Wedding Blog
Were you among the first or last of your friends to get married? I was among the first, so hanging out with other couples (engaged, married or otherwise) isn’t something we did very often. Three months before our wedding Mr. Onion’s cousin got married and they live here in NYC. As a result we’ve started to socialize with them more often. A few months ago we had them over to our place for dinner and last night they’ve invited us to their apartment for dinner. So of course I had to use my stand mixer yesterday.
I asked his wife what was Mr. Onion’s cousin’s favorite cake was — the answer was red velvet. I’ve never made it before, but I figured I could figure it out (with the help of www.foodnetwork.com). So yesterday, in between chatting on BeeTV, I got to work.
The recipe I used from the Food Network came out a little dry (both because it didn’t call for oil, just butter and also because they were cupcakes not cakes I imagine changed the cook time). So — to compensate Mr. Onion had the great idea of cutting out a bit and filling the middle with Nutella, THEN putting the cream cheese frosting on top! I have to admit, they tasted great.
His cousin and his wife got us a cupcake carrier from Crate and Barrel as a wedding gift so I got to show up at their apartment for dinner with the carrier filled with cupcakes! So fun (OK, I know I’m a geek, but I love to bake).
Photo from www.hostessblog.com
Do you find yourself socializing with more couples now that you’re a couple yourselves? Feel free to share your favorite recipes for dinner company!
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Share this post: Couples Gatherings
Funny - seems my whole group of friends started to couple off at the same time. As a result we rarely hang out at all anymore. Some couples have gotten married, some are still just dating - but it seems our lives have changed and we spend more time with our new SO’s rather than hanging out as a group. We do have things like supper club and game nights to try and bring everyone together - but it seems to only work when it’s scheduled 
We mainly hang out with our single friends, since most couples we know have kids and can’t get away for nights out. I’d like to start having dinner parties and things, but I hope we don’t become Smug Marrieds (a la Bridget Jones)!
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/327942
That’s where I found the best Red Velvet Cupcake recipe. It actually uses Paula Deen’s recipe, but this page shows how to convert it for making cupcakes.
ooooooooh the cupcakes look so good! Mrs Onion’s got baking skills! =)
oh and in response to your question…we still have a good mix of friends, but we tend to hang out mostly with couples because they understand that we’re on a tight budget (or cheap cuz we’ve got a wedding and house to pay for!) =D Our single friends still want to do the bar scene and dinner out every night and it’s just not so economical for us anymore…sigh I think we’re getting old…
we actually started a “dinner club” with about 4 couples. each month one couple hosts a dinner party. it’s been a bunch of fun! we also do game nights which usually include rounds of cranium
these cupcakes look fabulous! thanks for sharing them with us.
Most of our friends are coupled off in some sort of way. I think it’s more of a personality thing - the couples and singles we hang out with most frequently share our same fun and carefree attitude. We’ve been to a few at home dinners with some older friends. And I recently hosted a casual Shabu Shabu dinner for 7. I only wish we had a bigger place (than his condo) to entertain more people.
BTW - your cupcakes look sooo yummy!
That looks so unbelievably good. I saw a similar recipe on Food Network Sunday too! I might have to steal this recipe from you since I’m hosting our Christmas Party this year. Thank you!
Those look so delicious– red velvet cupcakes are my absolute favorite!
Mr. Jasmine and I definitely socialize more with couples. I think it’s partly because almost all of our friends have coupled off anyway, so our group naturally started gravitating toward couple activities. I have a lot of really close single friends though, so I try to make sure not everything we do is so couple-centered. I don’t want anyone to feel isolated or left out.
lindsay - thanks for the link. mrs. bop — a “dinner club” sounds like fun. we started an “iron chef” of sorts with some friends (not couples specific) and it was fun for a while. we’d each make a dish with the “secret ingredient” and share the meal, then vote.
mrs. apple — where is your bee icon?! ;(
Like someone else mentioned, most of our married friends have small children so they can’t hang out too much. But we do go out with our other couple friends who aren’t married. I told my husband that I don’t want to end up an “old married couple” because I love to entertain and to spend time with friends so we try to keep active.
Most of our good friends started coupling recently, within the past 2 years. We’ve been doing more couply things together and its great!! This weekend we are hosting a dinner at our place and invited 3 close couples. I’m excited to make a 4 course meal: appetizer, soup, entree, dessert, and to use all our nice dishes and silverware! FUN!
ohhhh, that’s sounds fun - iron chef! what a great idea. thanks!!
It looks like Mrs. Apple commented anonymously… you have to be signed in for a bee icon to appear!
mrs. bop — the trick here (as it’s hard without stadium kitchen) is to each pick a course in advance — one person make the app., the next the entree and the other the dessert (or if you have more people add a soup course or something). this way everyone gets time in the kitchen.
we didn’t really time it for the same reason. it was great fun. we had a “new comer” to the iron chef night so she acted as alton brown and also kept track of the scores at the end!
mr. bee — ah, thanks! i just never log out
My guy was the first of his friends to have a long-time girlfriend, let alone get married, so sometimes I feel like we’re the odd man out.
If company is coming over, I make Ina Garten’s Chicken Stew with Biscuits recipe…it never fails. If we need to impress them a second time, my guys whips up her lasagna recipe.
Fi and I are the odd man out. We need more couple friends. I want to have dinner parties damn it!
i’m always the last to the party…all my friends coupled up before me and now they’re married or are getting married so i’m used to hanging out with couples/marrieds.
I have that carrier- it is the BEST!
We socialize mainly with married people. I have only a handful of single friends- we’re in our early 30s. In fact, most are parents!
My Fi’s friends aren’t married but largely coupled off while most of my friends from veterinary school are still in school and single. It makes it a little easier to hang out with his friends sometimes since he doesn’t fit in all that well with all the single gals. He’s been really supportive of me when I try to make sure and go out with them though. Anyone else having trouble staying close with the single bunch? Any suggestions?
Oooh, that looks very tasty and yummy! I love red velvet cupcakes. I’ll have to try doing it your way and cut out the center and fill it with nutella. Anything tastes good with Nutella!
We tend mostly to hang with couples however we still have three or four really close friends who are single and we just tend to invite them along like we would the couples and they do fine in the mix since we are all pretty close at this point and we tend to split off from being couples in large groups anyway. We just did a wine sharing party this weekend where everybody brought their favorite bottle to share and I made cheese and chocolate fondues for food. It was a great time we had about 13 people total, singles and couples. You definatly do have to plan further in advance as people couple up, I used an evite and it worked really well to keep everybody in the loop.
Other ideas for getting peeps together:
Wine tasting party (break out those wine glasses)
Game night like someone else mentioned
Movie night
Fondue Party
Cookie Swap (for Christmas)
Great idea with the Nutella. Good job Mr. Onion. =)
I love that picture of you through the mixer. So artsy! Love your pictures. And I am SO jealous you have the cupcake carrier. I want one of those!
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Miss Onion, NYC/Burlington, VT
Age and Occupation: 27, PR & Marketing and Jazz Singer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Data Analyst
Engagement Date: April 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: July 11, 2007
Venue: Restaurant in Burlington
About Me: I didn't think I'd be "that girl," but I am having so much fun planning our wedding (mostly by myself). I'm a PR and Marketing Director for a major jazz festival and camp by day, and by night, a romantic jazz singer and bride-to-be! I hope all my research can help other brides in their planning.
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