Pete and I have just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary.
It’s a milestone for us, as we’ve now been married for half our lives. As always, we marked the occasion by having dinner with very dear friends.
Nick and Mary, whom we met a couple of years after our wedding, were married on exactly the same day as we were. We live in different parts of Sydney and all lead busy lives, but once a year we get together to celebrate our joint anniversary, and have done so since 1995.
This year, we went to the love.fish seafood restaurant in Rozelle. It was a mild night, and we had a table outside on the footpath, perfect for alfresco dining.
The menu offered a wide assortment of sustainable and ethically produced seafood…
The entrees (starters) were the best part of the meal for me. I could happily have sat outside in the balmy night air and eaten crispy school prawns and nothing else for the entire evening…
The polenta chips were delicious, as was the loligo squid on shredded green mango (top photo)…
The West Australian whitebait was simply prepared, but very tasty…
Nick thoroughly enjoyed his main of battered flathead…
…and Pete was very happy with his crispy skinned salmon special…
…but Mary and I were a tad disappointed with our grilled South Australian Bite red fish fillets, which were a little on the dry side. We had an assortment of sides and sauces as well, but by that time the light was dimming and the wine was flowing (corkage being just a tiny $3/bottle), so the photos ended up a little blurry…
We had to laugh – Mary received her mum’s ring as an anniversary present, and my mum gave me a pair of her earrings. Thank goodness for mothers, because neither of our husbands bought us gifts. Though to be fair, we didn’t buy them anything either…
It was a wonderful night!
love.fish is a great restaurant – the staff are particularly friendly and knowledgeable, and being able to dine outdoors adds enormously to the charm of the place. We’ll definitely be back – for the school prawns if nothing else!
More information about love.fish and their environmentally responsible operating principles can be found in Terry Durack’s Good Food Guide review.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Friends like yours are good to know.
That’s so true, Peter! :)
Happy anniversary, Celia, and here’s to many, many more!
Thanks Misky! It just keeps getting better!
Congratulations!
I remember that anniversary- it felt important and was a time of looking backwards and forward at the same time. It was important in many ways- so glad your mothers stepped in to commemorate the day with jewelry. :)
I think sharing an anniversary dinner with another couple is a lovely way to celebrate.
And all the seafood looks great!
Heidi, it’s such a nice way to celebrate every year! And because we only really see each other once a year, there’s always so much to catch up on! :)
Happy Anniversary! Don’t feel bad the husband does not believe in jewelry…Thank God for Mom’s…I was able to share hers with my daughters-in-law and save some for my granddaughters.
I wish you 24 more wonderful and happy years. You are a very special woman!
Thank you, Norma! Like you, I only have sons, but maybe one day I’ll have daughters-in-law and granddaughters as well to share things with! :)
Congratulations. What a wonderful looking meal. Note to self: Make polenta chips.
Oooh, you should Greg, because they were delicious. Then will you please tell me how to make them as well? :)
Wishing you and Pete a very Happy Anniversary Celia. Here’s to the next 24 years. :-)
What a lovely evening despite your disappointment in your mains.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, thank you! The mains weren’t bad, but they were a little dry, as grilled fish often is. Mary and I didn’t finish our mains, and we took the leftovers home for the chooks, who were very excited! :)
Happy Anniversary dear Celia for you both. My best wishes for another many years… Thanks and Love, nia
Thank you, Nia! xx
Happy 24th wedding Anniversary to you & Peter! Yeah!
What a great way to celebrate this feast! All of the food dishes look great & very appetizing too! It sounds like a grand restaurant!
Sophie, thank you, it was a lovely restaurant! The staff were really great too!
Wishing you many more happy years together. Why are they called School Prawns?
Sue, I’m guessing because they swim in a school? They’re only tiny things, but very delicious – here’s a bit about them:
http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Information/SpeciesInfo/tabid/91/xmmid/620/xmid/209/Default.aspx
Congratulations to you and your beloved Pete and wishing you many more happy years !
Thank you, darling. It’s been a glorious 24 years.. :)
Congratulations to you and to your friends! Mothers are life savers, as always. I would love to see your new earrings.
