First Wedding Anniversary and BBQ lime and chilli tuna

Friday was our first wedding anniversary, first of the two firsts. We will have two every year, because our civil ceremony was a couple of weeks before our big do in Finland. If anyone's planning to get married, this is the way to do it, I tell you!

Spread the fun over a period of time. This also importantly allows you to get two (or more) dresses. I went for a snazzy little L.K.Bennett number for the civil ceremony and then a full length lace extravaganza for the other do.

Of course some people opt to get married several times with different people, which also works in terms of several parties and dresses, but can be more of a hassle with divorces, custody battles etc. And as I started my career as a wife so late I'm hoping it'll be just this one husband for me, so I thought it's worth milking the occasion.

Funny story - as we were getting the paperwork ready for our appointment to give notice husband couldn't find his decree absolute. We searched for several nights and uncovered some other interesting documents from his colourful past, but not the one we were looking for. We found the decree nisi, so they had at least started the process, but I started to think knowing how rubbish he is organising anything that maybe they never finalised things. He consoled me that as a muslim he can have several wives. I didn't see the fun in the situation, but have to hand it to him, it took some cojones to joke to me in that situation. We finally found a cover letter from his solicitor saying that please keep the attached decree absolute safe, you may need it one day. Not the only piece of good advice that he's ever ignored. We ordered another copy from the court and all was rosy again in our garden.

We haven’t quite been able to decide which date to celebrate as our anniversary, because they were both such very special days. For now at least it looks like we will celebrate both. That’ll give husband two dates to forget.

But I’m not fussy about these things, I don’t need flowers or presents. I won't say no, just to be polite. But it's not about that. It will be nice to mark the days in some way, reminisce and sit down for an extra nice meal and a glass of bubbly to celebrate our good luck in finding each other.

The 7th of August last year was a hot and gorgeous day. I had taken the day off, which I think is quite normal when one marries, but husband went to work for the morning. The ceremony was in the afternoon, so I was nervous that he would not be home in time which knowing him was a definite possibility. I went to pick up my pretty bouquet of red and white roses in the morning and remember being super happy and slightly nervous.

We had only invited our witnesses to the ceremony. My friend and husband's friend with his wife joined us at the Ealing Town Hall for a surprisingly touching ceremony. The registrar spoke beautifully about the commitment we were making and my friend read a poem I had chosen and completely made us both weep.

Husband had his sunglasses on top of his head throughout the ceremony we were slightly dismayed to find out afterwards looking at the pictures. But then husband is a pretty relaxed kind of a dude, so why the hell not.

We then came home with our witnesses to celebrate. First we popped open a bottle of champagne and had a toast in the garden. I had marinated chicken and lamb and the men lit the barbecue while I got the meat ready. We had joojeh kebabs and marinated lamb cutlets, a Greek salad and I’m sure saffron rice and flatbreads etc. It’s kind of our go to summer celebration meal.

For dessert we had fresh berries with a vanilla, cream and crème fraiche sauce and little blueberry cakes. We sat in the garden all afternoon and in the evening a couple of friends joined us for a little evening meal in the garden and more bubbly. I had made a reindeer quiche and a salmon and prawn quiche which I served with a feta and dill salad. A perfect, perfect day.

So on our first anniversary this Friday we had a warm, sunny day as well, not as hot as last year, but good enough to eat in the garden. I had decided to keep it fairly light and simple as we have been eating like horses for the last couple of weeks. Originally I had thought fish skewers, but decided on tuna steaks because we have eaten so much other fish lately. I marinated the tuna in soy and lime with a couple of tiny chillies, which I got from my colleague who grows them herself.

For sides I roasted asparagus. I also made my puy lentil side dish with roasted purple broccoli, capsicum, onion, garlic and mange tout. Its a great recipe and you can be flexible with the veg depending on what you like and what you have.

And we popped open a bottle of bubbly and toasted a very happy first year of our married life.

My friend's home grown tiny chillies. So cute!

Tuna with lime and chilli marinade (serves 2)

3 tuna steaks (2 for him, 1 for her)
Zest and juice of a lime
1 tbsp soy
4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
Chilli to taste (I had two small ones)
Sprinkle of sugar

Mince the garlic, chop the chillies, zest the lime and juice it, add the olive oil, sugar and soy. Mix everything together. Add the tuna steaks and turn them around in the marinade making sure all are covered well with marinade. Refridgerate for a few hours.

You can pan fry the tuna, but I cooked them on the coal barbecue. Be careful not to overcook, they only need a couple of minutes each side depending on thickness.