My Favorite Turkey Recipe- Brine Turkey

For years I cooked my turkey just like MOM did, but was never very happy about they way it turned out. It was just a turkey.
I know this may be a fad for alittle while, just like the deep fryer turkey (which I never did), but I have to say, I will never cook a turkey any other way.


This is not my recipe, My family raves about the brined turkey because it gets flavored all throughout and stays moist. Even if you over cook it.


Ingredients Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, also featured in Food Network Magazine

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions

2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

You can change the brine as long as you keep the salt and the vegetable stock or you can use chicken stock. I use a package of fresh poultry seasonings instead of the ginger and the rest of the spices.
For the aromatics I use the package of fresh poultry seasonings found in the fresh veggie isles.

If you try it , I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as my family does.
Note: I cook my stuffing in a seperate container and not in the turkey

Angela Kroemer, AMP

Mortgage Professional

TMG The Mortgage Group Canada Inc.

TMG Sharie Marie Mortgage Team

Local: 1.250.650.4182

TFP: 1.888.679.0190

Fax: 1.888.679.0192

akroemer@mortgagegroup.com

www.KROEMERmortgages.com

Paying Your Mortgage Off Faster

Some people are happy with their mortgage payments and the terms in years for paying off their mortgages, and that is fine.

While other people want to get their mortgage payments done with and their home paid off.
There are a variety of ways of getting your mortgage paid off faster and by paying off the mortgage faster, you are saving a ton on interest payments.

 Look at your mortgage, what is the interest rate you are paying?  Are there better interest rates on the market?

Next,  look at the terms of your mortgage. Does it allow you to prepay an amount monthly, yearly? Are the prepayment terms too high of an amount you would never prepay, anyway.

If you are paying too high of an interest rate and your prepayment terms are too impossible, your next step may be to switch your mortgage to a different Lender to have the flexibility to prepay and to get a lower rate. Just getting a lower rate will take off a few years of your mortgage payments.

So now, you have taken the necessary steps to make paying off your mortgage a reality.
Now What?

There are different ways you can pay off your mortgage faster. You can do it all or in part and you will still get your mortgage paid off faster.

1. Switch from monthly to accelerated bi-weekly or accelerated weekly payments.

2. Pay an extra $100.00 bi-weekly or weekly.

3. Make a lump-sum payment of just $1000.00 or more per year for the life of the mortgage.

If you combine all 3 steps by the minimum amounts you could be mortgage-free as much as 8 years faster based on a $200,000.00 mortgage.



The difference Accelerated Bi-weekly
payments make











Need more information?  Be sure to contact me.

Angela Kroemer, AMP

Mortgage Professional

TMG The Mortgage Group Canada Inc.

TMG Sharie Marie Mortgage Team

Local: 1.250.650.4182

TFP: 1.888.679.0190

Fax: 1.888.679.0192

akroemer@mortgagegroup.com

www.KROEMERmortgages.com

 

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Renovate Or Sell?

Are more people hunkering down and fixing up existing homes rather than moving?

In some areas of Canada home resales are falling and the new housing price index slipping, people appear to be staying put a bit longer and renovating their existing homes instead of moving.

If you are entertaining the thoughts of renovating your home, will you use credit cards to pay for the renovations?  There are other ways to finance your renovations, one is Refinance Plus Improvements.  This will give you the money needed for renovations, at the same low interest rate of your mortgage.

a few things to think about when looking into Refinance Plus Renovations is:
--how much will your penalty be to Refinance
--how much your interest rate is now
--how much equity you have in the house
--how much will you save by Refinancing opposed to using credit cards at 20-29% interest
--how much you will need for renovations

 

Renovation Tips:

Peter Simpson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association, said he spoke with several renovators and very few are fixing up homes for resale.

“Some clients have moved in and want to renovate. The others are folks who have lived somewhere for a number of years and want to stay in the same neighbourhood. They’re renovating for their own use,” Simpson said. “They’re not nervous about spending the money either.”

