Ohhh, it's been a VERY loooong time since I smelled THAT scent, and as I recall, I didn't like it very much. :P Hmmm, s'okay...rules out Vicks Plant. I want to say it's Cuban Oregano, but there's seems to be too much confusion on the web as to what's what. So, I don't want to steer you the wrong way. I'll try to get back to this again. Dinner calls at the moment, though. :) Running around, looking at P. amboinicus, oregano, neochilus, purpuratus...la la la.

Hi Ray Your website about growing taro is very nice-i have enjoyed visiting it. Good to see you posting on this forum. Traffic is pretty slow here ; ) Take a look at false aralia. Doesn't sound too much like ashioka but is more common than my next suggestion which is false ashoka. i'll link wiki so you can get a look. Here is a link that might be useful: polyalthia longifolia

Our Applesauce Pie was just a graham cracker crust, a quart of applesauce (we always sweetened and added cinnamon when making the sauce), and probably 2-3T. cornstarch. Mix the sauce and cornstarch together and pour into the crust. Bake until thickened (30-40 minutes I would guess). Serve warm with a little evaporated milk poured over it (LOL...yes, that's how we served it!!). You could add other spices (cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, etc.) to taste. You could add a finely chopped apple to give it some chunkiness. Raisins? Nuts? The options are endless. We never did any of that. Just simple, warm and satisfying, like a bowl of oatmeal or Mac 'n' Cheese! Deanna

OK...so you have a LIGHT floor (weight wise) currently in place. That means the original build PROBABLY had been built to handle a light weight and FLEXIBLE material like sheet product (linoleum or vinyl.) That means you have a 99.9% chance you will need to add more thickness to your subfloor. Ok...now we get into the nitty gritty. Regardless of stone or tile, you will need this beefing up (unless of course to TOTALLY luck and find you have a house that was OVER built and has WAY TOO MUCH subfloor material for the surface it holds = doubtful). Good. Now look at the transition HEIGHT between the existing sheet product (probably vinyl but could be linoleum). Is it even/level? Is it CLOSE to being even/level? Is it so close you don't notice the slight (4mm or so) height difference? If I'm right, there will be very little height difference between the floors OUTSIDE the kitchen and the floors INSIDE the kitchen. That's where the problem is going to be...the floor-height transition. Imagine you have to ADD 1/2" plywood just to get a subfloor that is stiff enough to handle tile (or possibly 3/4" to handle stone). Now imaging a tile/stone floor that is another 3/4" HIGHER than that. The worst case scenario is you have 3/4" plywood + 3/4" stone = 1.5" TALLER than the current kitchen floor. Now we have issues. Big, nasty, technical issues. Your entire kitchen design is going to centre around the floor height issues. Are you doing a complete gut of the kitchen? Do you have current photos of your floor heights? Do you have wood joist subfloor system in the kitchen? And with a floor/home this old, have you don't testing for lead/asbestos?