Powdery Mildew and How I Could Have Killed My Neighbor's Koi

Snap peas are in full effect (actually snow peas: I bought seeds from a small seed business in Old Town asking for sugar snap peas and apparently they thought it was find to give me snow peas instead.  Bummed out a bit about it.  Sadly I doubt I'll ever buy seeds there again.).   My dad and I constructed my first excellent trellis from nails, old wood and string.  Awesome.  Planted my peas.  It is lovely.  Then.... attack of the powdery mildew.
Being the quasi-hippie that I am, I googled how to kill powdery mildew with essential oils.  My search led me to believe that misting the leaves with clove oil diluted in water was my solution.  I had clove oil in my stash, so i was ready to go!
As I'm happily spraying away and enjoying the smell of cloves in the evening and thinking to myself how clever I was, my neighbor arrives home.  Now, I live in an apartment and my garden is only 6 feet from  my neighbor's very cool koi pond.  It is in one of those barrels that frats use to keep their natty ice cold on a hot day, so not a very large koi pond.  But it is very nice to look at and adds a lovely fountain sound just outside my bedroom window.
I was promptly informed by my neighbor that clove oil kills fish! Great.  I was in the process of misting clove oil only feet away from innocent fish that could easily be euthanized.   Seriously, who knew?  I'd have been less likely to kill the fish from round-up pesticides.
Luckily I hadn't used all that much and after all I wasn't actually administering the concoction to the fish water.  However, had I used the spray every day, there is a good chance I could have damaged his fish.
Lesson Learned: no playing with essential oils when there are fish nearby!
So, I still have powdery mildew taking over my peas.  sad.

Handmade Custom Pottery for Nespresso

So, people who own the Nespresso maker are obsessed with their machines.  All those commercials with Salma trying to sell the machine using her mass sex appeal are no joke.  For folks who like this stuff, it is probably on the same level for them.  Case in point would be by BF who lives for his Nespresso.  His milk frother just malfunctioned and stopped working, and he is bummed out big time!  I really wonder how many of these drinks he makes on a daily basis.   

He got his machine as a gift, it is the one that doesn't have the extra little latch that pulls out to place the cup on to catch the espresso as it drips, it is the one with the built in non moveable little shelf.  Unfortunately the little shelf was too small to fit any of his mugs, so for the last year or so, he just uses those cute little hard plastic disposable cups that he gets every time he restocks his pods at Bloomingdales.  Though I am glad those single use cups are getting so much use, there really had to be a better option.  These little cups are my answer to the problem.  I brought the plastic cup to my pottery class and threw a set of mugs to mimic the look of the little plastic cups and to fit perfectly in the Nespresso. 

Dehydrated Pineapple & Tomatoes

Just one pineapple will fill up my Excalibur dehydrator. Dehydrated pineapple is basically candy it is so sweet and delicious. My self control is nothing standing up to these treats. The tomatoes were getting so ripe, I dried them too. I intend to grind them up to a nice powder for seasoning, but they are just so pretty I thought I'd admire them for a bit first.