With year-to-date resales down 18 per cent in Vancouver compared to a year ago, it’s no longer the smoking hot sellers’ market it was a year ago. In fact, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that July sales were the lowest since 2000, with sales 31.2 per cent below the 10-year July sales average.

The new housing price index slipped 0.9 per cent in Vancouver in June 2012 compared with June 2011, according to Statistics Canada, while the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has increased 0.6 per cent to $616,000 and declined 0.7 per cent in July 2012 compared to the prior month.

New mortgage rules introduced by the federal government in July shortened the maximum amortization to 25 years from 30, which is also expected to dampen the market.

Business is definitely strong this year for Jeff Bain, owner of JKB Construction, who said renovations always pick up when sales of new homes fall off.

“Everybody seems to be keen now to spend money,” Bain said. “It’s been good all year long.”
He said kitchens, bathrooms and basement suites continue to be the most popular renovations, but people are also renovating their entire homes.

“People are staying in their homes longer than they ever have in the past. They want to stay where they are comfortable,” Simpson said.

The amount spent on renovations has gone up every year for the past several years, Simpson said, but added that he isn’t sure if that’s because more people are doing renovations or because they’ve become more expensive.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp’s third-quarter Housing Market Outlook, released in August, said renovation spending in 2011 was $61.7 billion in Canada. CHMC says that amount will moderate in 2012, growing to $63.3 billion, but is expected to strengthen in 2013 to $65.6 billion.
In B.C., spending on renovations in 2011 was $7.6 billion. Spending is expected to remain stable in 2012 and grow to $7.8 billion next year.

For the most part, business is good for contractors, even in this year’s moderate market, Simpson said.
“One contractor I talked to said he’s having his best year ever,” Simpson said. “He said one client bought a home and they’re spending money to update it, but most clients want to stay where they are and bring their homes up to date.”

Another contractor told Simpson he’s had some customers having a harder time borrowing money from the bank, which may be a result of new mortgage refinancing rules. “Some people seem to be getting a little push back from the banks, or they might not be able to borrow as much as they want,” Simpson said. “If they can’t obtain the financing, they just have to scale it back a bit. With a renovation, you don’t have to do it all at the same time.”
 

In May, the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association held one of its twice-yearly renovation seminar for 300 homeowners. Attendees were asked to complete a survey and Simpson shared some of the results with The Vancouver Sun.

Fifty-six per cent of respondents said they plan to renovate within the next year, while 26 per cent said within 12 to 18 months, Simpson said.

“There’s a sense of urgency. They want to renovate soon.”

Homeowners were also asked if they would need financing — 59 per cent said no and 41 per cent said yes.

Next year, when the province reverts back to the goods and services tax and the provincial sales tax, it is possible that labour on renovations will not be taxed because it was not taxed under the old provincial sales tax.

Simpson said that while it’s not known exactly what will happen when the tax reverts, the transition does not appear to be causing people too many concerns when it comes to renovating.
In his survey, he asked if people were putting their renovation plans on hold until the provincial sales tax is back and 35 per cent said yes, while 65 per cent said no.

“They’re doing renovations because they want to do them,” Simpson said. “Interest rates are still really low. People are going ahead and renovating. They want to have their new kitchen regardless of the tax.”

Simpson urged homeowners to verify that a contractor is compliant with WorkSafeBC before contracting with them for any work. It’s something that Port Moody homeowner Jan Jasienczyk wishes she had done when she needed a new roof two years ago.

The contractor she hired had documents showing that he was insured and a member of various organizations, but Jasienczyk didn’t independently verify that they were accurate. She ended up taking the contractor to small claims court when it turned out she had to redo the entire roof and her garage was damage by leaking. She eventually recovered most of the money she had paid the contractor, but she says it caused her a lot of stress and heartache.

