I gave into a melt down.

3. I could cry. It messes my make up, my eyes get puffy, you get the idea.

The way I try to handle stress is that I turn to God for strength and peace. I pray during the day short little prayers. Yesterday was especially a stressful day at work. At one point I just had to go the restroom to clear my mind. I stood there and prayed for God’s peace. I could feel His peace from my head all the way down to my toes. It helped.

I don’t know what to do about the continued stress in the different areas of my life because they are not going away. What I can do is stay focus on the One who is able to relieve and remove the stress. I can choose to surrender my will to His will and submit to Him. I know my doctor means well but there isn’t anything he can do for me medically, but God bless him he is going to try.

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Here’s a big thank you to The Quiltmaker’s Gift for honoring me with my first blog award – the Thinking Blogger Award.


© Nadine Z. 2006

My Brand New Blog

I have a good friend, LM, who is a talented writer. She has devoted a lot of time learning about publishing, marketing and the like. She has shared so much of what she has learned with me. LM has encouraged me greatly. Click here to check out her main blog, which will lead you to her other blogs. We are going to a Christian Writer’s Conference together in May and I’m really looking forward to it.

Part of the process of getting ready is putting together a proposal and a query letter. I’m a little worried about it coming together in time.

I’ve developed a new blog in order to post parts of my book (the idea came from LM). I will only do the first few chapters. Click here to read the first installment.

God is doing some new things in me and some of it is a little scary. I find that He keeps challenging me to stretch out of my comfort zone. The way I look at it, He’s God and can ask me to do anything.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Fun with Words

I’ll like to interrupt this regularly scheduled blog with a message to all of you who left such kind, encouraging, enthusiastic messages, prayers, support and love on my previous post, Holding My Breath. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now back to our regularly scheduled post.

Growing up I was verbally challenged. I came to the US (for those of you who don’t know I was born in Haiti) when I was two years old. In my home, some English, French and Creole (a Haitian dialectic) was spoken. As I grew older I started to adapt to the English language (some might argue that point).

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY which some may consider to be another language. We lived in Washington for almost six years and before that we lived in West Virginia. The first year we lived in West Virginia everyone we met wanted us to repeat certain words – water, coffee, ask, etc. To humor them I often said it like Fran Drescher of the Nanny. I love messing with people sometimes.

I love to have fun with words. I’m known from time to time to make up words or borrow them from others. Examples:

Fantabulous – a cross between fantastic and fabulous
Ginormous – a cross between gigantic and enormous
Honking – meaning huge
Conversational whiplash – the term my husband uses to describe me when I change the subject at a moment’s notice
All kinds of wrong – an expression we use when something isn’t right

If there was a word police, I would have gotten arrested over a billion times for my butchering of the English language. So what are some of your favorite words (real or made up) or sayings? Don’t be shy you know you want to share.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Holding My Breath

As many of you know my husband has cancer. Its Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and it’s the type that won’t get fully healed by medical science, which leaves God room to work a true miracle. Tom had a PET Scan last week. During his last check up with the oncologist the doctor found a lump on his neck. He said he didn’t think it was anything, but wanted to make sure with the PET Scan.

Working in a doctor’s office I can obtain test results without any difficulty. I purposely didn’t last week because I was teaching on Friday and Saturday for the first time in over two years and if it was bad news…well let just say I didn’t want to know. But yesterday was another story and when I got the test results I was so relieved. It said that there was no evidence of recurrent lymphoma. This is really good news. The doctor confirmed that today.

I lay hands on him when I wake up in the morning and prayer for his healing. Often I pray and I hope that the Lord is listening. Today I was able to see answer to prayer come to fruition. We have a busy calendar filled with wonderful opportunities for Tom and chemo treatments at this time would have been so difficult for him.

I know that one day after one of these PET Scans the doctor is going to tell us, “I can’t believe it! It’s a miracle, the cancer is totally gone!” Amen! But until that glorious day arrives, I celebrate the news that it hasn’t spread. I’m holding my breath no more, but just living life as it comes…one day at a time.

Thank You Lord for Your faithfulness and for answering my prayers. Thank You Lord for a good report. Amen.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Tyranny of the Urgent

While visiting another blog (at the moment escapes me which one) I was inspired to look Tyranny of the Urgent a book written by Charles E. Hummel. Tyranny of the Urgent seeks to answer this question, “Is there really enough time to do all that God requires of you?”. Click here to read an article that sums up much of this book. In this day and age when there is so much to do, so many places to go and so much life to live…urgent matters come up all the time and seem to take us away from the important things we should be doing.

