Dad's Clever

When dad died, I wanted only one of his things: A $9 Chinese market clever.

The $9 clever is a fixture of Chinese homes and restaurants — Dishwasher safe, end-to-end stainless steel, 4”x 8 1/2” blade.

Imagine a butter knife the size of an iPad.

Using it, I remember him chopping burgundy boulders of char siu pork and peking duck hanging in windows next to B and C placards at “the only place to get real Chinese food”.

It’s got me thinking about the products I put value in…

The things we pass along are things we have shared, positive memories with.

My kids won’t care about my 13th $3000 laptop and the numbers of pixels, processors, and mAhs it used to steal my available time and attention.

But they’ll probably fight over a $50 carbon steel pan that made countless fried eggs, pancakes, grilled cheese, and crispy salmon skins.

So I have a question: What are the tools you use to create memories.

🪓 chan