Provençale Chicken
Hello everyone, how is life treating ya?
I have to say I am pretty stressed. We had a rather unfortunate occurrence at our house this past weekend which really put a damper on the week.
We came home to some lovely water damage in our powder room, yea the one I showed you guys before that was completely done.
The ceiling is not salvageable. Which means taking down the ceiling, replacing the drywall, redoing the plastering, priming and painting and potentially having to redo the crown molding and caulking that is already been done.
How did that happen you ask?
Well, remember how I told you about how we were having our floors refinished? We are doing a portion of it ourselves, we should have done the entire thing ourselves (hindsight right?).
The guy came in did his work, the color came out really nice. But he was sloppy. He left stain hand prints all over rooms that had been painted, on the walls, molding, trim, doorways, tile. I mean come on.
He left his personal coffee cups for me to clean up and his material waste for us to clean up as well. He scratched the entry way with his sander AND the rooms he worked in to sand….
On top of this, he broke one of our heating elements while he was working which caused it to leak. I was lucky enough to have Patrick and my Dad come to the rescue and fix that one the same day it happened.
After leaving he told us that we should really stay off the floor for 30 days if we want it to cure completely and be all set for furniture and whatnot.
We took this advice because we have work to do on the 2nd floor and wanted the floors to be ready for when we starting doing other things like plastering, painting and tiling in the bathrooms.
Well, we came home to the powder room ceiling completely wrecked by water damage and guess what the culprit was? A broken heating element on the second floor…
Not only was the new floor we just paid for damaged but the ceiling in the downstairs room is damaged.
We contacted the gentleman who did the work and explained our extreme disappointment in the lack of respect he had had for our home. Once the water situation happened all the other smaller things that happened were just too much and it had to be mentioned.
Do you know he had the nerve to try and blame us?? He even tried to pin it on my mother, who had worked on the house while he was there so that he wouldn’t be alone in our home and have a key.
I am sorry, but if you are a contractor you should leave someone’s home in the manner you found it.
If that means you need to tell the homeowner that something was moved and should be put back then do so. Don’t try and blame them for something you clearly caused because it happened more than once and then don’t try and pin your sloppiness on someone who doesn’t own the home.
Grrrr.
He will not be getting a good reference from us and he offered to come and fix the flooring, but in all honesty I wouldn’t allow him in my home ever again.
Needless to say, I am feeling low. Really low. All the work we put into things and people just don’t respect it. This is why we decided to do most of the work ourselves. You just can’t trust people to do the quality of work you expect in your own home.
It is frustrating to happen right before we leave for Portugal where we can’t get much done before we leave. It was like taking 10 steps back from the progress we had made.
LeSigh.
Whenever I am feeling low, a nice comforting meal is a great way to make me feel better.
This recipe I am sharing today is just that. A comforting, easy and healthy meal that you don’t have to worry about one bit.
Throw it in the crock-pot and come home to a warm and delicious meal.
- 4 (6 ounce) chicken breast halves, skinned
- 2 teaspoons, dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 cup diced orange bell pepper
- 1 can cannellini beans, or other white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained
- 1/2 cup red quinoa, uncooked
- Place chicken in an electric slow cooker. Sprinkle with basil, salt, and black pepper. Add the bell peppers, beans, tomatoes and cover with the lid and cook for 8 hours on a low setting.
- Around 7 hours, put in the quinoa and let cook with the chicken. It will be done by the time the 8 hours is up.
17 Comments
Ramona
Raven I am so sorry to hear the news!! That really STINKS!! What a horrible guy… I wish you could get him to pay for the damages to be fixed by a better contractor than him. I mean talk about carelessness. 🙁 Try and enjoy your trip to Portugal… it’s a lifetime opportunity and don’t let this situation put a damper on it.
The crockpot is a perfect way to get a comforting meal… and you need some comfort after the tough time you have had… sending you a big hug. ~ Ramona
RavieNomNoms
Thanks Ramona! It is rather terrible, but life goes on right?? We are grateful that more didn’t get ruined.
I will be sure to take lots of pictures!
Anita at Hungry Couple
Ouch, so sorry to hear about the damage. Makes me want to punch that guy and it’s not even my house. 🙂
RavieNomNoms
Haha, Thanks Anita!
Cathy
Raven, I totally feel your pain. We had a similar situation when we hired someone to do our master bath when we first bought our house. I am still not happy with what we paid for. Some contractors really, really suck. 🙁
RavieNomNoms
Oh Cathy, I am so sorry to hear that! You are right, some of them just don’t have the pride in their work like they used to.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
Sorry to hear about the damage in your powder room.
The chicken looks delish….I need to get my slow cooker into action too.
RavieNomNoms
Thanks Angie! I love my slow cooker! 🙂
Monet
Oh dear girl, I’m so sorry about your powder room. Nothing sounds more frustrating! My older sister is remodeling her house, and she’s had her share of nasty contractors. So terrible. This chicken looks very delicious, and I know we’ll try making it soon. Thank you for sharing!
RavieNomNoms
Isn’t it amazing!? I should have known better, but we were hoping that we would find someone that cared about their work like we do. Sigh.
Thanks Monet my dear, have a good week!
Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking
I’m so sorry to hear about the water damage, but hopefully it will get fixed up soon and you’ll be stress-free again. Oh, the joys of home owning. Thankfully there is the CrockPot to come to the rescue on days like this. What a delicious looking recipe!
RavieNomNoms
I know, I keep hearing that. Welcome to owning a home haha. Still stinks. THanks Georgia!
Jess @ OnSugarMountain
Oh my goodness Raven I am so sorry to hear this!! 🙁 What terrible news. Right him the worst reference EVER and be sure to stick up for yourself. Good contractors are so hard to come by; I hear my parents always telling horror stories of men just taking money and leaving projects undone or not to code. Good luck with all the re-renovations though! I’m sure it’ll look even better than before. 🙂
RavieNomNoms
Oh you can be sure I wrote him a terrible review and I don’t think that he was expecting me to stick up for myself like I did. Ugh, how terrible for your parents. I just don’t get how people don’t take more pride in their work now. It used to be so much different. Thanks Jess!
Liz
I think you deserve a LOT of cookies!!! Ugh, what a jerk! I would not let him back in my house either. I’m so sorry.
PS…your chicken looks phenomenal!
RavieNomNoms
I know right? Thanks Liz, he for sure wouldn’t be allowed in my house again.
Viviane Bauquet Farre- Food and Style
Beautiful, Raven!