Thank you to everyone who voted in this year’s map magazine and The Weekend Edition 2012/13 EAT/drink Awards proudly sponsored by SUNSHACK Finest Cider. Voting has now closed and the team is busy tallying the votes (and salivating over the thought of restaurant-hopping between the winners). With categories ranging from Best New Cafe, to Best Bar Design and Best Romeo & Juliet Restaurant, the awards take a comprehensive look at all the best places to wine and dine in our fine city. It’s amazing to watch the evolution of Brisbane’s gourmet fabric each year and we can only imagine what’s to come in the year ahead. Winners will be announced on The Weekend Edition on November 29.

After spending some time refining her individual music style without the aid of her equally talented brother Angus, Julia Stone found herself trotting across the globe on a whirlwind tour that earned the Australian songstress a treasured place in the hearts of fans all over the globe. With an Australian tour next on the agenda, Julia Stone will be visiting Brisbane to play songs from her latest solo album, By the Horns, as part of Brisbane Festival. Characterised by Julia’s beguiling vocals and knack for storytelling through music, the album has fortified Julia’s position as a solo artist in her own right. To experience Julia’s dulcet tones in The Spiegeltent on September 19 or 20, visit the Brisbane Festival website for ticketing information.

With a little imagination and the goal to try and make a difference in the world, few things are off limits. Paperflops is a project currently trying to garner enough funds through Ulule (a site similar to Kickstarter), in order to get the business up-and-running. Paperflops are made by impoverished and disabled residents in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Each pair of sandals is made from 1 kg of recycled newspaper, the roots of old palm trees, coconut shells and natural rubber. And to stop rain and puddles from turning the sandals into paper mache, each pair is coated with a natural sealant.

Not sure what to make for dinner? Even the most inspired chefs can hit a culinary road block from time to time. When you are looking to turn cheese and bread into something a little more exciting than cheese on toast, Gojee can help. A recipe search engine with a unique twist, Gojee creates customised recipe suggestions for its users. After entering what ingredients they have on hand into the search engine, the site generates a list  of beautifully photographed suggestions that are sure to make empty bellies rumble.

Sometimes it can be easy to overlook how much fun simple, everyday objects can be. For Copenhagen-based photographer Jakob Hunosoe, even a humble roll of toilet paper is a playful photograph waiting to be taken. His collection of photographs, On Things Ordinary unearths new meanings that are hidden in everyday objects and demonstrates how a little imagination can transform the world into a giant playground.

When looking at your wardrobe, could you select just 10 pieces that you would want to wear for an entire year? Setting themselves the challenge to create 10 organic pieces of clothing that could be mixed and matched, the folks at eco-fashion label, ULTRA, have created the ULTRA 10 Challenge. As part of the challenge, ULTRA has designed an entire wardrobe consisting of 10 items of clothing made from organic and recycled materials. After accepting the challenge, ULTRA encourages participants to post their different looks on the photo log. While you may not want to abandon their cherished garments for a new wardrobe, the challenge demonstrates that simply choosing to adopt a slow fashion mindset in favour of trying to keep up with fast fashion trends can go a long way to helping the environment.

Do you have an awesome idea about how we can better grow vegetables? Maybe you have a delicious collection of superfood recipes waiting to be published in a cookbook? The Awesome Food Foundation is giving away microgrants of $1,000 to help kick start innovative food ideas across the globe. Applications close August 5.

Filled with a bounty of natural resources, including a wealth of minerals used in the production of electronics, the Democratic Republic of Congo is blessed in many ways. Unfortunately, these blessings were the catalyst of the decade-long war that has engulfed the country. The Falling Whistles campaign was inspired by the story of five child soldiers who escaped from rebel armies. These small soldiers, who weren’t big enough to hold a gun, were sent to the front lines with just a whistle to distract the enemy. The Falling Whistles campaign hopes to tell stories like these and bring a little more international attention to the conflict. To help spread the word and petition for conflict-free electronics, whistles are available for purchase on the website, so everyone can become a whistleblower for peace.  Proceeds are used to help rehabilitate Congolese children.

When a container of juice becomes empty, the bottle is still perfectly capable of holding juice, or any liquid for that matter. The trouble for juice bottles is that there are few opportunities for the bottle to be refilled and, as such, the bottle is generally thrown straight into the recycling pile. With the goal to change the way people approach grocery shopping, in.gredients aims to be the first zero-waste and package-free supermarket in the United States. Similar to the concept of taking your own eco-friendly shopping bags to the shops, the in.gredients philosophy is simple – customers bring their own containers from home and stock them with local, seasonal, organic produce. The environmental stewards, as they call themselves, say this ethos of negating the need for packaging in the first place is the next step in the precycling trend.