We are watching Dr Who.
Correction
They are watching Dr Who, I am sitting on the sofa NOT looking at the television. They have put the sound from the television through the hi-fi speakers so it is richer and strong and resonant and powerful.
Correction, I am trying not to look at the television. I am trying not to hear the television.
It is the one with the angels that move when you blink; I find most Dr Who episodes very scary, but the ones with the angels are off the scale.
I could go and type in another room. By myself. On my own.
There is safety in numbers, so I am staying here.
I can nearly keep my eyes fixed on the laptop screen, avoiding the television screen, but my ears can't stop listening.
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Saturday 29th September - A week of silver linings
This week has been the rainiest for quite a while.
On Tuesday I drove to Newick and spent some time waiting around. It had rained heavily a couple of times as I made my way along the A272, but had stopped by the time I arrived. I had to spend quite a while waiting around, and ended up just standing on the green, warmed by the sun, just enjoying the view.
Looking in one direction, the sky was a deep, luminous blue, as blue as in the photograph above. Everything seemed pin-sharp in the aftermath of the rain. Looking the other way, the sky was a dark slatey grey colour. The rain clouds were deep and strong with a glowering intensity. The contrast was so striking. The two weather-worlds, and my experiences of them so close, so different. At one moment I had been driving through blinding spray, wipers at full speed, and now I was standing in a world that seemed brand new, calm, still, waiting.
Wednesday was another day of sudden heavy showers. The clouds were a paler grey, but highlighted with brilliant shining borders where they overlapped. Way up high, a skein of geese flew south, in a beautiful undulating V-shape. Further along, the clouds were thinner, revealing ragged patches of sky of the palest, palest clear blue.
This picture isn't anything to do with this post. I was looking for pictures of geese flying in a V formation against a grey sky, and found this instead. It is worth looking at a full screen version.
I have found the beauty of the skies, and the dramatic changes in the quality of the light to be tremendously encouraging and uplifting in my travels around the county this week
On Tuesday I drove to Newick and spent some time waiting around. It had rained heavily a couple of times as I made my way along the A272, but had stopped by the time I arrived. I had to spend quite a while waiting around, and ended up just standing on the green, warmed by the sun, just enjoying the view.
 |
| picture copied from the village website: http://www.newick.net/ |
Looking in one direction, the sky was a deep, luminous blue, as blue as in the photograph above. Everything seemed pin-sharp in the aftermath of the rain. Looking the other way, the sky was a dark slatey grey colour. The rain clouds were deep and strong with a glowering intensity. The contrast was so striking. The two weather-worlds, and my experiences of them so close, so different. At one moment I had been driving through blinding spray, wipers at full speed, and now I was standing in a world that seemed brand new, calm, still, waiting.
Wednesday was another day of sudden heavy showers. The clouds were a paler grey, but highlighted with brilliant shining borders where they overlapped. Way up high, a skein of geese flew south, in a beautiful undulating V-shape. Further along, the clouds were thinner, revealing ragged patches of sky of the palest, palest clear blue.
 |
| Cumulus mediocris and congestus over Swifts Creek, Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud |
I have found the beauty of the skies, and the dramatic changes in the quality of the light to be tremendously encouraging and uplifting in my travels around the county this week
Monday, 24 September 2012
Monday 24th September - three-point labyrinth
After reading Growing Greenpatches' post I thought I'd have another go.
I used coloured pencils so that I could see what I had done.
This labyrinth has a very short path, but there is still a fair bit of room for symbolism; you travel up, and round, and down, and anti-clockwise, and clockwise, before you reach the centre.
Thinking about how one could use a home-drawn labyrinth for mediation and prayer, I came up with the idea of drawing it over a picture or shaded paper, so that as you trace the path with your finger, or a pencil, you travel across different colours or images.
Maybe another time.
If you want to end up with a pencil-path with a longer route, you start with more "spokes" radiating out from the centre, with dots between each "spoke". The ones here have four spokes (arranged in a cross) and four dots. Follow the same sequence for joining the ends of the spokes to the dots. Just make sure your piece of paper is big enough...
Saturday, 22 September 2012
Saturday 22nd September - Maintaining Relationships
It's all getting to be a lot to manage.
By the time I have checked what's been going on in Twitterland, and reviewed the lives of my Facebook friends, and read all the posts on the blogs in my google reader, the evening is over and it is time for bed.
