No, I haven’t switched to partial feeds and no, I didn’t just republish the headlines from my last 10 posts on purpose.
I promise, I won’t do the partial feed thing. Ever.
Proper post to come. If I can find the energy.
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Yesterday, I seriously considered making focaccia bread and I seemed to remember that there was a recipe for it in my first copy of Baked and Delicious.
And then I realised that my children had been “reading” the magazine and I absolutely had no idea where they’d put it. I decided that focaccia bread could be a job for in a few days, maybe when we’re not still all recovering from the flu and feeling exhausted and miserable.
So, now I get to announce the winner of the Subscription to Baked and Delicious (RRP: $1106)
Alannah Shore! Congratulations Alannah, I’ll be emailing you shortly.
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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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I was at the Kellogg’s breakfast on Thursday and as the conversation flowed around the table, I was trying to work out why I felt differently about this brand event and why, suddenly, I was feeling excited to be there and talking with the Kellogg’s representatives.
It was the communication.
You see, Kellogg’s was interested in having their message heard and talking to bloggers, but more than that, they wanted to hear back from us. What made us think the way we did, why we did or didn’t like things and how we approach breakfast time, our families and our blogs.
This is the part of working with bloggers that it feels like a lot of companies are missing.
The Kellogg’s event was a huge success for me. There we were, sitting around a table together, talking, discussing and having Kellogg’s listen in return. That kind of involvement is priceless. Even as the morning drew to a close, we had a lot of things left to say and the discussions probably could have lasted another hour, without me getting bored.
I get a lot of PR pitches in my email, a good portion of them that are just press releases. I am never quite sure what I am meant to do with them and when I’ve asked the contact person what exactly they want from me, I get a “We thought you might like to pass it along to your readers.”
“HERE’S OUR MESSAGE, REGURGITATE IT FOR US.”
I have opinions and I like to talk about why I think the way I do and I like it even more when the brand I am talking with stops and listens. I don’t like being talked at, or having to wade through a brand message to work out what they want from me.
Other bloggers no doubt feel the same way. Communication and brand work are a two way street and it’s unsettling to realise that a lot of brands just want to dump a message in our lap and run.
I don’t want to work like that – I want to build relationships and work with brands who are as interested in hearing from me, as I am from them.
There is a certain level of excitement when things come together and I’m left feeling the potential of a situation and what it might bring. I left the Kellogg’s plant feeling excited about working with them and what the future might hold for brand work when it’s done well.
Because of how Kellogg’s approached us, as mums and bloggers, it made me want to work with them, and promote their products and tell people that yes, Kellogg’s is a great company to be talking with and buying products from.
I didn’t feel like I’d been talked at, or taken advantage of, or used to promote a message to my readers. I felt like my opinion was valued and that maybe, our opinions there on Thursday actually mattered to Kellogg’s.
And really, that can only be a good thing.
[L-R My Mummy Daze, Goog Googs, Diminishing Lucy, Me! and Hear Mum Roar]
Thanks very much to Kellogg’s, DEC Communications and Louisa at Brand Meets Blog for organising everything.
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Things I know was such a success last week that I’m doing it again.
What do you know this week?
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