phanaerozoic

Day 3 – Winter White California Chardonnay and Gouda with Red Pesto

Day 3 revealed the wine choice from the Advent Wine Calendar was “Winter White” – a California Chardonnay – the first varietal of the series. No oak, as you might expect, but a refreshing nose, a hint of sweetness, some fruity side notes, and a definitely attractive and expected Chardonnay taste. My favorite of the wines so far. And the cheese was impressive as well: Gouda, this time with Red Pesto added. Red pesto, which features sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red pepper in most of its incarnations, is less assertive than basil or parsley pesto, and was delightfully tangy with a lingering touch of sun-dried tomato, and garlic, and olive oil. This was an inspired pairing, one I might not have thought of, but one that worked quite well and had me smacking my lips.

“My Favorite Adventure,” a song written for Pat and Roy Beckemeyer by Kelley Hunt and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, sung with her own piano accompaniment by Kelley Hunt.

Here’s an mp3 file of the beautiful song written by Kelly Hunt and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg. In 2011, the Kansas governor disbanded the Kansas Arts Council which had sponsored the Kansas Poet Laureate program, and Caryn, who was then Poet Laureate of Kansas, was suddenly left without funding and with no direction as to her status. She took the problem in hand and began to brainstorm ways of funding the program until a new sponsoring organization could be found. She offered “premiums” for donations, including writing poems, doing readings, and writing (along with Kelley Hunt) songs. Since 2011 was the year of our 50th anniversary, I donated $1,000.00 and asked Caryn and Kelly to write us a song. I sent them a brief account of how Pat and I had met and some of the experiences we had shared. Later that year, Kelley played piano and sang the song in person at a poetry reading in Lawrence, Kansas, surprising Pat. She also provided us with a CD and a copy of the song lyrics.

I had promised a couple of days ago to recount here in this blog series the story of how Pat and I met. That story is still in the offing. This song hints at that story, without giving the details. Intrigued? Tune in to the remainder of my posts and watch for that story to appear.

~Roy Beckemeyer, December 3, 2021