Amuse who?

Bethany and Chris gave us a gift certificate to the View Point Inn, which is on a cliff overlooking the beautiful Columbia Gorge. It is also famous for being in Twilight, when Edward and Bella have their romantic moment at the prom. Built in 1924, it has hosted such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Theda Barra, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
We arrived just before five o'clock, so we had time for a wee stroll around the grounds.

This is the main room, complete with roaring log fire and comfortable sofas.

Our table was in the sunroom. We were the only diners. This was the view from our table. So far, so good.

The waiter did everything with a flourish, including giving us our menus. That should have made me suspicious.
There were two menus.
The seven course meal, at $65 per person.
And the four course menu, at $45 per person.

Gulp.
I didn't think to ask about prices when I made the reservation. Even with the gift certificate, that was a hefty chunk of cash for our meal. But we forged on intrepidly, on the four course menu, naturally.
First up was the amuse bouche. This is designed to excite the taste buds, meaning, literally, mouth amuser. This particular amuse bouche was described as a "blue cheese mouse on a finger of endive." I chuckled and asked the waiter if there was anything we could substitute for the mouse, and if they by any chance meant "mousse"? He was suitably abashed at being corrected by such a mere mortal as me, and allowed as how they might be able to substitute the prawn with avocado from the 7-course menu.
"Thank you," I said demurely.
Unfortunately, it took me about ten seconds to retrieve my camera from my purse and by then Jeff had devoured the prawns.
Both of them.
"Careful," I said, "those cost about $10 each, you should have savoured them."

He pronounced them very tasty.
Next up was a small salad for Jeff...

...and a miniscule bowl of French Onion soup for me.
That is a teaspoon that you see, for an idea of scale. The cup was about two inches in diameter.

It was also very salty.

We were beginning to worry that we might not be filled up in two more courses. We joked (very quietly) about buying a hamburger on the way back to Portland.
As we waited for our main course, I played with the sunbeams that were shining through our water glasses.

Notice the lack of ice in the water. Although, I will say that the water tasted very good, no nasty chlorine.
Luckily, dinner arrived before we thought of any dastardly deeds involving starched linens and water glasses and candles.
Flank steak, sweet potatoes, and root vegetables for Jeff.
Roast pork with chicken sausage cassoulet for moi.
Bad blogger that I am, I forgot to document these masterpieces because I was ravenous.
But dessert, while not cherry and white chocolate as advertised on the menu, was a fairly delectable cinnamon-y and caramel bread pudding.

It lasted about 30 seconds. As you can see, I almost missed the photo op, yet again.

After dinner, which, surprisingly, filled up my tummy, we sat and looked at wedding albums in front of the fire. I cannot even imagine how much it would cost to celebrate a wedding at the View Point Inn.
Being too intimidated by our flourishy waiter to ask him to take a photo, I managed this one in the very nicely appointed unisex bathroom mirror.

And this one of His Nibs, on the regal sofa.

Another stroll around the grounds, as I had seen some pretty cool shots of the old fountain in the wedding albums and wanted to give them a try. The light was not good, but I kind of like these two.

We hit the road, I84 back to Portland, because the evening had barely begun.