I’m only forty five years old but one thing I’ve realized that in life there are always urgent things. So what constitutes urgent things – items that require our immediate attention. Urgent things may be good things and not necessarily bad, but I find that life lately is filled with urgent things. They require my immediate attention and sometimes suck the life out of me. I’m left feeling tired, frustration and with a sense that I’m not always doing what I should be. Don’t get me wrong. There are times I feel like I’ve accomplished something worth while.

So if Jesus is to be our example, how can he manage to say in John 17:4; “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do.”

The point the article makes is that Jesus through prayer sought after only what the Father gave him to do. Wow. I so much want to stand before the Father one day and say, “I’ve finished all that You gave me to do.”

So what would I need to do in order to say that? Well maybe it would mean that I need to be more faithful in prayer to the Father. To seek after Him to guide me in my daily life and any project that I would undertake. I know that might sound a bit mundane but I believe that if can master seeking Him in all things, then the urgent things won’t overwhelm me. If I know that I’m doing exactly what He wants me to do at that moment, then peace would fill my heart.

As I reflect on this past week, I’ve learned a few things. It taught me that if God is calling me to do something He will not abandon me when I do it. I’ve learned that when faced with urgent things, He was faithful to meet my need. I’ve learned that I can trust Him with little things as well as the big things in life.

I thank You Lord for helping me make good choices this past week. I thank You Lord for helping me accomplish the important things You set before me. I thank You for stretching me in areas I was not comfortable in. I thank You for the love and support of Your people.

© Nadine Z. 2007

I Think I Can…I Think I Can

Tonight I just finished teaching my first lesson in over two years. Since yesterday the feeling of being inadequate and fear of failure were at times overwhelming. I struggled to keep it together. I was afraid of letting down God, my husband and myself. What if I heard God wrong about teaching? What if He wasn’t telling me to do this?

I found myself fighting the compulsion to throw up at the thought of getting up in front of the class and opening my mouth. I don’t have a problem getting up in front of people and speaking. In fact I love a captive audience. I love to tell a story and if it’s funny that’s even better. Teaching…now that’s a different animal for me.

I kept reminding myself of the counting to five rule – allowing the fear to run free for only five seconds and then stop. It worked but I had to repeat it over and over again. My turn to teach was after the dinner break. These classes are intense. The schedule is Thursday night from 7:00 – 9:00pm. Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am until 9:00 pm with two hour lunch and dinner breaks. It makes for long days and keeping the attention of the students is not always easy.

I worked today, so I went home and changed my clothes. By the time I got to the church I felt better. We went out to dinner and were blessed by the generosity of a friend who paid – thanks Daddio. But as it got closer to my teaching time, I felt like that little engine that could – I think I can, I think I can. After prayer from the other teachers something happened inside of me. I was reminded by God that I just needed to be me, relax and enjoy myself. I did. I was surprised that I enjoyed myself and had fun. The anticipation was worse than actually doing it.

So thank you Lord for helping me tonight and stretching me. Thank you for the love, support and prayers of those around me. Thank You for showing me that yes I can…yes I can.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed – what does that mean to you? The dictionary states it is to overpower somebody emotionally – to affect somebody’s emotions in a complete or irresistible way.

Life is so busy but not just for me. Everyone seems to have so much going on. There is always something to do or somewhere to go. Sometimes there is a crisis you have to deal with…health issues…work issues…family issues, etc. So how do you handle it when life is feeling overwhelmed? Well you could cry, but that doesn’t solve anything. The end result is red blood shot eyes. You could eat an entire cheesecake (remember Golden Girls), but that will either make you sick or you’ll gain a hundred pounds. You could scream but that might cause your neighbors to call the police.

Yesterday morning I reached for my wedding ring on my dresser. This action caused my diamond earring that was also on my dresser to fall on the carpet. My carpet is light tan. I couldn’t see it so I started to feel for it. I even reached under the dresser to no avail. The earring holds a sentimental place in my heart because Tom gave them to me. Normally something like this wouldn’t be a big deal. I would just keep looking until I found it. Enter “overwhelmed.” I decided to just lay there on the ground face down and prayed – “Lord, please just let me find my earring.” A simple request but within seconds as I placed my hand under the dresser again I found the earring. So in one moment I felt overwhelmed and then in the next the Lord answered my simple prayer. I was reminded what 2 Cor. 12:9 state:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

So thank you Lord for your grace. Thank you for encouraging me in the little things. Thank you that in my weakness you are strong.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Tierney Sutton Band

Last night I had the extreme pleasure listening to a jazz band. Some friends invited Tom and me to hear The Tierney Sutton Band play in Yakima. It was about an hour and half ride from we live to Yakima. They picked us up and took us out to dinner and then the concert. What a treat for us.

