Dinner for Two . . .

On Tuesday, friend Shirley Ann and I headed south to the town that is the birthplace of President Harry Truman.    Not to do the "touristy" thing but rather to have a nice lunch in  tea room and do some antiquing.     A day of play for me often ends up with an omelet supper for Husband Jim or a rotisserie chicken and a salad of mixed baby greens.

But Tuesday, I planned ahead for I took some grass fed beef short ribs, browned them and put into the crock pot before I left.    Short ribs need a long slow cooking and a crock pot is a perfect way to prepare them.

Besides a good dinner, I set a special table as a way to remind Husband Jim how special he is to me.

Dinner for two in the sunroom

In the breakfast room, of course, with our places set at the each end of the table.

Most our meals are eaten off of blue and white dishes!

Spode Blue Italian plates, my German silver laid European style (with the fork face down) and my Pottery Barn every day napkins in my silver napkin rings.

Husband Jim's view of the table and the breakfast room!

The bowl of apples that are almost always on the table from first frost until Spring along with silver candlesticks with candles that we burn every night at dinner.

Besides the short ribs, I was anxious to try a recipe from Lindaraxa, a blog that I visit daily.    One that is listed on my sidebar as a "Friend of Linderhof".     She always does great classic recipes and as much as we love Brussels sprouts, I've never had them in a gratin.     I couldn't wait for a main dish that would go well with the Brussels sprout gratin and the short ribs seemed to be that dish.

Lindaraxa's wonderful Brussels Sprouts gratin.

I made ours in individual gratin dishes - perfect for one person and we both gobbled ours up.     This is not the only time that this dish will be on Linderhof's table.    This gratin was made even more special because the sprouts were from the Farmer's Market and were exceedingly fresh and exceedingly delicious!

Thank you, Lindaraxa for that wonderful recipe!

And they did pair perfectly with . . .

A favorite winter dish, short ribs, served over polenta.

The crock pot short ribs which I served over a bed of polenta.    To soak up all those wonderful short rib juices!

Husband Jim is down cellar finding the perfect bottle to go with dinner.

We usually plate in the kitchen but that night I decided to serve the ribs and polenta on a big platter as we each have our individual gratin dishes of the Brussels sprouts!

It's Thursday and I'm join in Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.