great people, great party!

our ruby wedding anniversary

Forty years ago today we walked out of church as husband and wife.  It was a small wedding by modern standards - no huge, day-long party stretching out into the early hours.  It was just a simple church service, photos then a reception at a local hotel.

We left with 'L-plates' on the car only to sneak back a few hours later once everyone had gone. We married young and had no spare money whatsoever so the offer of a free room for the night as part of the hotel wedding package was just too good to refuse.

So where should we eat our first meal on our own as a married couple? We walked along the beach where we had done so much of our courting as teenagers and bought fish and chips from a seaside cafe. They were truly delicious and we wanted for nothing - we had each other.

We've celebrated every wedding anniversary since then with a fish and chip meal to remind us where we've come from. Over the years we've been so fortunate to eat in places as varied as a famous fish restaurant in Paris, on the wall outside a chippie in a Norfolk coastal town and down in the basement of family-run Jewish restaurant in Budapest.

Today was no exception. We celebrated with a plate of fish-fingers and chips before settling down to watch some tear-jerking videos from our past rescued by our eldest daughter as our ruby wedding anniversary present.

Simple food, simple times, simple love - what could be better.

Wedding anniversary celebrations

Dear Sheddists,

this year my dear wife and I celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary at our very favourite restaurant, 'Benedicts' in Norwich.

Sweet memories

 Regular readers will be aware it's our custom to eat fish and chips on our anniversary in memory of our very first meal together on our own as a young married couple.  It was all we could afford, but no less special for all that.

This year we had to stretch the definition of 'fish and chips' a little, but it was well worth it!  The fish took the form of brown shrimps, fresh from King's Lynn and the chips were four delicious home-cooked potato crisps nestled gently between the scales of a pine-cone.

The tasting menu

We chose the tasting menu, six courses of sheer bliss, accompanied by some equally delicious hors d'ouevres.  Every course was an epicurean delight, but the star of the show for us was the starter - Thornton Hall heritage tomatoes, summer peaches and coriander. It was absolutely sublime, balancing different flavours, textures and temperatures to create a taste-bud sensation.

Those special little touches

It's not just the food that was special.  Three delightful little extra touches made our celebration meal so memorable.

First was the piece of theatre that introduced the opening dessert, two splendid ice-lollies made from Norfolk strawberries. The waitress carried a mini-freezer to our table and opened the top to the sound of ice-cream chimes within.  Sheer magic!

The second was the chocolate-decorated plate bearing our final course - a deliciously light passion-fuit mousse.  You can see it in one of the photos below.

The final delightful touch at the very end of the meal was the small tube of love-hearts secreted with the metal acorn containing the bill.  What a fitting reminder, not just of yet another fantastic meal at 'Benedicts' but also thirty seven years of an absolutely wonderful marriage to the love of my life.

Thank you, Richard, Katya and team for making our meal so very special!