Clover

I've been looking for some new ideas to update the Richmond Christian School website.  Recently, I was on my church's website, http://www.tenth.ca/, and couldn't help but notice how clean, attractive, and easy-to-use it was.  Looking further, I found that it was created by a company called Clover. 

Clover was developed for ministries - to be easy to create and update and to be cost affordable for ministries and to be effective for reaching their congregation and beyond.

It was then that I decided to become a Clover friend and share this awesome resource to everyone else who would be looking for a solution to their website needs. 

Click on the following link to get excited:  http://www.cloversites.com/f/henryau and let me know what you think by commenting.  If you feel like sharing this with your friends, be sure to send them back to my link so that I can become established as an uber-clover friend!  Thanks!

Lesson #1 - Chicken Gizzards a la carte!

I love to cook.  I really do.  My wife and I have an arrangement - I cook, she does the dishes.  Works out well.  I often get asked, "So what kind of dishes do you cook?"  to which my answer, "My mother-in-law's recipes."

Now, let me set the record straight - my mother-in-law is an excellent chef.  So talented is she culinarily (is that even a word? - aha, more to learn) that all of her children would want nothing else than to eat some good ol' "mom-made" cooking!  Anytime I want to satisfy my wife's gastronomic cravings, I simply let her know that one of her mom's dishes will be served for dinner - instant marital bliss!

Okay, on with what I learned today.  While shopping for groceries, I stumbled across a package of chicken gizzards in the meat section.  Now, being of Asian ethnicity, I have consumed my share of chicken gizzards.  But, I've never cooked them myself.  So I put a package in my cart and carried on with my shopping.  For those of you who've never seen chicken gizzards before, here is what they look like raw:

At the checkout, the young female clerk (her name tag identified her as Heather) stopped in mid-scan when the gizzards rolled down the conveyor belt.  The look on her face was worth the $3.18 I would pay for the package of poultry innards.  Her curiousity got the better of her and she politely asked, "Um, how do you cook these?"  I told her that I had no idea but that I knew of someone who did.  Then she proceeded to examine the contents of the package a little more closely and she inadvertantly verbalized the question in her head, "I wonder where these are in a chicken."  Again, my response demonstrated my ignorance followed by a promise to find out the answer.  I told Heather that I would return in a few days armed with the answers to her questions as well as a sample of the cooked product.  Her "Sure!" should only be interpreted in a mixture of ways, "I was only asking the questions... I wasn't really wanting to know." or, "I don't know if I'd want to try one of these gizzard things." or, "This guy is creepy and weird." 

I called my mother-in-law while driving on my way home.  Not to worry, I used the hands-free capabilities of my GPS to ensure that I was a safe and responsible driver.  I told her what I had bought and that my wife - her daughter - had said that she liked it prepared the way she remembered her mother did.  So, for those of you who have been faithfully following the ramblings of my narrative in the hopes to find out her recipe here is what my mother-in-law shared with me:

SIMPLE RECIPE FOR CHICKEN GIZZARDS FROM MY MOTHER-IN-LAW
1.  Wash each piece of chicken carefully.  (note: this is more of a sanitary step than a cooking step - but my mother-in-law would refuse to allow her name to be put on any dish if the meat was not adequately cleaned at the onset.)
2.  Drain and pat lightly with a paper towel to dry.
3.  Cover with salt.  (I used kosher salt but regular iodized salt would suffice.  The amount of salt that you use would depend on how salty you want your final product.  A rule of thumb, think of how much salt you would put on a hard boiled egg and then double that amount.)
4.  Place in a sealed container in the fridge for a least 12 hours.
5.  Take out and carefully drain out any liquid that may have accumulated.
6.  Place in a shallow dish and steam for approximately 30 minutes.  (You may need to steam it for a longer time if you have more gizzards - don't worry, they will still come out very tender - rule of thumb: you're working with chicken so make sure it is FULLY COOKED!  I am not liable if you pick up some form of food poisoning due to ingesting partially cooked chicken.)
7.  Allow to cool and then enjoy!

That's it.  Nice and simple.  No need for a lot of ingredients or complex cooking skills.  The result is a delectable little snack that could be described as little chicken jerky poppers - tender with a little crunch. 

For those of you wondering about whether or not I kept my promise with the grocery clerk, Heather, read on. 

First, a quick avian biology lesson.  The image below is a diagram of a chicken and the location of the gizzard:

So now that we've answered the 'where' question, just 'what' is a gizzard for?  According to http://www.wikipedia.com/:  The gizzard, also referred to as the ventriculus, gastric mill, and gigerium, is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including birds, reptiles, earthworms and some fish. This specialized stomach constructed of thick, muscular walls is used for grinding up food; rocks are also instrumental in this process.

I called the grocery story before heading back there.  I wanted the manager to know my intentions and to find out when Heather would be working next.  Rest assured that I am a regular store patron and that the manager actually knows who I am.  Armed with managerial permission, knowledge of the avian digestive system, and a delectable piece of gizzard, I returned to the store during a time when Heather would be taking a coffee break.  She listened with interest to the quick gizzard lesson and then, after a stuttering pause of hesitancy, took a nibble of the gizzard.  "Interesting... I wish I didn't know where it was from or what it was for... but not bad... sort of an acquired taste."  I smiled back and assured her that I would not consider it rude if she did not finish the piece that I had brought.

So, thus ends my first posting of learning.  But what did I really learn?  Well the obvious would be the simple gizzard recipe and the tidbits of gizzard knowledge.  But perhaps more important is the lesson of my interaction with Heather.  We now share a common experience and common language - the essence of being in relationship with another human being.   Who would have thought that chicken gizzards could break down walls of common everyday superficiality and provide a space for learning and community?  I think I'm going to look for gizzards in the meat section more often now. 

Thanks so much for reading.  I hope that you've enjoyed my first learning experience.  Please send me a comment, an example of your own learning, or even a recipe for chicken gizzards of your own! 

Grace and peace.

In the beginning...

Hi there and welcome to my blog. My intentions are simple: Learn something new often and share it with someone else.

To me, learning is a part of life. Learning can be inspired, serendipitous, coerced, random, intentful, and transformative.

I hope that you will join me as I share with you my journey of learning. I can't promise enlightening epiphanies or profound philosophical thought. What I do hope you will discover are the joys and passions of learning akin to a young child encountering their first carnival experience.

So, take up your posture of choice - either reclined or inclined (as I am) and thank you for not being declined! Enjoy!