No update on my knee from last week, sorry, but I have a good excuse: we were in Portland for Nick & Izzy’s wedding. It was a delightful, intimate, and beautiful day. The ceremony was held on the summit of Mt. Tabor, and the reception at the amazing restaurant Coquine at the bottom of the hill. When I met Linda (10 years ago!) she lived on the east side of Mt. Tabor just a few blocks from Coquine. We had a date there very early in our relationship. Turns out so did Nick & Izzy, who met in 2017 when Nick was living in Linda’s house there. They really wanted to share that dining experience with their guests for their wedding.
Linda & I rented an AirBnB very close by on Belmont Ave and it was our base of operations for the long weekend. We had a lovely dinner at Dolly Olive downtown, with the happy couple and Izzy’s parents. I did my best Charlie Goolsbee and brought an old Italian wine (2001 from Ghemme) and served alongside a bottle of Barolo from the restaurant’s list. It was fun and worked great with the family style Italian dinner. We have known Izzy’s family having spent many Thanksgivings with them on the coast. But here we are becoming officially family!
Speaking of family it was wonderful to have both my boys together in the same place (Nick lives in PDX, Chris is in Chicago, and I’m in Redmond). I picked Chris up at the airport and we had a couple of meals together just he & I over the wedding weekend.
If you recall I practiced climbing up to the top of the long stairs on Mt. Tabor a few weeks ago, but found out a few days later that they planned to rent a big van and I was to be the shuttle bus driver for the event.
Yes, I learned how to tie a bow tie, finally, at the age of 61. The weather was perfect and I successfully brought three van loads of wedding guests to the event.
There were two professional photographers so for the entirety of the show I kept my phone in my jacket pocket and just enjoyed it. Izzy’s sister Beth was the officiant and did a stellar job. Afterwards I resumed shuttle service down to Coquine, but did have to participate in family photos.
The dinner reception at Coquine was absolutely amazing and incredibly delicious. Katy and her staff in the kitchen presented a multi-course menu of delicious food. Ksandek paired these with an amazing selection of wines.
We shared a table with my sister and her husband Jay, and Beth’s in-laws that we know well from Thanksgivings together in Manzanita, and Izzy’s parents Janice & Kim. There were four speakers spread between the dinner courses, Allison (a friend of Nick’s from Oregon State University), Nick’s mom Sue, Myself, and Izzy’s Dad Kim. I stood in for my parents, telling the story of my mother Carol and her giving her engagement ring to Nick to give to Izzy. I won’t repeat the tale here, but I wanted to share it with those closest to the couple as some Goolsbee family lore.
It was wonderful and I am very happy for Nick, as Izzy is such a great person for him to spend his life together with. She is a welcome addition to our family.
The day after I spent the morning with Chris, who delivered a gift that he brought to me from his last trip to Japan. He is going again in a few weeks. I hope I can get to Chicago to see him and ideally a hockey game before the year ends. Nick & Izzy are heading off to Europe in a few weeks for their honeymoon. London, Paris, & Amsterdam if I recall correctly. We will probably see them again soon. The drive home back over the mountains was fine, with all the holiday weekend traffic going the opposite direction.