You go to the opening of a fabulous sushi hot spot, but arrive super-early so that you can go through the sushi line twice without anyone noticing

Thanks to Mile High Mamas, Kyle and I got to spend our anniversary dinner at the opening of Mikuni at Park Meadows. Personally, I’m lukewarm on sushi – putting such a large piece of food in my mouth all at once makes me worry that I might choke. Plus, that seaweed can be awfully chewy.

But Kyle loves it, and since I hadn’t bought him an anniversary gift otherwise, I figured a sushi dinner might make up for my thoughtlessness.

I may not dig sushi, but I was impressed by the selection of dishes. The sashimi was definitely my favorite, especially the duck and kobe beef, and I really liked one of the sushi rolls – the Denver roll, natch.

You stand at the bar of a fabulous sushi hot spot for twenty minutes, waiting for your drink, and instead of chatting up some of your fellow VIPs, you grouse about how the bartenders have taken everyone’s drink order in the whole place except YOURS.

Now, to be fair, the place was mobbed. And I’m sure that if we were sitting at a table and being served, we wouldn’t have to wait twenty minutes. But damn, that’s a long time to teeter around in heels when you’re used to wearing flip flops.

It did give me plenty of time to study the bottles behind the bar. Dozens of intriguing Japanese liquors. We’ll have to go back again to try some specialty cocktails.

You leave the fabulous sushi hot spot for a drink at another nearby restaurant, where you invite another couple who’s carrying Mikuni goodie bags to sit with you. Who needs romance when you can have company?

We said our goodbyes after one last trip through the sushi line and made our way over to the Cheesecake Factory to have a quick drink before heading home to relieve the babysitter. But when we snagged the last table in the bar and saw another couple from the opening looking around for a space to sit, we invited them to join us. Turned out, we live maybe a mile away from each other. Who’da thunk it?

But the best part of the whole evening? Reminiscing about where we’d spent each of our previous anniversaries.

How about you? Can you remember where you’ve spent your past anniversaries?