Maybe I'm following too many people on Twitter (40), or perhaps I have too many Facebook friends (55). Could it I have loaded too many blogs into the reader (32)?
I have almost no time to keep up my own blogs (this one and www.themusicjungle.co.uk are my main ones, but there are a couple of others on the go).
At some time in the evening I ought to look up from my laptop or phone screen and say "hello" or "good evening" or maybe even have a conversation with the other members of the family.
Oh well. They could always just follow me on Twitter and Facebook, or read my blogs.
By the time I have checked what's been going on in Twitterland, and reviewed the lives of my Facebook friends, and read all the posts on the blogs in my google reader, the evening is over and it is time for bed.
Maybe I'm following too many people on Twitter (40), or perhaps I have too many Facebook friends (55). Could it I have loaded too many blogs into the reader (32)?
I have almost no time to keep up my own blogs (this one and www.themusicjungle.co.uk are my main ones, but there are a couple of others on the go).
At some time in the evening I ought to look up from my laptop or phone screen and say "hello" or "good evening" or maybe even have a conversation with the other members of the family.
Oh well. They could always just follow me on Twitter and Facebook, or read my blogs.
Saturday 22nd September - De-Cluttering/Re-Cluttering
This has been a fun (if strenuous) day!
My parents are in the middle of moving from a three-storey town house (tooooo many stairs) to a very attractive 2-bedroom flat. Luckily they have down-sized by stages over the years, so although the garage and the cupboards and the bookcases are all pretty full, the task is considerably;y smaller than last time they moved.
Also, blessing upon blessings, though they do have a spacious integral garage, the house HAS NO LOFT.
Today was "hire a van and take things to the tip" day. Or the charity shop. Or wherever.
Rather than load everything into the van, piece by piece, we had the bright idea of stacking it all on the grass verge outside their house, with a notice saying "help yourself - everything going to the skip this afternoon". Their house is on a fairly busy road with a constant flow of traffic and pedestrians, and we were soon attracting a regular stream of visitors to our "shop".
As we sorted through, we piled all kinds of things on the low wall. To begin with, we were a bit selective about the quality and type of things we put out; various small chests of draws and bedside cabinets, a spare dining room table, a little bookshelf. We grew bolder; a ball of string, half used bottles and packets of gardening things, a tin mug, a child's whistle (we heard that going all the way down the road), a bag of mixed food storage boxes, vases... In the end we put out a bag of spare carrier bags for people to load their "purchases" into. A few people offered us money, (which we accepted!) most were cheerfully happy to rummage through and take what they wanted.
By the time we needed to wrap things up (about 3pm), there was only real rubbish left. We had been rather worried about having to "skip" the table, as the local charity shops had already rejected it, but when we went out to size it up for the van, it had disappeared.
By the end, all that was left to take to the tip for skipping or recycling was the "real" rubbish; two horrible old kitchen cabinets from the garage, the bag of carrier bags, and a black bag of odds and ends.
Result! We have seriously de-cluttered, (and the rest of the word has acquired more clutter, it has to be said.)
I think that this is how we will deal with clearing our own garage and loft in due course. The only problem is that we live in a quiet road with no through traffic. I have already ear-marked my friend's house as a suitable venue... if you know who you are, you now have due warning to prepare evasive manoeuvres!
My parents are in the middle of moving from a three-storey town house (tooooo many stairs) to a very attractive 2-bedroom flat. Luckily they have down-sized by stages over the years, so although the garage and the cupboards and the bookcases are all pretty full, the task is considerably;y smaller than last time they moved.
Also, blessing upon blessings, though they do have a spacious integral garage, the house HAS NO LOFT.
Today was "hire a van and take things to the tip" day. Or the charity shop. Or wherever.
As we sorted through, we piled all kinds of things on the low wall. To begin with, we were a bit selective about the quality and type of things we put out; various small chests of draws and bedside cabinets, a spare dining room table, a little bookshelf. We grew bolder; a ball of string, half used bottles and packets of gardening things, a tin mug, a child's whistle (we heard that going all the way down the road), a bag of mixed food storage boxes, vases... In the end we put out a bag of spare carrier bags for people to load their "purchases" into. A few people offered us money, (which we accepted!) most were cheerfully happy to rummage through and take what they wanted.
