Italian Pork Chops, my internet is unstable!

This is another of those recipes with origins lost in time.

I’ve been making it for years, with a tweak here and there. The only consistent bits are tomatoes and lemon – and even that has changed from tomato sauce to whole, chopped tomatoes.

It’s just a few ingredients simmered together producing moist, tender pork chops. The lemon adds a fresh taste to the tomatoes.

Grate the lemon before cutting, using a lemon zester or the fine wholes on a grater.

Italian Pork Chops

Total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Lightly grate lemon all over to remove zest (yellow part of the peel only). You should end up with at least a tsp.

Cut lemon in half and squeeze for juice. You should have at least 2 tbs.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Sauté pork chops until lightly browned, about 3 minutes per side.

Add all remaining ingredients, including zest and juice.

Bring to a boil.

Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes. Serve.

Two weeks ago our phone line was across laying across the road, being driven over by local traffic.

But it worked.

Last week our router started acting up. the internet would go off line for a few minutes, then come back on. When it started we were having storms and high winds.

I assumed that was the problem.

A few days later it was going off more frequently and staying off longer.

I assumed the phone company was repairing whatever problems were caused by the storms.

Yesterday. it went off and didn’t come back on.

I finally accepted that it was my router, therefore, my problem.

I made the phone call.

After running through all the tests, I was told that our line was ‘unstable’ (maybe from being driven over for a week?) and a technician would be out to repair it….. Next week.

I begged and pleaded; I explained that I couldn’t be off-line for an entire week.

I finally convinced the nice person helping me that I should be allowed to exchange the router… Just in case that was the problem.

Somehow, having a three-year-old router that had been living with puppies and construction dust fail was not altogether unreasonable.

We have a new router; we’re back on-line.

And it only took me an hour to get all of our various devices working again. Each one has to be connected and the 30 digit letter / number security code keyed in at least once per device.

It’s hard enough being without internet when it’s planned, but, at least then one can tell all of the nearest and dearest why there will be no contact. To have it be unexpected, and then for an entire week…..

It wouldn’t have been pretty…..

On the other hand, I might have gotten the spring cleaning done.

Last Updated on March 6, 2014