“When you get an estimate, verify everything. Are they members of the roofing association? Do they have Worksafe?” Jasienczyk said. “Do all of those things before you commit to any kind of a contract. Do your due diligence.”

Jasienczyk ended up getting her roof re-done entirely by Penfolds Roofing, which recently announced it is launching a warranty corporation to support its roofing warranties.

Simpson said cash deals are always a bad idea, but he estimates that about 30 per cent of renovations are done under the table.

“It’s rampant. People want to avoid the harmonized sales tax or any taxes,” Simpson said. “There’s about $7.6 to 7.7 billion to be spent on home renovations in B.C. this year; I believe with that much at play there is a lot of opportunities to deal with the underground economy.”
 

He says people are at risk of being sued if a contractor gets injured if they are not covered by Worksafe.

“Unless homeowners want to put the contractor’s kid through university, they better make sure their contractor is fully compliant with Worksafe.”
He said it is easy to check if a contractor is compliant with Worksafe, and renovators can even request a no-cost compliance letter

How do I know whether my contractor or subcontractor is insured?

You can request a clearance letter that tells you whether a firm, contractor or subcontractor is complying with our registration and payment requirements.
http://www.worksafebc.com/help/faqs/default.asp?section=Insurance#Whoneedsworkplaceinsurance?6

tsherlock@vancouversun.com

Refinance Plus Improvement Mortgage

 

Angela Kroemer, AMP

Mortgage Professional

TMG The Mortgage Group Canada Inc.

TMG Sharie Marie Mortgage Team

Local: 1.250.650.4182

TFP: 1.888.679.0190

Fax: 1.888.679.0192

akroemer@mortgagegroup.com

www.KROEMERmortgages.com

 

Feng Shui-Can It Help to Sell or Buy Your Home

 

For a realtor trying to survive the currently sluggish market, there might be no sight as disheartening as that of the unyielding feng shui master who shows up with the buyer to assess the property.
The master, is, after all, probably going to get the last word.

The ancient Chinese practice of feng shui, which is, roughly, about creating a harmonious environment, can have a major impact on a sale in the Lower Mainland. Feng shui master Johnson Li knows all about that, having shot down many a potential purchase.

Mr. Li has been a feng shui master since arriving in Vancouver 20 years ago. He divides his time between the Lower Mainland, Hong Kong, China, and places like Victoria and Seattle, where he’s called upon to assess homes for occupants or would-be buyers.

Feng shui got plenty of media attention in the late 1980s, when a wave of Taiwanese buyers was purchasing and renovating properties based on the system. Today, it’s still alive and well and has spread beyond the Chinese demographic, with devotees from other cultures opting to let feng shui guide their choices.

Mr. Li acknowledges that he is one of the most expensive feng shui masters in Vancouver, but his rate is even higher when he works in China. Here, he charges $8,800 to assess commercial properties; $3,800 to assess houses, and $2,800 to assess apartments. His fee is not to assess only one property for a client, but rather, as many properties as necessary until he finds one with good feng shui. He says that he once rejected more than 100 listings until he settled upon an appropriate house, which must have been an interesting situation for the buyer’s realtor.

The practice is not limited to Chinese buyers, says Mr. Li. He has clients who are Caucasian and East Indian. In Surrey, a Polish family requested his help when they couldn’t sell their house after six months without action. After his recommended changes to the house, he says they sold two months later.

Patricia Coleman is a feng shui practitioner who caters mostly to a non-Chinese demographic in Vancouver. She has guided homebuyers and has “feng shui’d” houses to make them easier to sell.
“I have a lot of western clients,” she says. “It’s not just about trying to sell a house, but making the right decision. It’s a huge purchase. You need to ask, ‘Is it the right one?’

“Every culture has an understanding of placement and energy.”

