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This post is sponsored by Minted

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It’s no secret that I adore stationery. Sure, with my wrists I find writing with paper and pen torturous and I haven’t drawn anything in a visual art diary in years, but that doesn’t stop me adoring paper things, with a passion.

Of course, this passion has a downside and there is a good chance that if you looked through my desk, you would find plenty of unfilled out cards, half empty journals and notebooks with pages of Amy’s drawings and none of my notes.

My shortcomings don’t stop me browsing, however.

Minted is an online stationery store that sucked up part of my morning as I clicked through looking longingly at the journals and pretty cards. Their cards for birth announcements are beyond gorgeous and sort of make me want to announce this kid’s birth with cards, rather than the vague rumour mill way we went about the other two.

(Although with Isaac, my blog totally counted as a birth announcement, right? Right!)

Minted have recently launched their range of Easter cards, and from March 9, through to April 2nd, anyone buying Easter cards will receive a free Easter origami craft kit. Maybe not my cup of tea (I am allergic to craft – and craft glue makes me twitch), but definitely something for the crafty mummas out there.

Their cards are personalisable – as you’d expect (no good having a birth announcement with a photo of someone elses kid on it) and are printed on top quality paper. Perfect for your older children to chew on, when they’re bored.

Or are my children the only ones who regularly eat cards and paper?

Yes. Sorry.

You can check out the full range of Minted products here, or find them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Amy’s class has been talking a bit about rubbish recently and how to reduce rubbish in their lunchboxes. Of course, I didn’t realise this until I was at the swimming carnival with the Kinders and heard one boy proudly telling the teacher that he had “no rubbish today!” and being praised for it.

I know that Marita’s school has been doing similar things and so I started to think about how to reduce rubbish in our lunch boxes. I use reusable containers for as many things as possible, but I am guilty of just quickly wrapping things in cling wrap and sending them, because it’s easy.

Imagine how pleased I was when the lovely Rebecca from 4 My Earth expressed interest in running advertising on my sidebar, and having me review her products as well. 4 My Earth sells all kinds of things, but I was really interested in the lunch wraps and pouches, that allow you to wrap sandwiches and keep them fresh.

Not to mention that they are super cool looking.

I’ve been sending these to school with Amy’s lunch for a week now with no problems whatsoever. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t make it home again, but Amy has adjusted really well and they are making it home at the end of the day perfectly.

They’re really simple to use and according to Amy, they’ve kept her lunch “yummy and delicious!” as well. You place the sandwich in the middle and then wrap it, using the velcro to hold it closed. Plastic lined, but woven material on the outside means that they look great and they keep everything fresh.

To clean, I’ve just been rinsing them in the washing up water at the beginning of the washing up and then hanging in the window to dry, which seems to be working well for us.

The pouches are exactly what they sound like and are pouches for placing food in. I haven’t tried these out properly yet because I’ve been too slack to bake, but the large pouch would hold a piece of quiche, or a slice quite well, whereas the smaller one looks perfect for putting crackers, or sweet biscuits into, or even slices of cucumber and olives.

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Giveaway!

Because Rebecca would like you guys to try out these eco-wraps and see how amazing they are, she is offering two Eco-Packs to give away, including one large sandwich wrap, one small wrap, one large pouch and one small pouch.

You MUST enter through the Rafflecopter widget.

To enter, tell me, what is your favourite lunch box food?

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This is a sponsored post.

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I don’t eat out very often, much to my great sadness. I would love to, but sadly, when you’ve got autistic children and bendy joints, it can make doing things like eating out quite difficult.

In turn, this makes it all the more fun when I do finally get to eat out and last week at The Cupping Room was no exception.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect actually, I had heard very good reports from my twitter and facebook friends, extolling the virtues of their coffee and food, but at the time I was researching, they didn’t have a website with a menu I could look over.

We arrived, ordered hot drinks and looked over the menu for a bit. I knew I was having mushrooms, but I rather like stickybeaking at menus anyway.

In the end, Mum and I both ordered the mushroom bruschetta (mushrooms on sourdough toast, with wilted baby spinach, feta, caramelised onions, basil and an apple balsamic reduction – $15), along with a coffee for Mum and hot chocolate for me.

The hot drinks arrived before the meal and I loved the novelty of my hot chocolate. I was able to work out how strong I wanted it myself, using hot milk and melted Belgian chocolate. It was absolutely divine and I hear that the coffee was just as good.

Then our mushrooms arrived. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but large mushrooms probably weren’t it. It was a good surprise though and even better when I tasted them. Absolutely flawless, in my opinion.

The balance of flavours was perfect and not only didn’t we speak much while we ate, I didn’t even want to stop eating to tweet about it. That is how good it was. I’m usually a fan of mushrooms anyway, but this dish was beyond what I expected from simple mushrooms.

It does go to show, when you’re using great ingredients, it doesn’t take much to make it spectacular.

I can highly recommend The Cupping Room, to anyone who wants a slightly quirky dining experience, with great coffee, great service and food that is, by all accounts, brilliant.

You can find The Cupping Room on Facebook, but their website is still under construction.

The Cupping Room is located at 105 Murray Street, Hobart.

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Thanks to the Mushroom Growers Association for pushing me out of my comfort zone and asking that I eat mushrooms and review them here – I’ve found this a lot of fun. Even if I am slightly late with the review. This post was meant to be part of Mushroom Mania, but once I’d agreed to participate, we discovered that Tassie didn’t have any participating restaurants. So instead I got to do some food blogging.

Disclaimer: I was paid for this post and all opinions are my own and completely honest.

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