By the time we needed to wrap things up (about 3pm), there was only real rubbish left. We had been rather worried about having to "skip" the table, as the local charity shops had already rejected it, but when we went out to size it up for the van, it had disappeared.
By the end, all that was left to take to the tip for skipping or recycling was the "real" rubbish; two horrible old kitchen cabinets from the garage, the bag of carrier bags, and a black bag of odds and ends.
Result! We have seriously de-cluttered, (and the rest of the word has acquired more clutter, it has to be said.)
I think that this is how we will deal with clearing our own garage and loft in due course. The only problem is that we live in a quiet road with no through traffic. I have already ear-marked my friend's house as a suitable venue... if you know who you are, you now have due warning to prepare evasive manoeuvres!
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Sunday 15th September - Arundel - A Perfect Day 1
What made the day so good, yesterday?
It was a family day out together (reset your mental image; the "children" are now properly grown up) celebrating a brthday which happened earlier in the week.
We went to Arundel, and carefully avoided any connection with any of the "Attractions". We've been round the castle a number of times already. The Wildfowl place was a regular place of pilgrimage when the children were small. I would load them into the car, along with suitable supplies for myself (book, flask of coffee) and spend the day there at half terms. They put on a really, really good day of activities in the Visitor centre, and I would find a comfortable place, with a good view of the lake, and settle down to watch the water birds, drink my coffee and read my book, while the children did their own thing, doing brass rubbings, model making, watching the vinegar-food-colouring-bicarbonate-of-soda volcano explode ...... lunch, walk round the reserve, job done. Day filled. Everyone happy.
Yesterday we followed a different agenda; mooch round the town in the morning, find lunch, and walk in the afternoon. The weather, the time and the place turned ut to be perfect.
We ambled round the town, looking at the farmer's market; hang on a minute, what were they selling there?
Oh, very funny. Irresistible to teachers.
I didn't take many photographs around the town, although this fountain caught my eye:
It appears to have been put together from an eclectic mixture of vases and bowls, topped off by the golden crown from the frog prince. I would love to have seen it working.
One thing that made the town so interesting was that there were none of the standard national chain stores in evidence. We didn't go far; up the High Street, turned left and followed our noses into an arcade which I think is the Old Printing Works and where you can find Real Crumbly Fudge, made in front of your eyes on the premises (https://rolysfudge.co.uk/
They let us try all the varieties before we bought 4 decent chunks each of strawberries and cream, Baileys, coffee, chocolate and vanilla. Leaving the arcade we passes a shop which sells miniature Steiff teddy bears (hint hint)
(ah, I've just seen the price tag, so don't pay any attention to the hint. Very, very, VERY cute and desirable though!)
I did ALL my Christmas bits and pieces present shopping at Sparks Yard - a mecca for stationery obsessives. I've bought the Most Beautiful hank of yarn to knit a fine, lacey scarf, as delicate as a cobweb, but a pattern so simple that I reckon I can manage it without tears.
The town was full enough to be lively and buzzing, but not heaving. The shops were interesting, the little mazey backstreets fascinating, the houses and buildings most attractive, the traffic resigned and patient with everyone pretending that the streets were pedestrianised and people meandering at will from one side of the road to the other. I found myself checking out the estate agent windows in passing....
We did have lunch in a chain - Pizza Express - where I came across fascinating collages (another post), and finished off the day with a round walk along the river and back through the woods at the edge of the wildfowl reserve. More on this to follow.
It was a family day out together (reset your mental image; the "children" are now properly grown up) celebrating a brthday which happened earlier in the week.
We went to Arundel, and carefully avoided any connection with any of the "Attractions". We've been round the castle a number of times already. The Wildfowl place was a regular place of pilgrimage when the children were small. I would load them into the car, along with suitable supplies for myself (book, flask of coffee) and spend the day there at half terms. They put on a really, really good day of activities in the Visitor centre, and I would find a comfortable place, with a good view of the lake, and settle down to watch the water birds, drink my coffee and read my book, while the children did their own thing, doing brass rubbings, model making, watching the vinegar-food-colouring-bicarbonate-of-soda volcano explode ...... lunch, walk round the reserve, job done. Day filled. Everyone happy.
Yesterday we followed a different agenda; mooch round the town in the morning, find lunch, and walk in the afternoon. The weather, the time and the place turned ut to be perfect.
We ambled round the town, looking at the farmer's market; hang on a minute, what were they selling there?