Faustina Kwok, who lives in Richmond with her naturopath husband Martin, says their new house was built according to feng shui principles that she believes will increase its value. They also “feng shui’d” her husband’s clinic. However, when it came to the house, she wasn’t willing to forgo a good floor plan and flow for feng shui, Ms. Kwok says. She’d been inside “feng shui’d” houses that felt odd because the flow was off. But she was willing to move the driveway, and add a partial wall so that the master bedroom wasn’t in direct view of the front door.

“We just did the big modifications, like where the toilet shouldn’t be,” she says. “You don’t want to flush your fortune away. At least I take comfort knowing my toilet is not in the wrong place,” she says, laughing.

Although growing in popularity, it’s still a largely misunderstood practice, says Mr. Li. Some people think that the popularity of an address that includes the number eight is feng shui, but that’s more about superstition. Feng shui grew out of something far more practical, he explains.

“It is the art of looking at places that are safe or not, gauging whether they are a habitable place,” he says, seated in his Kingsway office, surrounded by his extensive library, a translator at his side. “Feng shui means the study of surroundings.”

Mr. Li has stopped the sale of many houses, and he’s witnessed attempts at feng shui by builders who were shrewdly, or naively, anxious to appease the Chinese market. Mr. Li explained how he once kiboshed the sale of a newly built home in West Vancouver. The builder had hired another feng shui expert to help design the house, which included a giant vertical aquarium as well as an indoor Koi fishpond. Mr. Li took one look at the aquarium and pond and gave a thumbs-down on the pricey property. His clients took his advice and walked. The builder was so furious, he says, that they asked him to put his reasons in writing.

As he poured another round of green tea, he explained that it’s a basic feng shui principle that you don’t want water above your head. As well, a Koi pond inside a house is not a good thing, he added.
When asked to explain, Mr. Li chuckled and said, “Because it will smell like fish.”

As for the feng shui practitioner who’d allowed such missteps, he explained that unfortunately, because so many consumers want instant and easy answers, there are a lot of unscrupulous practitioners who don’t know what they are doing. He doesn’t like doing assessments for developers and realtors because “they use him to make money.”

He recalls a realtor slipping him a red envelope as he was doing his assessment. The envelope was stuffed with a substantial amount of money, which he later turned over to his clients.

Emily Lo says she trusts Mr. Li for all her real estate purchases, even if it irritates the realtors, who often try to persuade her to use Mr. Li’s report as one of the subjects to sale. However, she’d prefer to get his opinion upfront, after the initial walk-through.

“He has the power of veto, and if you are paying that amount of money, you are going to trust what he says.”

Gastown realtor Ian Watt says the issue of feng shui comes up about once a month.
“A lot of my Chinese clients are really big into that,” he says. “It’s amazing, because it does affect real estate for a certain demographic. Everybody over 50 cares for sure.”

He has a client with a condo on Pacific Boulevard currently on the market, and the client refuses to let him close the window during showings.

“It’s on Pacific Boulevard, which is very noisy. The traffic sounds don’t help,” he says. “They want the window open all the time, and it’s something to do with feng shui.”

Anna Chen, who co-owns the unit with fiancé Dan, can explain. Her uncle is a feng shui master who visits from Taiwan, and he told her to keep the window open in order to sell the unit. Ms. Chen, who is 32, said that she was reluctant to believe in feng shui throughout her 20s, but now that she’s older, she’s starting to see its value.

“I think it helps. I’ve seen it help. So that’s why I asked my uncle to help me to sell the place, and also to help us buy the next place. Now, when we go to a new condo listing, sometimes I ask him to come with me. He told me the direction of the entrance and everything will affect health and fortune, how much you can make, or are you going to lose.”

An Excellent article by Kerry Gold
Special to the Globe and Mail September 8 2012

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Angela Kroemer, AMP

Mortgage Professional

TMG The Mortgage Group Canada Inc.

TMG Sharie Marie Mortgage Team

Local: 1.250.650.4182

TFP: 1.888.679.0190

Fax: 1.888.679.0192

akroemer@mortgagegroup.com

www.KROEMERmortgages.com

 

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