As I mentioned last week, we’re back in Ojai. Which means all the loose-end projects we left at the start of the summer are back on the to-do list! Starting with organizing my spice drawer. And the garage. With a scenic detour to look at storage inspiration.
Before I get to those, two things I thought you should know about:
Reath Design, who designed our house, has collaborated with Clé Tile on a collection of tiles that are reminiscent of the marbled end papers from 18th-century books.
Patricia Wells is selling another swath of beautiful vintage plates, textiles, and cookware from her Provencal farmhouse. She is offering Homeward readers 10% off orders of two or more items. The sale opens on Sunday, October 4, at 11:30a.m. ET (until then, all items are marked “unavailable”). Use the code HOMEWARD2026 at checkout!
Nothing some tape, a sharpie, and a list can’t wrangle.
Now back to organizing in Ojai: You might remember I gave you a peek earlier this year of my kitchen tour. Organization makes my heart go pitter-patter. This is not something to brag about. No one is lauded for being particular about how they organize their home, as it often suggests the person is anal, uptight, unfun.
But I’m so fun, guys!
And guess what? As I discovered in John Pawson: The Minimal Home, Donald Judd, Georgia O’Keeffe, and of course John himself, were also particular about storage:
So, let’s get into the details on my spice drawer. ...
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Before I dive in, a reminder that this post is free! So if you enjoy reading, please share with whomever else needs an apple cake recipe by way of Florence; ideas for reorganizing cookbooks by region; streamlined kitchen inspo from one of my favorite designers; and a new home maintenance app that just might make our lives easier(?!)
After four months away, I’ve returned to Ojai. Before leaving, we had to make some calls:
Q: Would we be spending Christmas in California from now on and therefore should we ship our holiday decorations to Ojai?
A: We considered holding off for a few years, but then realized that going back to Brooklyn for Christmas would involve getting flights during the expensive holiday travel season. Decision made! The holiday decorations are en route.
Q: Now that we’ve lived in our house for at least a few months, what tableware and kitchenware should I ship?
A: Less than I thought. I packed up some of the copper cookware I bought at Dehillerin in Paris, shortly after I graduated college; my Christmas cookie cutters; my canele and some of my tartlet molds; an egg topper and a few other vintage tools; and that was about it. I realized that much of my tableware in Brooklyn is neutral or white and would stand out awkwardly among the rich tones in Ojai.
Q: Which books for our empty shelves in Ojai?
A: We have many fewer shelves here than in Brooklyn so we’d need to be selective. Tad landed on short story collections, plays, and poetry. For cookbooks, I brought a mix of vintage treasures (I Hate to Cook Cookbook and Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts), outdoor cooking (Seven Fires), baking (Tartine), a few Chez Panisse cookbooks, and a stack of other California- and vegetable-focused cookbooks. I really wanted to bring my Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson books, but after paging through them it became clear that British cookbooks trade in rutabagas, mashed peas, and savory pies, none of which I’ll be cooking much in Ojai. I never thought I’d want a more regional collection, but here I am!
Now that I’m back in the house with fresh eyes, I thought it would be a good time to share some impressions:
Yours in Cali Christmas,
Amanda
While the farmers’ market here is still overflowing with peaches, plums, tomatoes, and lettuces, there is one farmer who grows apples. This past summer, I tasted an Italian apple cake that blew me away and I’ve had it on my list to try. I picked up some Melrose apples for the job; Melrose, a sweet tart variety, is the state apple of Ohio. News to me! If I was in Brooklyn, I probably would have looked for Macoun or Braeburns; you can use whatever apple you like, as long as it holds up when baked.
What I love about this apple cake is that it’s more apple than cake. The batter is there merely to infuse vanilla and rum into the apples while ever-so-discreetly lashing the layers of sliced fruit so they hold together.
Many years ago, Mark Bittman wrote about a similar cake in the New York Times. His was called Bolzano Apple Cake and is the same idea. I’ve made that one several times. I think this one’s better; it comes from Rolando Beramendi’s book Autentico, which came out in 2017. You probably don’t know Rolando, but he’s one of the reasons we eat better quality Italian pastas, vinegars, capers, and other staples. He’s had an importing business for more than 30 years and has been the ingredient whisperer for many chefs and shops. This cake that he wrote about comes from Trattoria Cammillo in Florence. Chiara is the name of its owner.