Just a side note that has nothing to do with last night, but I have to mention. When you enter Yakima there is a large sign that reads, “Welcome to Yakima the Palms Springs of Washington.” Now the first time I saw that sign I laughed. I’ve included a picture of it below. Last night I thought wouldn’t it be really funny if Palm Springs had a sign that read, “Welcome to Palms Springs the Yakima of California.” Since I opened this can of worms, the story behind the sign was there was a man who owned the land and wanted to put up something on it to fill the space. That my friend was what he came up with.

Anyway back to last night. If you ever get the chance to see this band they were amazing. Each member was fun to watch for they play their instruments with excellence. I loved the bass. You can’t tell that well from the picture but it was a work of art in itself. Tierney Sutton has a beautiful voice. One thing that impressed me was her acknowledgement of her band mates often during the set. You can tell that they got along well.

I’m always so appreciative of spending an evening doing something that’s fun. So D & H thank you for your generosity last night, we love you.

In keeping with the music theme of this post, check out my husband’s blog here.

© Nadine Z. 2007

My Visual DNA

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Welcome to the Party

I admit I’m a little late, but in my world I’m making a grand entrance. Welcome to my blog. I am the first to confess that I was very unsure of the whole blog thing. I was worried about my ability to come up with anything interesting to say. In fact my darling husband started blogging before me (check him out here). I did a guest post on his (click here). I referred to myself as a “blog widow” until he got his laptop. Now I’m afraid he might be able to call himself that.

I’ve been married to Tom for more than twenty five years. We were high school sweethearts and he moves me more today than ever. Read about how we met here and here (I was sixteen and he was eighteen in that prom picture). We have two beautiful grown children Lisa and Tommy. You can read about them here and here.

My husband is a pastor and I just love our church and the people in it. Most people might say we are a bit out of the box. We meet in an old JC Penney building. Our church has a coffee bar, couches, tables and chairs. We serve lattes, coffee, tea, bagels and donuts on Sundays. You can read about why here.

I love the Lord with all my heart. I’m so grateful for the life He’s given me and those He placed in it - Tom, Lisa, Tommy, family, friends. I enjoy doing many things. I love writing, reading, dancing, playing games, entertaining, scrap booking, watching movies and the ballet. I’m sure I’ve left something out.

I’ve written a book that’s not published yet. If you’re curious it’s about a mobster’s wife, a cop, murder, deception, and God. I know what you’re thinking - a pastor’s wife who writes about life in the mob. Did I mention I grew up in New York City? Really that has nothing to do with writing the book.

I’ve had so much fun checking out all the different blogs on the party circuit. I’ve met some very interesting people. So make yourself at home, have a latte or a nice glass of wine (I love Merlot) and take a look around. I hope you like it. Come back and see me sometime.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Peaceful Warrior

My wonderful husband shared with me this trailer from the movie Peaceful Warrior. I wanted to share it with all of you below.



What intrigued me about this movie was the ultimate battle the young man faced was in his mind. Isn’t that true with most of our battles? Sometimes we tend to be our own worst enemy. I’ve heard John Paul Jackson say that what we focus on, we empower.

I plan to check this movie out. I hope it lives up to the trailer.

© Nadine Z. 2007

Obedience vs. Submission

A few posts ago I mentioned how I’ll be teaching a class with a team on, Reaching Your Destiny in God. I’ve been preparing all day my lessons plans. Actually I’ve been reviewing my notes for the last couple of weeks. For a brief moment today I started to panic thinking about it. You know what panic feels like? It’s when your mind goes numb, your heart beats quickly and you start to think of reasons how you can get out of what you about to do. My husband is away so I couldn’t turn to him for that comforting, “You can do this, honey.” In the pilot episode of Lost, Kate asks Jack if he is ever afraid. He tells her a story that he allows himself to be afraid for only five seconds and that’s it. So, I decided I would panic for five seconds and then get over it.

Obedience vs. submission is one of the topics I’ll be teaching on in a couple of weeks. Funny when you teach a class like this, it’s something God is either teaching you or taught you about recently personally.

Obedience is an outward sign where as submission is an inward condition of your heart. The story of the little boy and his mother is a great example of this. The mother tells him to sit down and he doesn’t want to. When he finally sits he says, “I may be sitting on the outside, but I’m standing on the inside.” This is more than just a story about a defiant child. He may have been obedient to his mom, but he was definitely not submissive to her authority.

My job has been a training ground for me on this subject. I work for a boss who doesn’t always understand how to relate to her employees. I can go into details but that’s not the point. The point is she is someone in authority over me. It wasn’t enough to simply be obedient to her requests regardless of my feelings about it. I needed my heart to change and submit to the authority God placed over me. In the process I’ve gain peace. Nothing really has changed, except me. God has honored my submission and I’m a better person for it.

© Nadine Z. 2007

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