Oh, very funny. Irresistible to teachers.
It appears to have been put together from an eclectic mixture of vases and bowls, topped off by the golden crown from the frog prince. I would love to have seen it working.
One thing that made the town so interesting was that there were none of the standard national chain stores in evidence. We didn't go far; up the High Street, turned left and followed our noses into an arcade which I think is the Old Printing Works and where you can find Real Crumbly Fudge, made in front of your eyes on the premises (https://rolysfudge.co.uk/
 |
| picture from the website |
They let us try all the varieties before we bought 4 decent chunks each of strawberries and cream, Baileys, coffee, chocolate and vanilla. Leaving the arcade we passes a shop which sells miniature Steiff teddy bears (hint hint)
(ah, I've just seen the price tag, so don't pay any attention to the hint. Very, very, VERY cute and desirable though!)I did ALL my Christmas bits and pieces present shopping at Sparks Yard - a mecca for stationery obsessives. I've bought the Most Beautiful hank of yarn to knit a fine, lacey scarf, as delicate as a cobweb, but a pattern so simple that I reckon I can manage it without tears.
The town was full enough to be lively and buzzing, but not heaving. The shops were interesting, the little mazey backstreets fascinating, the houses and buildings most attractive, the traffic resigned and patient with everyone pretending that the streets were pedestrianised and people meandering at will from one side of the road to the other. I found myself checking out the estate agent windows in passing....
We did have lunch in a chain - Pizza Express - where I came across fascinating collages (another post), and finished off the day with a round walk along the river and back through the woods at the edge of the wildfowl reserve. More on this to follow.
Friday, 7 September 2012
Friday 7th September - Staff Training
Term may have started for all the other teachers, but this last week has been a bit of a limbo time, with a smattering or purgatory and a fair amount of Heaven. Not too much hell, I'm glad to relate.
Wednesday was a staff meeting for - it's all a bit complicated. I work for myself, and I freelance for two schools where I go in for most of the day, and I'm an hourly-paid contractor for organisation. This was a staff meeting for the "another organisation".
We spent several hours on a training exercise for dealing with a hypothetical emergency concerning a minibus, a number of children and a couple of teachers. We spotted who was "wearing the red T shirt" early on, and, yes, hypothetically speaking, he did die. One of the many flippant morals could be never wear red when going on a school trip. The bizarre element is that very few of the staff present will ever be involved with transporting mini-bus, or any-bus loads of children around.
Then we spent more time on an exercise to help develop the new structure for the organisation. That's a good idea, in principle, if it does result in clarifying what the new structure for the organisation is likely to be. We were invited to stick coloured dots on graphs to show how we felt about things - "I feel engaged with this process - I don't feel engaged with this process". I was too busy engaging with the process to wonder around with sticky dots, besides, someone might have been watching to see where I stuck them....
After lunch we had the two sessions which were directly relevant to what I shall be doing for the next thirteen weeks - teaching!
For me, the best, the very best part of the staff meeting is when you get to chat to all your colleagues in the various breaks. It's the only time some of us ever meet up, as during the term time we all circle round our particular schools at our particular times and that's that.
So, on further reflection, in spite of having to dealing with (hypothetical) death, tragedy, (all too real) service level agreements and organisational flow charts, it was a good day, because we are all, on the whole, good people, doing good work for a good reason. More Heaven than Hell, and a welcome escape from limbo.
Viva la musica!
Wednesday was a staff meeting for - it's all a bit complicated. I work for myself, and I freelance for two schools where I go in for most of the day, and I'm an hourly-paid contractor for organisation. This was a staff meeting for the "another organisation".
We spent several hours on a training exercise for dealing with a hypothetical emergency concerning a minibus, a number of children and a couple of teachers. We spotted who was "wearing the red T shirt" early on, and, yes, hypothetically speaking, he did die. One of the many flippant morals could be never wear red when going on a school trip. The bizarre element is that very few of the staff present will ever be involved with transporting mini-bus, or any-bus loads of children around.
Then we spent more time on an exercise to help develop the new structure for the organisation. That's a good idea, in principle, if it does result in clarifying what the new structure for the organisation is likely to be. We were invited to stick coloured dots on graphs to show how we felt about things - "I feel engaged with this process - I don't feel engaged with this process". I was too busy engaging with the process to wonder around with sticky dots, besides, someone might have been watching to see where I stuck them....
