This is a 2010 round-up of my favorite food-related products, perfect for gift giving:

Make ‘em some good eats!

Toffee Crunch Pretzel Rods by Joelen’s Culinary Adventures

Spicy Cocktail Nuts By Foodie with Family

Herbal Salts by Burp!

Fruit Leather by Indian Simmer

Create Your Own Brownies by Fine Cooking

Something fun for their stocking!

Buttons/Pins – “I love you more than Ham/Steak/Pork/Bacon” ($6/set of 4)

Chocomize – build a custom chocolate bar, just the way you like it. ($4-$10)

Spaghetti Measure – compact spaghetti measure provides an adjustable portion guide for 1-4 servings ($7)

Scoop Colander – this simple kitchen utensil allows you to quickly and efficiently scoop and drain food straight from a pan or oven dish ($7)

Coasters – sweetly colored coaster doilies topped with not-so-sweet messages. ($8/set of 10)

Chef’s Pencil Set - includes 6 pencils: Al Dente, Saute, Whip, Knead, Zest, Mince ($11)

Ice Cube Mold Trays – 15 different ones to choose from ($5-$12)

Napkin Hugs – felt napkin rings. Set of 4, 2 boy/2 girl ($15)

Gifts

OXO Tools – it’s hard to go wrong with any OXO kitchen gadget. My personal favorites: mango splitter, cherry pitter, ice cream scoop, angled measuring cup, julienne peeler, corn peeler, and citrus juicer.

Food Face Plate – who says you shouldn’t play with your food? This plate is mid-sized and crafted from hotel-quality, food-safe, high-fire ceramics. ($15 for Mr. Food Face or Ms. Food Face at Amazon)

Apron Cooking Guides – an apron with all the culinary information you need printed on it – numeric conversions, cooking times for vegetables, roasting times for birds, freezing instructions, defrosting times, a cooking glossary and more. ($15)

3-Tier Oven Companion – cook the roast, bake the casserole, warm up the rolls…all at the same time ($20)

Mini Donut Factory – makes 6 donuts in a waffle-iron like configuration. Pour in the batter, close the clamshell, and wait for 4 short minutes. ($20)

Recipe Tea Towels – 100% European linen, screen printed tea towels in your choice of mushroom, french onion soup, fish pie, breakfast in bed, orange & poppyseed cake ($20/each)

Customizable Alphabet Plates – a fun customizable gift option for kids ($25)

Zoku Quick Pop™ Maker – freezes up to 9 ice pops in as little as seven minutes right on your countertop without electricity ($50)

Ladder Cork Trivet – A trivet for pots with a design similar to a ladder or a railroad track. It can be configured in many ways so you can place your pots in different ways – $55

Breville Pie Maker – Create up to four individual-sized pies. All the same. Or all different. ($80)

My favorite smaller food-related news stories and products that made it in under the radar:

Food allergies more likely in kids born in winter – might explain why my February born 4YO, is allergic to peanuts.

Blogger Kicks Off A Month Without Processed Foods. Could you do it?

The Geometry of Pasta.

Cooking apps for your iPhone, iPad, Droid or Blackberry – Mario Batali, Cook’s Illustrated, & Salsa-Making.

Newly designed Chiquita Banana Stickers.

Thousands of New York Times readers favorite recipes – The Community Cookbook.

Getting rid of the Food Pyramid. Why must we always fix what’s not broken?

The Origins of 10 Food Phrases.

Create your own brownies, customized to your taste.

Six ways customers tick off chefs. Are you an offender?

Mark Bittman on Saving Time and Avoiding Headaches in the Kitchen.

4 Memory-Boosting Spices.

Top 6 Food Myths.

The Dumbest Kitchen Gadgets Ever.

100 Ways to Cook a Pumpkin (honored to be part of this collection with my Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins and Pumpkin Pecan Crescent Rolls)

Product Find: Double-Sided Peanut Butter Jar

Product Find: Martha Stewart’s Pie Gate

Product Find: Origami Napkins

Product Find: Star Wars Cookie Cutters

Product Find: Jar Tiles

My favorite smaller food-related news stories and products that made it in under the radar:

Jim makes a 3D pancake dinosaur to celebrate his daughter’s science museum visit.

200 pound Octopus Cake. Whoa.

Baking Soda isn’t the only multi-tasker. Look what vinegar can do!

Great list of holiday pantry baking items.

8 Baking Shortcuts Guaranteed to Ruin Your Recipe.

10 Ways to Dress Up Cottage Cheese.

A great, helpful Visual Guide to Apples.

25 things chefs never tell you. Ssshhh.

If these Ampersand Food illustrations were for sale, I would hang them up in my house.

What happens when you dunk a cheeseburger in concentrated hydrochloric acid? (2 minute video.)

Inside Mario Batali’s Visionary New Foodie Heaven. Does anyone want to chip in and send me there?

PG-13 Fruits and Veggies. Ooh la la.

Oreo Tower Puts New Twist on Wedding Cake. Pretty impressive.

Remember “resignation cake” guy? People Mag used a pic of the cake w/o paying. He’s billing them. With a cake.

Product Find: Wheel of Nutrition plates -pie charts of nutrition, right on the plate.

Product Find: Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter.

Product Find: Sur La Table Oil Mister.

Product Find: Desserts 4 Today cookbook – desserts only requiring 4 ingredients.

Product Find: Steak Station Digital Meat Thermometer – a digital meat thermometer that lets you monitor the temp of up to 4 steaks at once!

Product Find: Sandwich Coasters.

My favorite smaller food-related news stories and products that made it in under the radar:

Very Culinary (that’s me!) now has a FaceBook Fan Page. Do you “Like” me? Stop on over and play.

If you’re into FourSquare…and eating, you’ll like this – Making Lunch a Social Networking Game.

Future in cooking? Check out The William – A touchscreen stove-top, with up to 21 cooking areas, and over 1,500 independently-heated touch-sensitive honeycombs.

Food words rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Top 5 Culinary Absurditites at Comic-Con.

Food for Sex: Top 10 Foods to Help Get It On.

Highest-Calorie Beverages in America.

PaulaDeenisms – A daily soundbite and video from the woman who brought us deep-fried butter.

An age-reversing chocolate bar? I’ll take a carton, please.

Product Find: Shark Fin Tea Infuser.

Product Find: Chef’s pencil set. Clever, cute, and useful.

Product Find: The Cookie-Dunking Mug.

Product Find: Scoop Strainer/Colander .

Product Find: Gluttony Pants, with 3 waistband buttons per level of gluttony.

Product Find: Unique Ice Cube Trays.

Product Find: The Camera Lens Mug.

Product Find: The ToastE/R.

My favorite smaller food-related news stories and products that made it in under the radar:

14 Surprising Uses For Your Microwave.

Getting older doesn’t have to suck. Celebrate your birthday by getting free food at these restaurants.

Horrible Fast Food Ideas that are probably right around the corner (the McCoronary is hilarious.)

Lady recorded what she cooked for dinner for 14 years. And I thought I was anal.

7 Miracle Spices With Huge Health Benefits (Love them all…so does that mean I’ll live to be 100?)

Top Five Aphrodisiac Ingredients.

The 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Where will you be in October?

New Facebook Chocolate Concept. I am so in.

For apple lovers everywhere – A Guide of Apple Flavors.

Lego-themed kitchen from IKEA.

COOL. MRIs of Fruits and Vegetables.

Sushi – the board game. Sushi Panic.

Product Find: An Apron with all the culinary information you need printed on it.

Product Find: Recipe Tea Towels.

Product Find: Alice In Wonderland inspired silverware (I don’t know who wants these more…my 4YO or me.)