Toasty Spice Roaster

Look! It's a tiny popcorn popper for dwarves!

Because of the ridiculous, incredible heat in Los Angeles the last two weeks or so, I've been experimenting with salads and spices to whet the weary appetite. All good Indian, Israeli, and Asian dishes depend on quality spices, mostly whole and toasted over open flames by the cook. And after some poking around online (really, all I do all day long), I happened upon the ideal spice toaster.

This incredibly simple tool makes spice toasting, from coriander to cardamom to sesame seeds, very quick and easy. Yeah, sure, you could use a little skillet on the stovetop and monitor the spices like a hawk. Or, you could dump them into this little sieved device specifically designed for the task and have it done in about half the time. Because this spice toaster is a Japanese product, made in Japan, by people who have tiny kitchens and limited space for culinary nonsense. Anything they dream up to make the chef's life easier is worth buying.

So, buy one for the chef in your life. Hell, buy two. They're only $14. And maybe you should throw in a quality spice grinder while you're at it, so you can stop using your old cranky coffee grinder to make rice powder for your next batch of chicken larb. At Umami Mart.

For The Pancake Man or Waffle Woman

Great holy flapjacks, the perfect syrup has arrived!

Everyone knows someone who's obsessed with pancakes or waffles. Mr. Crab makes light, fluffy, incredible pancakes that just beg for butter and high end syrup. Our favorite pancakes are the corn pancakes from Cheeky's in Palm Springs (sporting kernels of fresh corn), but I digress.

In the land of delicious breakfasts, excellent ingredients are expected. And this set of small batch Vermont maple syrup and gorgeous silo pitcher from Farmhouse Pottery really delivers. The syrup is, of course, amazing. The pitcher can satisfy almost any aesthetic, from modern to, well, farmhouse. The combo of the smooth and rough in calm neutrals works with any table setting besides, perhaps, Grandma's fussy Desert Rose. As a gift for the cook, it truly satisfies.

Although it's early, I think this would make an excellent holiday present. It's $65 at Farmhouse Pottery (and there's a smaller version, too).

Clever Kitchen Clean Up

This rustic yet elegant assortment cleans floor to table to dirty dishes!

Lately, I've been very drawn to Swedish and Scandinavian design. It's so clean and bright, yet oddly comforting. Plus, it's minimalist, which is something I strive for but rarely achieve, due to my penchant for odd objects and art.

One thing the Swedes do extremely well is merging the old fashioned and classic with pure utility; they don't embrace rococo. In the kitchen, this aesthetic is very welcome (ok, I admit I have an IKEA kitchen, so I'm already committed to the aesthetic, but hear me out). Iris Hantverk is a Swedish organization which produces products made by the visually impaired, and the results are lovely. Get a load of these kitchen clean up tools, made of all natural materials and lovingly crafted. The table brush set I find particularly appealing, as I have a messy family and a daughter with barbarian friends who scatter the kitchen table with refuse after every meal. This brush would be so useful, and look nice to boot.

All the kitchen tools would make incredible hostess gifts, or as a holiday present (I know, it's annoying to think about the holidays, but why not gather gifts now and not panic later). Order them all for a little over $50! At Olmay Home.

Kid Decor with Class

It's not just a pretty flower. It can live, forever fresh and lovely, on your wall.

Lately, I've seen these tv ads for some company called Fathead, selling really obnoxious wall decals. I don't like the ads, or the particular decals it pushes, but I did think the idea of instant decor was a good one. Especially for nurseries and little kid rooms, where you might want to make a big fun splash, but maybe don't have the time or money for a mural or insane theme room (or maybe you don't want to look at it while you're stuck in that room for hours with a newborn).

So then I looked around and found Wallflower. This company offers wall decals you really can live with for a long time. They will not offend. And there's scarcely any cheese in sight, although the overpriced lions come dangerously close to dairy territory. I mean, just about anyone would like a photorealistic giant flower, or butterfly, or even a seashell stuck on the wall. There's also these fascinating abstract splashes of liquid that have some decor potential; although a toddler might get the wrong idea and start hurling drinks at the walls to add her own artistic statement.

The real plus is that these decals start at under $50 and peel on and off easily. That means no mural painter, no DIY stencils, and no smelly fumes in a kid's room. The dahlia above is about $95, and an entire wall decal will set you back a grand, which might be too grand for your progeny. At Wallflower.

Landing Strip, Part Deux

Sure, they look simple, but these Gym Hooks store stuff in style.

Yes, I know. You thought I was done with my neurotic quest for order in the foyer. But I wasn't done.

After I installed the fantastic switch plate I wrote about in the last post, I realized it wasn't quite enough to keep my clutter corralled. Thus, I turned back to the venerable A+R for another solution: the Hay Gym Hook. These hooks look simple, but function in multiple ways. You can hang a heavy bag on it, while looping your scarf or sweatshirt through the middle of it. They come in lots of pretty colors (I chose the natural wood, but if I were hanging more than one I'd do a combo). And they're beautifully, sturdily designed and easy to hang. After installing the Gym Hook, my belongings look organized and deliberate, not a pile of junk abandoned in a heap.

These hooks run around $35, which might seem steep, but this is a case of getting exactly what you pay for. Worth it! At A+R.

Instant Landing Strip

Hang your keys or an unruly small child from the Walhub's handy hooks.

In my never ending search for home efficiency, I've recently turned my toad focus to the landing strip. You know what I'm talking about (wipe that smile off your face; it's not that landing strip), the area right inside the door where all your going out stuff congregates: your keys, his/her keys, your jacket that never makes it into the closet, your phone, and, in my case, aerial odds and ends like socks. It's a damn mess, all the time. And unless you have some ultimate foyer, it's likely to remain that way unless you take action.

Barring construction for a hall closet you can't afford, or buying some Abstrackt/Malm IKEA thing it'll take an army to assemble, your options for a landing strip are sadly limited. So, when I ran across one small affordable step in the strip solution, I was thrilled. The Walhub faceplate fits over the existing switch plates in your house (hopefully, in your entryway), and turns any light switch into a mini storage unit for keys or a small purse (one even has a slot for storing outgoing mail). Venerable modernist mecca A+R featured the Walhub at the Dwell show in L.A. recently, to great acclaim, but of course I needed to try it out. Sure enough, the thing makes a difference. Between the Walhub and some hanging hooks inside the door, I might be able to create foyer order out of cluttered chaos.

The best part? These brilliant space savers start at $16. When's the last time you bought anything innovative and stylish and useful for just $16? Try never. At A+R.

A Phone Pillow Gone Hardcore

This thing is hard as a rock, but I doubt the iPhone minds much.

It's a proven fact that if you have a spot to put specific items, you'll probably place them in that spot and actually be able to locate said items. Take the phone, for instance, that ends up in a purse, on the desk, placed on the kitchen counter, or even left in the bathroom (ew). Just think: if there really was an appealing, stylish spot to stick your phone, you'd use it, right?

The very quirky company Snarkitecture has the answer in the Pillow, a phone holder that looks like a pillow, but is actually made of concrete. Yep, it's a concrete resting place, all white and elegant looking, just waiting to keep your phone corralled. All you have to do is order the thing and place it where you'll use it constantly. This makes a wonderfully low tech gift for that high tech style geek on your gift list. Of course, it can also hold other things, like keys, or sunglasses, or change, but it's specifically designed to hold the phone.

As with all scarce, stylish gifts, the Pillow isn't a bargain at $68. But what price do you put on efficiency? At Snarkitecture.