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1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of Demerara or Turbinado sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon of aluminum-free baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons dark rum
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
5 or 6 medium sweet-tart apples, peeled, cored, and very thinly sliced
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350º. Thoroughly butter a 10-inch springform pan. Sprinkle the pan with 1 tablespoon of the sugar, covering the bottom and sides.
In a large bowl whisk together the 1 cup of sugar with the flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, heavy cream, rum, and vanilla to combine. Add the sliced apples and gently toss using your hands to coat the apples evenly. Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pans and evenly spread them. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the top of the apples.
Place the pan on a baking sheet and put in the center of the oven until the top is golden, brown, and firm to the touch, about 2 hours.
Remove to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the sides of the pan to ensure that the torte comes away from the sides easily.
Cool completely, wrap in plastic and serve the following day to allow the flavors to develop.
I’ve long been drawn to designer John Pawson’s work, with its simple, clean designs and emphasis on materials. I always experience an exhale when I look at a room he’s shaped; I can sense the smooth feel and heft of his cookware by just looking at it.
The ground-floor London kitchen of writer Nigel Slater, designed by Pawson in 2000. (Image courtesy Phaidon)
Pawson’s style is almost always described as minimalist, a mischaracterization according to Deyan Sudjic, the author of the excellent though confusingly titled John Pawson: The Minimal Home: “John reduces visual distractions with the aim of giving people an opportunity to focus on the essential purpose of a space, not to reduce the sensory experience that it offers.”
A kitchen in northern Italy, where Pawson incorporated a small window into the slim overhead cabinet. Dishwashing should always have a view. (Image courtesy Phaidon)
The book caught my eye because there’s an entire chapter on the kitchen and one on the dining room, too! Between photos of Pawson’s own kitchens—first in London, where he designed a satiny steel countertop with a sexy (and useful) raised lip around the entire perimeter, and later on his farm in Oxfordshire—Sudjic features examples of influential kitchen designs from the Braun factory kitchen, with its Dieter Rams-designed Universal Shelving System, to Castle Drogo in Devon, with its miles of plate racks, to Georgia O’Keefe’s pantry with its efficient shelving at her home in New Mexico.
The luxury of Pawson’s kitchen designs comes from the lack of clutter. Without any bells and whistles, what’s left are the materials that you work on, the cabinetry that you touch to open, the knobs to turn the water on and off. Sudjic wrote, “When he is cooking, he prefers to do it in a kitchen in which the virtual noise from the inevitable array of ovens, refrigerators, and dishwashers has been quietened by making these conspicuously branded consumer items, which have been styled in such a way as to compete for attention with each other, invisible.”
My Ojai kitchen, though rich in color, has very little on the counters and the only appliance that’s not quieted is the range. To me, the kitchen is a workshop, above all. Its animation should be people and food.
The dinner table at the Pawson house in London, 1994; Pawson in the library at his Home Farm, Oxfordshire, 2019. (Images courtesy Phaidon)
Martha Stewart co-founded a home app called Hint, which helps you keep track of your home’s maintenance needs.
When we moved into our Ojai house, I was dumbfounded by how many apps I had to download in order to operate parts of our home. There was an app for the pool, one for the garage door opener, another for the generator—a total of 10 apps! I was loath to add an 11th but was intrigued by Hint, which promises to help you keep track of home maintenance and find cost savings.
It’s very easy to sign up. Once you add your street address, the app immediately tells you the drought and flood zone, as well as any Radon issues in your area. After getting the environmental threats out of the way, you can add your appliances, heating and cooling systems, cars, and utilities. Hint will then tell you, for instance, when it’s time to clean the vent in your dryer. It keeps a running list of tasks, prompting you to locate your water main shut-off and photograph your electrical panel. You can also use the app as a place to scan warranties, manuals, and other home documents, and store them for you.
If I was being cynical, I might see the app as a thinly veiled channel for appliance manufacturers and home services companies to target me with ads. But I’m not feeling cynical about it, even if the ads do someday seep in. Home maintenance is no joke and often the reason homes get worn down is because we don’t stay on top of caring for their many parts. I need to invest some time into the app in order to truly assess its utility, but thought you’d want to know about it in the meantime.
I’m leaving you with this video, which made me laugh.
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