Thanks Yesim! Mum’s earrings were plain studs, but it was lovely of her to give them to me! I’ve been wearing them ever since! :)
Congratulations, and what a lovely anniversary meal you all had!
The dessert menu looks interesting too – it looks as if you didn’t get that far.
Thanks Suelle! We did get to dessert – the boys had Eton Mess – but we were quite full by that time, and the light was gone from the outside seating area we were in! :)
Congratulations Celia and Pete. What a milestone to be married for half your lives! Very sweet of your mums to step in and mark the occasion…and extra special because it was something of theirs.
SG, it was very nice of them indeed, and funny because it’s the first time either of our mothers have given us anything for our anniversary (and then they both gave us something on the same anniversary!). :)
Happy Anniversary. A lovely way to celebrate, ethical eating and with good friends!
Jo, thank you – it was nice to know that all the fish were sustainably caught or farmed. The waitress who served us had extensive knowledge of the different fish species and where they were coming from – it’s a good thing and a sign of how we’ve all grown in what we eat, I think! :)
A wonderful milestone Celia! I think that’s so lovely that you go out with the same friends each year.
No dessert? That’s where my eyes still immediately fall first- the last one on the list sounds like heaven in a dessert bowl.
Brydie, thank you! We did have dessert – the boys had the Eton Mess – but it certainly wasn’t the highlight of the meal! (And it was too dark by that time to take photos!)
Congratulations Celia – 24 years. Wow. And you had me in stitches about the ‘no gifts from the husbands…and in fairness…’ Many more years of love and peace, and good food.
I’m curious, what happened to the shrimp/prawn heads in the starter?
Oz, thank you! The prawns were eaten in toto – heads, tails, shells, the lot! They were fried to crispy and very very delicious! :)
Wow 24 years! Wishing you many more years,we will be celebrating 10 years of marriage in may, the food looks yummy. :-)
Thanks Sponge! The food was yummy, especially the starters! :)
What a beautiful milestone Celia! Congratulations to you both. How wonderful to celebrate with the people you love and with good food!!! xx
PS- Those starters look fabulous! I’m going to bookmark this restaurant!
Emilie, they were just so yummy! I keep thinking I’d like to take the boys there, but I don’t think we could afford it, they’d eat fish and chips by the plateful! :)
Happy Anniversary, Celia and Pete! We just celebrated our anniversary too. I wonder if we married on the same day? Then we’d have to start coming to your anniversary dinners. How funny that you both received gifts from your mothers but not from your husbands! (But I didn’t give my husband anything either!) xx
Charlie, on our 20th anniversary, Pete bought me rings, but I’ve always got my hands in dough, so I rarely ever wear them! :) Happy Anniversary to you and Carl as well! xx
A very Happy Anniversary indeed Celia! How lovely to celebrate such a wonderful occasion with such wonderful friends. It sounds like such a great night, but what a shame the fish was a bit under par. Lucky the wine flowed freely :)
I hope you have something special planned for your 25th- and that the boys come up with a little something :)
Becca, we always talk about “special” anniversaries, but we always end up having dinner with Nick and Mary. Probably because we all enjoy it so much and none of us want to change! :)
All milestones should be shared at the table, trinkets are not necessary. Love to you both.
Ha! I love that you think diamonds are trinkets, Roz! :) Lots of love to you and John! x
Happy anniversary, Celia, and congratulations to you both. I’m so delighted for you! Wishing you many more decades of joy.
Oh my, whitebait, how very yummy.
Thanks love! The whitebait was delicious, but the prawns! Lizzy, the prawns! I loved them. Mary and Pete refused to eat them because they had their heads on, so Nick and I ate nearly all of them. See, if we’d gone on our own, I probably wouldn’t have been able to order them! :D
Hehe I love the fact that you go out for your anniversary dinner with another couple! :P A very happy anniversary to you and Pete and may there be many more (as I’m sure there will be!). xxx
Ha! I don’t think Pete and I have ever been big on the romantic dinner for two thing – we almost always prefer company! :) xx
Congratulations, Celia, to you and your DH! What a great way to celebrate the day, too, with good friends who share the same anniversary date! What fun! Your dinners look tasty, though too bad yours was a bit dry. Thank goodness you had some wine to make up for your fish’s lack of moisture. :)
Thanks John! There was wine, and a wide assortment of sauces, so it wasn’t too bad! :)
Happy Anniversary Celia and Pete! What a wonderful thing to be able to share with friends. You’ll be coming up to your 20th anniversary of celebrating together soon. That will be quite the celebration!
