These are a few of my favourite things… for 2011

1. This is the message I see when I log in to eatyourbooks.com.
“Welcome… you have 413 cookbooks, 2 magazines, 7 blogs and 46,317 recipes on your Bookshelf.”
I find that very comforting. Now I just need somewhere to put them. But seriously, I now use a lot more of the 413 books than I ever did before. If you’ve got a problem with ‘Just saying no’ to a new book, you need this site.

2. Chef’s armoury. This store in Sydney thrills me to my tabi socks. Japanese food products, the most glorious barbecues and binchotan charcoal, knives, books. It’s a tiny wee place, but packed with great expertise and quality products.

3 feast magazine. New from our broadcaster SBS this year. It’s a cracker of mag and I hope it flourishes. Take out a subscription now.

4. Where I live being named the winner of the 100 mile food challenge at the Crave Festival. It’s an abundant part of the world, with award winning dairy, citrus dripping off the trees, oysters, mud crab and fish to die for.

5 .Jimmy’s Atta flour. Glorious for making flatbreads.

6. Eating at Hellenic Republic. Check out the menu here, and when you’re next in Melbourne, be sure to rustle up at least three other people, and go for dinner. You’ll need company so you can taste everything on the menu.

7. My local op shop and market for arcane utensils, including the Food Glamorizer. Angusf appears to have one too. It’ll be a very retro Christmas with a bit of assistance from this little treasure.

8. And just when you thought there couldn't be any more, new and wonderful cook books. And a high Australian dollar for a while there meant shopping at Amazon & Book Depository was even more fun.

Feast magazine: feast your eyes on this

While in the supermarket this afternoon, my eye was caught by this beautiful magazine cover. The turquoise and red said Vietnam, and there enjoying a bowl of noodles was Luke Nguyen. "I haven't seen this before" I said to self. The reason? This is the first issue, and after just a cursory flick on the way home in the car, I'm loving it. SBS appear to have put the entire first issue on the net for our previewing pleasure. You too can flick through it here. It seems to have its culinary feet planted firmly in multiculturalism and is covering different exotic territory to anything else out there. When was the last time you saw a recipe for roti chanai in a monthly food magazine? And with a subscription price of $49 for 12 issues, I think it's pretty good buying. I hope it stays around, and I'll be subscribing to assist in that. Must go, and give this mag the attention it deserves.