After lunch we had the two sessions which were directly relevant to what I shall be doing for the next thirteen weeks - teaching!
For me, the best, the very best part of the staff meeting is when you get to chat to all your colleagues in the various breaks. It's the only time some of us ever meet up, as during the term time we all circle round our particular schools at our particular times and that's that.
So, on further reflection, in spite of having to dealing with (hypothetical) death, tragedy, (all too real) service level agreements and organisational flow charts, it was a good day, because we are all, on the whole, good people, doing good work for a good reason. More Heaven than Hell, and a welcome escape from limbo.
Viva la musica!
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Hay-on-Wye A day in Hereford
Hay-on-Wye is reasonably close to Hereford.
We went through Hereford to get to Hay, through it each way driving to Birmingham to collect a member of our holiday gathering, and through it each way to return her to Birmingham airport. And through it again on the way home.
It is about the first place where you can get any kind of signal, as Hay-on-Wye is in a techno-timewarp, as far as internet communication and mobile phone signal is concerned. So, it was in Hereford where I picked up on a twitter conversation about seed cake - someone had baked some, and the rest of her family - her community were not keen. I knew the location of the seed cake was not far from Hereford, and was sorely tempted to detour and offer to swap our Marks and Spencers Extremely Chocolatey Bites for the cake, but the rest of the party were tired and we needed to keep going.
Anyway, not content with going through Hereford six times, we also spent a day there - a day very well spent.
We visited The Old House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_House,_Hereford
strangely marooned in the middle of a market space, with a great bronze statue of a bull next door. It had a rather - artistic - exhibition of - art - inspired by the building; strange twisted ceramics displayed in the ancient rooms.
We visited two churches that had both been remodelled inside. You can see the spire of one of them in the background, St Peter's. They had just completed a comprehensive reordering programme:
We were welcomed by an enthusiastic band of welcomers. I was also interested to read their information boards on the work of a Victorian philanthropist, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Venn
The other church, All Saints, is at the other end of the market area, and now has a restaurant/cafe/bistro sort of eatery at its west end - good food, and an interesting textile exhibition. http://www.cafeatallsaints.co.uk/
It was quite a "churchy" day, as we also visited the cathedral. We were fortunate enough to have chosen the right day and the right time to catch a lunchtime organ recital. Spectacular playing, and the experience considerably enhanced because they had a large screen up in the nave, showing live pictures from the organ loft, so as well as hearing the music, we could watch the organist at work.
I haven't forgotten about the mappa mundi. But supper is ready. It will have to wait.
We went through Hereford to get to Hay, through it each way driving to Birmingham to collect a member of our holiday gathering, and through it each way to return her to Birmingham airport. And through it again on the way home.
It is about the first place where you can get any kind of signal, as Hay-on-Wye is in a techno-timewarp, as far as internet communication and mobile phone signal is concerned. So, it was in Hereford where I picked up on a twitter conversation about seed cake - someone had baked some, and the rest of her family - her community were not keen. I knew the location of the seed cake was not far from Hereford, and was sorely tempted to detour and offer to swap our Marks and Spencers Extremely Chocolatey Bites for the cake, but the rest of the party were tired and we needed to keep going.
Anyway, not content with going through Hereford six times, we also spent a day there - a day very well spent.
We visited The Old House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_House,_Herefordstrangely marooned in the middle of a market space, with a great bronze statue of a bull next door. It had a rather - artistic - exhibition of - art - inspired by the building; strange twisted ceramics displayed in the ancient rooms.
We visited two churches that had both been remodelled inside. You can see the spire of one of them in the background, St Peter's. They had just completed a comprehensive reordering programme:
We were welcomed by an enthusiastic band of welcomers. I was also interested to read their information boards on the work of a Victorian philanthropist, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Venn
The other church, All Saints, is at the other end of the market area, and now has a restaurant/cafe/bistro sort of eatery at its west end - good food, and an interesting textile exhibition. http://www.cafeatallsaints.co.uk/
It was quite a "churchy" day, as we also visited the cathedral. We were fortunate enough to have chosen the right day and the right time to catch a lunchtime organ recital. Spectacular playing, and the experience considerably enhanced because they had a large screen up in the nave, showing live pictures from the organ loft, so as well as hearing the music, we could watch the organist at work.
I haven't forgotten about the mappa mundi. But supper is ready. It will have to wait.
