Birthday Weekend with Pete McCormick & Co.

Many thanks to everyone who sent along birthday wishes this weekend. It was a great weekend of celebration, made all the more special by the visit of my classmate and dear friend Fr. Pete McCormick, CSC.  Pete was in the west assisting at his former parish in Phoenix and he extended his trip to come and visit us in the great Northwest.

On Friday evening the "usual suspects" organized a wonderful birthday dinner for me at the Screendoor.  Josh, Stacey and Brenda, as well as Ken and Julie had recommended this restaurant to me but I had not yet gotten there. It lived up to all of their wonderful descriptions. The Screendoor advertises itself as a celebration of Southern cuisine - and it delivers haute cuisine versions of home-style favorites like fried chicken, brisket, cornbread, and collared greens. It was a beautiful evening with great food and friends:

After dinner we were joined by Holy Cross seminarians Andy Sherwood, Mark DeMott and Robby Sullivan, CSC. We shared a hurricane and then moved on for dessert at . . . you guessed it, Pix Patisserie!

Saturday morning, after having the traditional pancake breakfast at the Noem home, Pete and the Noems and I drove downtown to experience the Portland Saturday Market.  I've only been a couple of times but I've enjoyed exploring the craft vendors and, of course, the wild people-watching that Portland street scenes always offer.

That evening Pete concelebrated with me at the 5 pm Vigil Mass, and then Joe joined us for dinner at Piazza Italia.  This Italian restaurant in the Pearl District came highly recommended and I had been wanting to try it for quite some time. The outdoor seating and beautiful evening added to the sense of being in beautiful Roma - and the food was indeed very good, especially the Insalata Caprese and Bruschetta al Pomodoro . . . but I would not recommend the lasagna, and they ran out of cannoli!

(We were also very glad to be seated outside the restaurant, because inside there were thirty or forty Japanese business people enjoying dinner and being entertained by . . . Japanese musicians and dancers! Only in Portland!)

On Sunday morning Pete celebrated our 8 am Mass and I concelebrated and preached. (It would have been good to give our poor parishioners a break from listening to me, but Pete was on vacation after all!)  In the afternoon, Pete and I went for a walk along the Willamette waterfront and stopped by the Sand in the City event in the Pioneer Courthouse Square.

This sand castle building contest is a fundraiser for a children's charity. Although we enjoyed seeing the finished products we were really hoping to see them bulldoze everything - but alas, we needed to move on to community night at the University of Portland.

Later that evening Pete was very excited to join Josh, Stacey and me for our weekly Holy Redeemer Hoops. With the addition of another parishioner to take the place of Jim Gallagher, the four of us were able to continue the winning tradition we began years ago as "Collaborama" in the Bookstore Basketball Tournament:

To put a finishing touch on Pete's visit, we celebrated our basketball prowess with a few pints of local brew at Henry's Tavern in the former Henry Weinhard brewery.

We were happy to be joined by Mary Gallagher who had just returned to Portland after her first business trip as director of the PACE Program at the University of Portland.

From start to finish it was a wonderful weekend and I think we showed Pete a good enough time that he just might want to come back sometime soon!