Claire, I didn’t think of that, but you’re right! Actually, it’s now hard to remember any anniversary which we didn’t celebrate with Nick and Mary!
A very happy anniversary after the event! Love so many parts of your dinner: give this gal squid and whitebait [both of which are best ‘simple’] and she might even stop talking ten-to-the dozen :D !
Eha, the squid and whitebait were delicious, but the school prawns..oh, they were to die for!
Congratulations on your anniversary Pete and Celia!! What a neat way to mark the occasion, sharing it w/ friends. The menu looks very intriguing. I’m still trying to figure out what’s what, but it all looks great.
Mel, it’s always so much fun, we take turns picking the restaurants each year. I adore Nick and Mary, and even though we only see them once a year, it feels like they’re family.
You celebrate wonderfully, as with all things you do, and share wonderfully both with your friends and us. I love that even the chooks got in on it. Happy everything always to you both :)
ED, thank you so much! It was such a lovely evening, and it was good not to have to waste our leftovers.. :)
Hi Celia, Congrats!
Glenda, thanks! :)
Congratulations both. A lovely celebration. I think anniversaries are special when you spend it with someone else too. Keith and I buy a picture to hang on our wall now as a present to each other.
Sally, that’s a great idea! Then you end up with an art collection as well! :)
BIG congratulations. I wish you many more amazing years together :)
Thanks Tandy! It’s such a long time! :) We met 30 years ago this February! :)
Congratulations Celia, looks like a lovely night out! I have recently eaten whitebait for the first time and it was delicious. Not sure if it was West Australian though.
Thanks Jane! It was really nice to know where all the fish had come from, and how it had been caught – I have to say the staff at this restaurant were extremely knowledgeable! :)
Happy anniversery! Sounds like you had a lot of fun!
Thanks Manuela! We really did! I always love eating outside when the conditions are mild and mosquito-free! :)
Looks nummers! And here’s to another 24 years and the dozens more! Big hugs, Maz. <3
PS we did fried polenta last night and it didn't turn out half as tidy as yours.
Thanks Maz! Another 24 of the same would be just fine with me! I’ve never tried making polenta at all! :)
My hubster loves it and it’s southern cousin, cheese grits. Our recipe had rosemary, sharp cheddar and red chili chopped up in it. I’ve got a batch in the freezer that I will try again. With a little marinara on the side = perfect.
Did you know that over here, marinara sauce is always a mixed seafood sauce? I understand it’s a vegetarian sauce in the US! :)
Congratulations on your anniversary :) What a fantastic milestone!
Thanks Kari! It’s nice to have spent so long with someone so amazing.. :)
Congrats Celia & Pete, and it looks like a lovely meal. We are approaching #37 so I must have been two when I got married.
37! Wow, that’s fantastic! Yes, you must have been a babe in arms, Rose! :)
Happy anniversary Celia and what lovely Mums to give their daughters jewellery to mark their anniversary. That’s such a lovely thing to do.
Jan, it made me laugh – it was almost as if both our mothers thought of it at the same time! :)
Gotta love any place that serves fish and shrimp tiny and whole! Congrats and many more happy ones.
Thanks, Doc! You and I could have probably eaten them out of prawns and whitebait.. ;-)
How appropriate…love.fish for an anniversary. I hope you enjoy many more together.
Thanks Karen! You’re right – a “love” restaurant was very appropriate indeed! :)
Celia
Wonderful description of a beautiful evening!!!
Hello darling! Didn’t we have fun! Love to Mary! xx
Happy Anniversary to you and Pete, Celia. A beautiful evening, delicious food with dear friends at a “Love” restaurant, what a celebration! Wishing you and Pete many more.
Norma, thank you so much! It was a really lovely evening! :)
Happy Anniversary!! Congratulations….
Thanks love. Hope to see you soon? :)