John, My husband corrected me. I made corn tortillas. Super simple recipe on the Masa Harina package--just cornflour, salt, and water. I rolled out the 2" balls between pieces of parchment paper. Then the tortillas are used to make tacos. I didn't know that! Here is a link that might be useful: This is the Masa Harina I used.

Thanks for the input so far; more, please! Mossfern, you give me hope that things will work out okay if we punt and just get a nice 36" range :-) If others have a positive experience with this setup, I would be reassured to hear about it. Willtv, thank you for the information. We did also look into the cooktop + separate oven option (I asked about it a week or so ago because finding a short enough oven was a problem.) We plan to have a separate wall oven elsewhere in the kitchen. I don't think we have the counter space to build a surround -- there is only 18" allowance for counter on either side of the range. (We also talked to the architect about having the island at 36" height while the rest of the kitchen counters were at 34", but he didn't think that would look good either.) JohnLiu, thanks for your suggestion and you may have responded to my question last week, too :-) As far as we can see, all the short drop-in ranges have electric cooktops, and we definitely want gas. But I have just gone ahead and written to AJ Madison to see what they have. More input would be most welcome.

We had to replace a pretty old GE counter depth top freezer at our vacation house. I really wanted to avoid any issues. We decided to go with a French door, as we've been frustrated with side by sides over the years due to the narrow freezer space. As much as we wanted to get an outside ice/water dispenser, it became obvious that having the icemaker in the fridge was a real liability. The problem with most of the remaining FD fridges - they all seemed to have water dispensers inside the fridge. Our appliance guy actually recommended the Fisher & Paykel, which has the water dispenser in the door. He claimed that it was one of his more reliable units. We'll see how it plays out. My wife hates the fact that the slide out drawers aren't split, so you have to open both doors to access them.

See link below on some tips to lose weight, from Chi, originally posted in cooking forum. Also appreciate JohnLiu's honesty & humor. Below link also has pics. of portion-sizes: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3579603/12-29-15-foods-to-lose-weight-daily-journal-toward-health-and-joy?n=21 WebMD on foods that help with weight loss: http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/9-foods-to-help-you-lose-weight?page=2 Eggs and Sausage A protein-rich breakfast may help you resist snack attacks throughout the day. Nuts Research shows that when people munch on nuts, they automatically eat less at later meals. Apples Whole fruit blunts appetite in a way that fruit juices and sauces don’t. One reason is that raw fruit has more fiber. Yogurt A Harvard study followed more than 120,000 people for a decade or longer. Yogurt, of all the foods that were tracked, was most closely linked to weight loss. Grapefruit Yes, grapefruit really can help you shed pounds, especially if you are at risk for diabetes. Researchers at Scripps Clinic in San Diego found that when obese people ate half a grapefruit before each meal, they dropped an average of 3 ½ pounds over 12 weeks. Drinking grapefruit juice had the same results. **** From Straw: Agree on eggs & I use sprouted & high protein Ezekiel bread. Agree on nuts and apple ... Sunflower seeds rank second to sesame seed in lowering cholesterol ... both are highest in plant sterols. Here's from ABC news: " A team of Japanese researchers split 210 overweight people into three groups. While everyone consumed a daily 7-ounce serving of fermented milk, two of the groups drank milk spiked with varying amounts of a probiotic called Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 which past research has tied to fat loss. After 12 weeks, people slugging the probiotic milk formulas dropped roughly 8 to 9 percent of their visceral fat." http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/probiotics-lose-weight/story?id=19607875 The below link offers clinical assessment of which yogurt is hype, and which probiotics is beneficial: http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/nah_probiotics.pdf For probiotics supplement which contains Acidophilus gasseri, Dr. Oz Show recommends Phillips Colon health. The year that I lost weight fast ... I had a tiny bit of Dannon yogurt for desert after every meal. A few days ago Google News had an article on how beneficial bacteria signal fullness so mice consume less per meal. Having yogurt AFTER meal makes sense, since the beneficial bacteria help to signal fullness. A few lean countries have a yogurt after meal. The timing of eating yogurt: right after meals matter more than the amount, See below WebMD info." A study published in the April 2005 International Journal of Obesity looked at obese adults who cut 500 calories a day while consuming three daily servings of low-fat yogurt. It found that they lost significant amounts of fat, especially around the waist, while maintaining lean muscle tissue. The three-yogurts-a-day group lost 22% more weight, 61% more body fat, and 81% more stomach fat than a comparison group who ate just one serving of yogurt daily. http://www.webmd.com/diet/french-womens-diet-secret-yogurt Below are some cherry tomato from my garden. They freeze well, and are much sweeter than big tomato. They are fantastic in soups for the winter, or I put in Ramen noodles, with kale, or Nappa cabage & shrimp. What are your healthy recipes, tips to eat more produce, any recipes for raw salads? Thanks.