Foodie Vaca 2011: Hood River Valley Part 1

Tuesday found us leaving the Pacific Coast for the Hood River Valley about 3 hours away, but still along the Columbia River. We were looking forward to two nights at Lakecliff Bed & Breakfast in Hood River, OR. Allison was our gracious hostess and once we had a tour of the house, she gave us a suggestion for supper. Brian's Pourhouse was a great suggestion and we really enjoyed our meal, especially after rather disappointing supper the night before.

We started with some yummy pumpkin soup that had olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper on the top. The pumpkin was locally sourced, as was a lot of what we ate on our vacation. It's such a great way to support the local economy and have really tasty food in your restaurant, or on your own dining room table!

Anyway, our main courses were salmon and lamb stew. My Columbia River salmon was 10x better than the night before and came with green beans and a carrot sauce. David's lamb stew came with creamy polenta and was very tender.

A piece of chocolate cake was a great treat, since we really only get dessert on vacation or for special occasions.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of both our breakfasts at Lakecliff. However, both were heavenly! The first morning included fruit poached local pears with a cream cheese sauce, homemade local honeycrisp applesauce, French toast with marionberry syrup, and smoked bacon. The next morning included fresh fruit salad, more applesauce, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs and sausage. Allison did a fantastic job and we really appreciated all her help...she appreciated two Midwesterners who cleaned their plates! (she told us a lot of her guest are from California and the women often eat like birds :) ).

Wednesday was the bulk of our foodie adventures in the Hood River Valley!