Sunday 2nd September - Pork Medallions
This recipe is by request: if you are not interested in food (however good it tastes!) then stop now and go and do something else.
You will need: pork tenderloin, garlic, olive oil, black pepper
I've used this site to check cooking times: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/porkmedallionswithci_85516
and the idea for the recipe came from Delia Smith's "One is Fun" cookbook.
The bbc food recipe is for one person, using 150g of pork fillet. If you are cooking for one, buy a 300g piece of pork loin, and slice it into 6 medallions of equal thickness. If you examine the tenderloin, you will see a whitish sinewy bit on the underneath. If you slice through from the top until you reach that, you can then persuade the meat to shear off, leaving it the sinew behind. You can cook three of the pieces, and freeze the other three. They will defrost more quickly if you arrange them inside the plastic freezer bag in a single layer rather than as a solid lump. When you want to cook them, take them out of the freezer the night before, put your the marinade into the bag and leave it all to defrost inside the bag on a plate. It should be ready to cook the next evening.
So; the marinade is a dollop of virgin olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic, and crushed black pepper. I prefer whole peppercorns laboriously crushed with the back of a spoon (they will ping themselves all over the kitchen unless you crush them slowly). Or use a pestle and mortar (but I don't think you've got one, have you? Or a robust bowl and the end of a rolling pin. Ah, you haven't got a rolling pin.). You can just grind the peppercorns using a pepper mill.
Smear the pork generously with the oil, garlic, and crushed pepper (no salt at this stage). You can add a squeeze of lemon juice, real lemon juice, not that horrible stuff out of a yellow plastic lemon-shaped bottle.
Delia does this to a pork chop and says marinade for 45 mins or overnight. I'm just saying. I give it the time it takes to get the rest of the meal ready (veg, potatoes) and cooking. The pork will only take less than 10 minutes from putting the frying pan on, to being ready to eat.
You get your frying pan properly hot, so that the pork sizzles when it goes in. Sprinkle with salt and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until a light golden brown.
Hopefully you have scheduled everything so that the other bits of the meal are about ready.
Pour a couple of tablespoons of wine or cider or sherry or veg water into the pork pan, let it bubble and reduce for half a minute, and stir in 1 tablespoon cream or creme fraiche.
All done!
You will need: pork tenderloin, garlic, olive oil, black pepper
I've used this site to check cooking times: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/porkmedallionswithci_85516
and the idea for the recipe came from Delia Smith's "One is Fun" cookbook.
The bbc food recipe is for one person, using 150g of pork fillet. If you are cooking for one, buy a 300g piece of pork loin, and slice it into 6 medallions of equal thickness. If you examine the tenderloin, you will see a whitish sinewy bit on the underneath. If you slice through from the top until you reach that, you can then persuade the meat to shear off, leaving it the sinew behind. You can cook three of the pieces, and freeze the other three. They will defrost more quickly if you arrange them inside the plastic freezer bag in a single layer rather than as a solid lump. When you want to cook them, take them out of the freezer the night before, put your the marinade into the bag and leave it all to defrost inside the bag on a plate. It should be ready to cook the next evening.
So; the marinade is a dollop of virgin olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic, and crushed black pepper. I prefer whole peppercorns laboriously crushed with the back of a spoon (they will ping themselves all over the kitchen unless you crush them slowly). Or use a pestle and mortar (but I don't think you've got one, have you? Or a robust bowl and the end of a rolling pin. Ah, you haven't got a rolling pin.). You can just grind the peppercorns using a pepper mill.
Smear the pork generously with the oil, garlic, and crushed pepper (no salt at this stage). You can add a squeeze of lemon juice, real lemon juice, not that horrible stuff out of a yellow plastic lemon-shaped bottle.
Delia does this to a pork chop and says marinade for 45 mins or overnight. I'm just saying. I give it the time it takes to get the rest of the meal ready (veg, potatoes) and cooking. The pork will only take less than 10 minutes from putting the frying pan on, to being ready to eat.
You get your frying pan properly hot, so that the pork sizzles when it goes in. Sprinkle with salt and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until a light golden brown.
Hopefully you have scheduled everything so that the other bits of the meal are about ready.
Pour a couple of tablespoons of wine or cider or sherry or veg water into the pork pan, let it bubble and reduce for half a minute, and stir in 1 tablespoon cream or creme fraiche.
All done!
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